April Sales: Holding Tight

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April sales in Westmount held very tight on the average price of property, but without any of the high prices and fanfare of the March list. In fact, some of the most important news in the April list might be that, despite two sales of Westmount houses under $1 million in March, the lowest price for April was $1,780,000. Only one other of the 10 sales in April came in below $2 million; wth several sales added late to the March list, there were six under $2 million. On the other hand, only two sales in April recorded contracts over $3 million, compared to eight in March. The highest price in March was $9,000,000; in April it was $3,625,000.

On the other hand, the price:valuation ratio is becoming more erratic over time, with average mark-ups of 5.2 percent in February, jumping to 13.5 percent in March and 15.4 percent in April. The range of ratios in February was +38.1 percent to -20 percent; in March it spread between 79.9 percent and -30.2 percent, then in April it was 83.1 percent to -17.2 percent. Of course, those extreme figures are thrown out before we calculate the adjusted price for the month, which comes out just about the same for April as for March.

Only three condominium sales were posted for April, covering the entire gamut of condo prices, from $685,000 for one of the flats on Claremont Ave. above Sherbrooke St. to $2,315,000 for an apartment high in the tower at 1 Wood Ave. Two of the three condos had sale prices just over their respective valuations; the third was -5.7 percent, bringing down the overall average to -2.4 percent, or just about parity. April is only the first of a three-month quarter, meaning we should await the results in May and June before we get any guidance on the value of condos in Westmount; the first-quarter figure was +12.5 percent, meaning an average condo value of $1,333,202.

Adjacent-Westmount in April favoured the real estate markets to the north and west of the city limits, with two houses each marked “sold” in the Côte des Neiges and Notre Dame de Grâce districts, but no new ones in either the Trafalgar-Daulac district or the “Golden Square Mile.” Those areas have two and three house sales, respectively, so far this year, while Côte des Neiges south of Queen Mary Rd. leads the way with an even dozen and N.D.G. east of Décarie Blvd. has logged nine sales this year. The average ratios of N.D.G. and Côte des Neiges are close to zero; for some reason, the ratios to the east of Westmount are way below zero.

The number of listings in the market as of mid-May has leapt to 130 houses from 113 a month earlier, with increases in every price category, even in the under-$1 million group, which now has three houses available for purchase. The range of Westmount asking prices runs from $989,000 to $18,500,000. Agents have logged 21 rentals, up seven from the previous month, but there are still 24 listings of houses for rent, anywhere from $4,500 to $28,000 per month.

Posted by andy Posted in: Monthly Analysis No Comments » April 2024

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