February Sales: Prices Still Moving Up

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Westmount sale prices in February this year maintained their upward movement and have almost reached the peak of March last year, just before the collapse brought on by the pandemic. Volume in the first two months maintained the pace it set last year, noticeably low by historical standards but hardly devastating.

Seven one- and two-family dwelling sales were posted by local agents as having been negotiated in February, lower than the 11 posted in January, though the number might move up as real estate activity increases into the spring months. Prices in February ranged from $1,325,000 for a small house on Greene Ave. to $2,466,250 for a semi-detached house on Murray Hill; though none of the more expensive homes sold in the month, the average adjusted price of the “typical” Westmount home moved above the $2.4 million level. So far this year nothing has brought a price over $2,900,000, but exactly half of all the residential sales in the first two months this year have been over $2 million.

The first two months of the year have seen prices averaging 31.4 percent more than their municipal valuations. Since last October, average monthly mark-ups have been between 23 and 35 percent; in February the range of individual mark-ups was fairly slim, between 12 and 41 percent, but in January one sale price was more than double the valuation, while another only cleared by 5.3 percent. Still, it is important to note that no one- or two-family dwellings have sold this year for less than valuation.

With March sales still to come, eight condominiums so far have sold in the first quarter of 2021, already matching the volume for the fourth quarter of 2020, but with a drop from 31 to 20 percent in the average mark-up over valuation; a serious mark-down at 200 Lansdowne Ave. in January pulled down the overall average. Condo prices in the first quarter (so far) have ranged from $400,000 to $2,045,000 and mark-ups are as high as 49 percent. Only two of the eight first-quarter sales were negotiated in February.

Three one- and two-family houses were added to the list of adjacent-Westmount sales in February, added to the six posted for January. Prices in neighbouring areas so far this year range from $565,000 for a small house on Rockledge Court to $2,490,000 for a much larger house on Côte des Neiges Rd. — the latter selling at more than double its evaluation. The lowest mark-up for the two-month period is 17.75 percent, so in general mark-ups are higher than they are in Westmount proper.
The number of available house listings in Westmount didn’t increase at all between mid-February and mid-March, though in fact the only price bracket to gain in numbers during that time was the $5 million to $10 million range, where the numbers increased from six to 11 listings, while lower-priced houses were sold off and not replaced by similarly-priced candidates. The number of house rentals available has jumped from 17 in mid-February to 24 in mid-March; by then, six houses had been rented in 2021 for rates between $2,600 to $12,000 per month.

Posted by andy Posted in: Monthly Analysis No Comments » February 2021