January Sales: A Slow Start

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Real estate sales got off to a slow start in Westmount this year, with only four one- or two-family dwellings sold in January, compared to 11 or 12 in January of the previous four years. A slow start is not uncommon — there have been four Januaries since 2000 that have been as slow as this — but certainly the fervour which was fuelled by the pandemic has waned.

Prices ranged from $1,960,000 for a small semi-detached house on Upper Belmont Ave. to $3,305,000 on Sydenham Ave., and two of the four sold for less than their new 2023 valuations. The average mark-up over valuation was -2.7 percent, of course combined with a 31-percent increase in the average valuation, so the end result is a slight reduction in the overall average price, in line with the reported slump in the central Montreal area. Westmount’s average adjusted price has been staggering between $2.4 million and $2.5 million for the past five months; as spring approaches there no doubt will be upward pressure in the market, though higher interest rates will provide a check on that upward pressure.

And if the residential market were not slow, there was only one apartment unit sold, a co-op unit at 300 Lansdowne Ave., and the condominium market was stagnant. Some late-arriving condo sales brought statistics for the last quarter of 2022 to 10 sales averaging $893,850, prices ranging from a very low $280,000 to $1,800,000, with three sales surpassing $1 million.

The average adjusted price for condos — measured by quarter — dipped 3% since it peaked in the second quarter of 2022 at almost $1,325,000, but it appears to be somewhat less volatile than the house market…as long as there is still a market for condos!

As we move to the 2023 spring market, the number of listings is increasing. As of mid-February, Westmount listings are up from 83 to 89, with 16 listed for asking prices between $5,000,000 and $10,000,000, an increase of four in that category. There is still one Westmount house listed below $1 million, as there was a month earlier, and four asking over $10,000,000, including two asking $25,000,000.

Already this year there have been five house rentals compared to only one in the first month last year, in a range between $4,250 to $12,000 per month. The number of available house rentals has increased from 27 t0 29

Two houses — one in the “Golden Square Mile” district and one on Northcliffe Ave. in Notre Dame de Grâce — were posted by agents as having been sold in January, for $1,200,000 and $1,300,000, respectively.

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

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