August Sales: Summer Doldrums

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The Westmount real estate market may have been suffering from “summer doldrums” in August, as local agents were only able to report five more sales negotiated during the month, two over $4,5 million and two under $2 million. Three of the houses had been listed for more than 100 days, so the August median jumped to 136 days compared to 41 days in July and 17 in June. At the same time, the number of active listings in mid-September jumped to 83 compared with 66 in mid-August, an indication sellers are hoping for a busier fall.

The top two prices negotiated in August were $5 million and $4,900,000 and the lowest price was $1,400,000; so far this year only one sale has been reported at less than $1 million compared to three over $6 million. In August, mark-ups over municipal valuation ranged from 0.5 percent to 56.5 percent, averaging 23.3 percent; the average for the year so far is 31.5 percent, thus the August figure pulls down the average adjusted price of Westmount’s “typical” home. For the record, exactly two houses so far this year have sale prices at less than valuation, while two others have sale prices more than double the evaluations.

The 83 Westmount houses on the market in the latest list include 16 between $1 and $2 million, 31 between $2 and $3 million, 15 between $3 and $4 million, four more going up to $5 million and then 17 above $5 million, with five of those asking more than $10 million. The range of Westmount asking prices, as of mid-September, is $1,190,000 to $27,500,000.

Westmount’s condominium market has been strengthening this year compared especially to last year, when the first two quarters tallied only 14 sales; this year the figure is 30. In the third quarter already, ten offers for condominiums have been accepted, with September sales still to come. The highest price ever negotiated in Westmount for a penthouse condo, at $4,000,000, was agreed to in August. The lowest price in the quarter involved a second-floor unit at 11 Hillside Ave., $475,000.

Among house rentals, the number rented this year now stands at 34, up two from a month ago, while 12 others are still waiting to be rented, three of which are asking more than $10,000 per month. The number of rentals this year is almost exactly the same as last year, but in 2020 there were another 27 asking to be rented, nine of those asking more than $10,000 per month.

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