February Sales: Still Sliding

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Westmount real estate prices fell even further in February, continuing a slide which has been going on since last September. The average price dipped below the $1.5 million mark, where it had been in the lead-up to last April’s provincial election, indicating that the elation rendered by a new Liberal majority government has worn off almost entirely.

Eleven single-family sales were posted by agents last month, up slightly from nine in February last year, with prices ranging from $611,627 to $2,300,000, but the highest price was less than 60 percent of its municipal evaluation; three others also sold under the city tax value. In general, the market has stayed at about the same level it was in the beginning of 2012. Still, March marks the beginning of the spring sales season and there are some high-priced negotiations going on which should offer hope for the 2015 market.

Only two of the February sales were below $1 million and only one over $2 million, a clear indication of the relative strength of Westmount real estate compared to an island-wide average of $390,000. Three of the 11 home sales were listed for less than three weeks, bringing down the average days-on-market from a stunning 290 days in each of December and January to a more respectable 149 days in February, but still, it takes longer to sell a house now than it did as recently as 2013.

Two condominium sales, one a converted duplex and the other a small apartment, were posted in February, bringing the total so far this year to four condos, three of which sold under evaluation. In the first two months last year there were six apartment sales and one converted duplex, so that part of the market appears to be slowing down, too.

Even in adjacent-Westmount, February logged only two house sales and a condo at Le Trafalgar, so interest appears not to have moved outside the city boundaries, either.

As of this writing, 147 single-family homes and four duplexes were listed for sale, up by about 13 from mid-February, which is to be expected with the start of the spring sales market. Sixty-two of those are asking over $2 million, only 16 under $1 million and of those, six are under $800,000.

Posted by andy Posted in: Monthly Analysis No Comments » February 2015