May Sales: Volume Way Down

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Rising interest rates and the spectre of even higher ones as the summer progresses do not appear to have had any effect on prices in Westmount yet, but certainly they have made buyers hesitate in committing upwards of $2 million for local real estate.

Only seven houses were reported sold by local realtors in May, for prices ranging from $1,699,000 to $5,300,000 — though only that latter sale was higher than $2,375,000, while three of the seven sold for less than $2 million. The average price was $2,526,000 and the median price was $2,295,000. In April, on the other hand, 18 houses were sold, and in fact the first four months of 2022 averaged 15 sales, thus clearly indicating how much the volume dropped in May. Whether this means that prices will eventually drop remains to be seen; certainly one of the goals of the Bank of Canada is to throttle the rise in real estate prices nationally, but certainly there are still some buyers for houses in the $2 million to $5 million range.

The drop in sales agreements has also affected a rise in the number of available houses, to 85 by mid-June compared to only 58 in January. Of the 85, 50 houses were asking less than $3 million compared to only 26 in mid-January, and in fact only two are currently on the market asking more than $10 million, compared to four or five in earlier months.

There has been a big jump in the number of houses for rent, increasing from 15 in mid-January to 21 in mid-June, with the range now between $4,200 and $17,400 per month, compared to the range between $3,000 to $14,800 per month in mid-January. So far this year the number of houses rented is only 10, way down from the 26 houses rented by this time last year.

Only two more condominiums — both apartments in high-rise buildings — were added to the list of second-quarter condos sold, including one in late April and one in early May. The late-April sale became the highest price so far in the second quarter, which is still waiting for the June sales list. The $2,550,000 paid in late April was almost 80 percent more than its city valuation, the highest mark-up in the quarter, while another $2 million condo in early May represented the lowest mark-up of the quarter, at only 1.7 percent. All five of the second-quarter condos involve apartment building-type condos, with the lowest price at $768,000.

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

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