August Sales: Bouncing Back

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As Westmount and Montreal try to regain some semblance of normalcy following the springtime shutdown of the economy, Westmount’s real estate market is showing a strong rebound. Nine sales of one- and two-family dwellings were posted by agents in each of May, July and August and 14 in June, after a totally stagnant April (3 sales) in what is usually the busiest month of the year for real estate agents.

The nine sales in August included a top price of $5,765,000 — the second-highest price in Westmount this year — for a mid-level house, though in fact this was only 4 percent above municipal valuation, the lowest mark-up of the month. A house on Lansdowne Ave. near The Boulevard brought a mark-up almost double its municipal valuation. The lowest price in August went for a small house on Irvine Ave. at $1,200,000.

Average price for the month was $2,635,333, and the overall adjusted price of a “typical” Westmount house moved up to almost $2,350,000 after dipping as low as $2,100,000 in May. The average home sale in August was 23.3 percent higher than municipal valuation, similar to the July mark-up of 22.9 percent but both of which are much higher than mark-ups in the spring months.

With the rebound almost complete, we look to the fall market which typically brings an increase in volume, though this year is hardly typical. By mid-September the number of available listings had dropped from 99 to 95, the greatest number (35) of which are asking between $2 million and $3 million, four of which are asking $10 million or more, and only one of which is asking less than $1 million.

While some pundits suggest that buyers are looking for houses which provide a “safe” (read: COVID-free) atmosphere compared to apartments and condominiums, in fact six condominiums sold in August in a range of $610,000 to $2,200,000, and including two shares of duplexes, both for about $750,000. Combined with four condo sales in July, the third-quarter average for condos is 20 percent above municipal valuation, almost the same as for one- and two-family dwellings.

Adjacent-Westmount sales, of course. were highlighted by the $18 million sale of a mansion on Redpath Crescent in early August, one of only four homes sold so far this year in the “Golden Square Mile.” Volume of sales this year is fairly evenly distributed between adjacent-Westmount areas to the west, north and east of city limits, with prices ranging from $728,000 for a duplex on Ponsard Ave, to $6,700,000 for one of the older mansions on St. Sulpice Rd.

Posted by andy August 2020

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