April Sales: Staying on Top

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Westmount real estate prices stayed above the $1.5 million average price in April, representing the third straight month that they have cleared that level.

With 15 sales in the month, only two were over $2 million, the highest price at $3,150,000, while four sales were for less than $1 million, the lowest at $825,000. Only one of the sales went for less than valuation, and that one involved property which, according to the listing, probably will be demolished. The average markup was only 17 percent, with only three higher than 30 percent, but the effect has been to keep the value of the “typical” Westmount house, with a valuation of $1,201,709, above the $1.5 million mark.

Six of the 15 properties were on the market for more than 200 days, boosting the average days-on-market to 127 days compared with 117 days in March. We would suggest that in many of these cases the market finally rose to meet the expectations of the sellers, rather than having the sellers reduce their prices to find hesitant buyers. Volume is slightly below average, thanks mainly to the million-dollar prices, but in fact it has been at about the same level for the past four years.

Only one condominium sale was reported in April after 15 sales were posted in the first quarter of the year, with prices ranging from $305,000 to $1,550,000 and the average markup at 17 percent, about the same as for one- and two-family dwellings. This does not include the new condos at 1250 Greene which have yet to be evaluated, nor the 10 co-op apartments, seven of which were at Westmount Square and another two at 300 Lansdowne Avenue. There were no co-op sales in April, however.

Interest lagged, too, in adjacent-Westmount districts, with only two new sales just west of the city limits and one to the east, with a slight rise in prices. There was more interest in purchasing condominiums in these districts, mostly made-over duplexes, and markups were generally lower than they had been earlier in the year. Five of the 10 sales this year in eastern Notre Dame de Grâce have been on Marlowe Avenue and more houses there have come on the market in recent weeks. Prices in that district range from $746,000 to $935,000 with one over $1 million; as Westmount prices move above the $1.5 million mark we may see more sales in this district moving over the $1 million threshold.

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