JUNE SALES: STILL HOT

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Real estate prices stayed at their peak in Westmount during June, though volume dropped to only half what it was in May.

The eight sales in June averaged $1,374,062, with all but two of them above $1 million. Prices ranged from $795,000 to $2,700,000; all the sales were above valuation and the maximum was 78 percent over tax value. The average markup stayed at 28 percent — about where it was in May — and the adjusted average house price stayed above the $1.5 million mark for the fifth month in a row, offering a plateau as we move into the summer months.

But if only eight sales were posted in June, things look much stronger for July which saw the sales of four homes and a duplex in the first week. While many agents were looking forward to a slowdown, they are still carting eager buyers around town, and June saw at least 22 new listings, all the way from $624,000 to over $6,000,000, so the summertime blues appear to be a thing of the past.

Only one condominium sold in June, bringing to 7 the volume for the second quarter of 2012, compared to 12 in the second quarter last year. The average markup is 25.5 percent, fairly close to the average for single-family dwellings. The latest sale was the most expensive in the quarter, a high-rise condo which brought $1,425,000.

Four houses sold in adjacent-Westmount areas, two just west of the city limits, one just north and the other in the “Golden Square Mile.” In the first six months this year, only one of 12 sales on Grey, Vendôme, Marlowe and Northcliffe avenues has surpassed the $1 million mark and only one of five in the Côte des Neiges district south of Queen Mary Road. Prices are much more mixed in the Trafalgar-Daulac area, where a dozen sales have been recorded, five over $1 million including some of the new construction on Jean Girard Street. Still, it appears for the most part that buyers in the adjacent-Westmount areas are not quite ready to put out more than $1 million for a house.

The Westmount market may be ready to pause as pundits begin talking of a provincial election, but until one is actually called, it appears the market is still pretty hot, just like the summer.

Posted by andy Posted in: Monthly Analysis No Comments » June 2012