March Sales: Volume off, Prices holding

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The volume of Westmount residential sales dipped slightly in March, but prices continued in their steady climb to the peak reached last August. One more sale over $5 million in March — combined with a $5,575,000 sale in January posted by agents only recently — means that at least one over-$5 million sale has been reported in every month but one (November) since last June.

Ten sales in March averaged $2,517,750, including all but three with prices over $2 million, keeping the adjusted average price of the “typical” Westmount house above the $2,500,000 mark for more than a year. The $5,600,000 sale of one mid-level house with a valuation of $5,520,600, a 1.4-percent mark-up, kept the average mark-up at 27.9 percent, down from 37.2 percent in February, but the general trend in prices is still advancing. The lowest price of the month, $1,150,000, is also the lowest price in Westmount this year, in fact the lowest price for a one- or two-family dwelling since last April.

A few late-reported sales increased February’s tally to 17 sales which would be the highest February volume since 2017, and since March is usually the busiest month of the year, this year’s drop is significant. The ten March sales averaged 72 days to sell, but in fact the median days-to-sell was only 16 days, since five homes got buyers in less than 10 days each. At least three of the sales went above their asking price, mainly because of multiple offers, an indication the buyer frenzy has not subsided even as the average price increases.

And speaking of volume, spring brought a whole lot more inventory to the Westmount house market, up from 64 active listings in mid-March to 77 in mid-April, including 11 more in the $2,000,000 to $4,000,000 price range; only eight of the 77 listings are asking less than $2 million, up from six the previous month. Rentals are way down, with 12 active listings in April compared to 24 a year ago, and only six have been rented so far this year, compared to 13 at the same time last year.

Three March condominium sales brought the total for the first quarter to eight, ranging from $657,000 at 11 Hillside Ave. to $2,100,000 for a double-apartment at 1 Wood Ave. She average mark-up for the quarter was 28.1 percent, about the same as for one- and two-family dwellings.

Posted by andy Posted in: Monthly Analysis No Comments » March 2022