December Sales: Prices Stay High

Download the Graph
Westmount real estate stayed the course in December, with the average moving up slightly but basically with the average house hanging onto the $1.5 million mark which has been the benchmark since last February.

Seven home sales were posted for December, normally the slowest month of the year, bringing the total number for 2012 to 152 sales, down eight from 2011 but five more than in 2010. Of the seven December sales, two were for more than $2 million and only one was less than $1 million, giving some hope that the top end of the Westmount market had not disappeared with the election of a Parti Québécois government. The December sales are particularly important this year because by then they should have fully absorbed the impact of that (Sept. 4) election.

For the year, total sales volume is 152 compared to a 15-year average 175, but in fact in there were fewer sales both in 2008 and 2010, and with the million-dollar prices that Westmounters can expect for most houses, the buyer population has obviously dropped off in recent years.

Three condominium sales in December brought the total for the fourth quarter of last year to 10, doubling the five which were posted in the third quarter. Prices stayed quite even, some 20 percent above city tax value; in the four quarters last year the average markup ranged from 17 percent to 21 percent. Prices ranged from $305,000 to $1,550,000, so it is difficult to derive any conclusions from the average price. Two more condos at 11 Hillside Avenue sold in December, but the building has yet to be evaluated so the markups cannot be included in the statistics. A co-op apartment at 376 Redfern Ave.also sold in December.

In adjacent-Westmount, one triplex in eastern Notre Dame de Grâce, a duplex in Shaughnessy Village, a house on Redpath Place and three condominiums just east of Westmount rounded out the December sales. For the year, every adjacent-Westmount district saw increases of average markups except for the Trafalgar-Daulac district just to the east of Westmount, where markups were down 4.6 percent for houses, 2.4 percent for condominiums. Volume was lower in almost all districts.

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