August Sales: On Vacation

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Real  estate agents who had been working overtime in May and June this year seem to have been sloughing off during July and August, for the most part, as four August sales in Westmount complemented the seven reported in July. The small sample wreaks havoc on the average adjusted prices In the city, but suffice to say the typical house still has a value in the $1.4 million range.

The four single-family sales included one at only $642,000, but the other three were over $1 million, topped off by a lower-Westmount house which sold for $1,750,000. None of the sales, in fact, involved property north of Sherbrooke Street/Côte St. Antoine Road. Whiile the average is only $1,134,250, the sample is so small that the numbers can only be considered in the overall context: in the first eight months of the year the average price is $1,385,929, up 8 percent from last year. No matter how we look at it, the averages in Westmount are hovering around $1.4 million and sales below $1 million are now the exception.

Only one more condominium sold, bringing to four the number which have changed hands in the third quarter of 2011, compared to 11 which sold in the third quarter of 2010. The volume both for condos and one- and two-family dwellings had been strong in the mid-spring but fell off badly in the last two months.

The price paid was $1,590,000, for an apartment at 1 Wood Avenue which has recorded the six highest condominium prices so far this year, and this one was the second-highest of those prices.

If only four Westmount homes were sold last month, they were edged out by five in adjacent-Westmount areas, including two in the Circle Road area , one just to the west and two to the east of the city limits. In general terms, prices are improving in all these districts, with averages hovering around $800,000 in areas to the north, west and southeast, close to $1.5 milllion to the immediate east and just over $1 million in the “Golden Square Mile.”

Even with the weak summer sales history, so far this year volume is better than it was last year or even in 2009, thanks to a very strong surge in late spring. Houses now are coming on the market for the fall season, and there appears to be plenty of demand.

Posted by andy August 2011

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