June Sales: Still Moving

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Buyers and sellers are still busy as we move into the summer months in Westmount, in what appears to be a very late market this year. Five late postings for May sales brought the total for that month to 20 which is well above average. So far nine sales have been posted for June, two of them over $2 million but the highest was only $2,580,000, while 35 houses are on the market asking more than $3 million. The price level has been staggering somewhat but generally moving higher throughout the year, to the point that the “average” Westmount house is now worth something over $1,600,000, up about three percent in the past year.

Lowest price in June was $857,500 and only two houses sold for less than $1 million. The average markup over valuation was seven percent, with only two sales clearing 20 percent markups. Four houses sold below municipal tax value, the biggest markdown was 18 percent.

In fact, the more expensive Westmount properties are selling now for higher markups than the more typical homes, a fact which has changed since the beginning of the year. In the first three months houses in the over-$2 million bracket were selling for 7 percent more than municipal valuation; in the last three months the markup has jumped to 14 percent, among eight sales.

Agents have been scratching their heads trying to find out why the market is so busy as we move into the “dog days” of summer. The average for the past seven years has been 9.9 sales in July, 7.9 in August which is generally the slowest month of the year for real estate sales, except January. It may be interest rates, it may be the new condos coming onto the market which are encouraging homeowners to sell down; suffice to say that the real estate season is still humming and prices are still strong.

Two apartment condominiums sold in June, one a penthouse which went for $1,750,000. Duplex-type condominiums appear to be on the outs with buyers these days; only three have sold in all of 2015, and those were in February and March. In adjacent-Westmount areas, eight one- and two-family sales in May dwindled to only three in June, and only one of those cleared the $1 million mark.

As of mid-July, 158 homes are listed for sale in Westmount, up from 142 at the same time last year. Fully 40 percent of those are asking more than $2 million, while less than 10 percent are priced under $1 million.

Seven house rentals have been posted over the past month, bringing the total for 2015 to 18, the highest at $20,000 per month but then nothing higher than $8,000 per month. The number of avaiable rentals dropped to 22, five of which are asking more than $10,000.

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