November Sales: Slow but Steady

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The brief flurry of activity that was Westmount in October appears to have fallen back again, with only eight home sales in the month and no prices higher than $1,500,000. All but one of the sales exceeded the 2011 municipal evaluation; the average was 18 percent over tax value, slightly lower than the average so far this year, but certainly not severely lower.

Prices have not moved significantly for almost two years, but certainly the volume has suffered this year as buyers hesitate to commit themselves to the substantial prices — over $3 million for 41 houses in Westmount. So far this year 131 houses have sold, the lowest number of sales since 1994, just before the last provincial referendum.

What is perhaps surprising is that the average time on the market dropped from over 100 days in each of the last 12 months to 71 in November, with one sale over the asking price in four days and two more in less than three weeks. In only one case had the asking price been reduced while the house was on the market.

The month also saw the sale of four co-op apartments — two in Westmount Square — but only one condominium, a former duplex on Prince Albert Avenue. This brings to only three the number of condo sales in the fourth quarter of 2013, compared to 11 condo sales in the fourth quarter last year.

And if prices were fairly low in Westmount, they were hardly so in adjacent-Westmount areas, with one $3 million sale just east of the city limits and another at about $2.6 million on Redpath Crescent. There were also two house sales in the Circle Road area.

Rentals are up this year, with 33 houses so far renting for monthly rates between $2,600 and $9,000, compared to 28 last year, for rates of $2,300 to $8,400.

Let me take this opportunity to wish all the agents and real estate aficionados a pleasant holiday season and all success in the new year.

Posted by andy November 2013

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