April Sales: Lower Prices and Volume

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Both volume and prices tailed off in April this year, with only 11 one- and two-family dwelling sales posted, and only five of those were for more than $1 million, none for more than $2 million. Four of the 11 sold for less than municipal evaluation, and the average markup was 3.6 percent, down from exactly four percent in March but way below 15 and 11 percent in January and February, respectively. Thus we have indications the market is spinning downward at least for now.

The lowest price was $795,000, for a duplex in serious need of renovation, an indication of the base price for Westmount properties. Its city evaluation was only $540,400, so the 47-percent markup was the largest for Aprill. The top price of the month was $1,799,000, a house which sold for just about exactly its municipal tax assessment. Another evaluated at more than $1,900,000 sold for only $1,589,000, representing the biggest markdown of the month.

The 11 sales in April are a big drop from 14 in March and 21 in February; the average for April is 17.4 sales, one more sign of a slump in the market.

Three condominium sales in April included one high-rise apartment and two shares of duplexes, and one more apartment in 2-3 Westmount Square sold last month, along with a share of a triplex. The apartment sold for far less than evaluation, pulling down the average for the month to a 13-percent markdown and the overall average for the year to one percent below evaluation.

Two duplexes on Vendôme Avenue and a house on Redpath Crescent marked the only residential sales in adjacent-Westmount districts in April. Adjacent-Westmount markups this year are generally higher than last year, and the average markup is higher than in Westmount proper, though average prices are much lower.

As of mid-May there were 153 single-family listings in Westmount, up 10 from mid-April. Almost all that increase is for houses asking more than $2 million. So far this year 11 houses have been rented, about the same volume as last year. Right now some 27 houses are available for rent, seven of those asking more than $10,000 per month.

Posted by andy Posted in: Monthly Analysis No Comments » April 2016