December Sales: Good Riddance

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Real estate agents might be forgiven if they offer a relieved farewell to 2023, which started off nicely but has suffered from the continued growth of mortgage rates (6.2 percent in mid-May, now 7.7 percent, BMO 2-year rate), preventing many second-home buyers from looking at million-dollar homes in Westmount. With only four single-family home sales in Westmount in December, there was little hope of a turn-around in a market which has been in a steady slide since last August.

The extremes in a weak market were exemplified by two houses on Sherbrooke St., one which sold for $900,000 and 27 percent below municipal valuation, while another sold over $3 million and 51 percent above valuation, the extremes both in prices and ratios. Volume was the lowest it has been since December of 2013; several times in Decembers and Januaries the volume has been this low, but never lower.

Three condominiums also sold in December, bringing the volume in the fourth quarter to six, with prices as high as $5,700,000 for one of Westmount’s high-rise penthouse apartments, the highest price ever (according to our records) for a condominium, though in fact this was less than its valuation. In fact, four of the six condos went below the tax assessment, and the quarterly average of -3.2 percent was the first time since 2016 that the quarterly ratio has been negative. Two other condos sold in the range of $2 million each and the other three were all under $1 million.

Sales in adjacent-Westmount were equally sparse, with one house each on the western, northern and eastern edges of Westmount. Perhaps most notable is the sale of one more house on Roslyn Ave. north of the city limits, bringing to nine the number that have sold there in the past two years, for prices ranging from $1,150,000 to $1,900,000.

With the wind-down of the fall season, listings at the beginning of January have tailed off dramatically, to 74 from 85 a month ago and from 97 two months ago. Those that have been been removed from the market are mainly in the $2 to $3 million grouping, and in fact one more house has entered the $5 to $10 million group. The number of Westmount houses for rent has dropped, too, but 42 homes were rented during 2023, slightly above average for a year.

Here’s wishing all of you a successful 2024 and plenty of sales no matter where the market moves.

Posted by andy Posted in: Monthly Analysis No Comments » December 2023