December Sales: Never Look Back

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While other columnists in Montreal were ogling at house prices in the $1 million-plus category, Westmount was heading close to a $3 million average price in eight sales in December, and celebrating its seventh straight month in which no one- or two-family homes sold for less than $1 million.

The eight sales negotiated in December averaged $2,958,750, including one mid-level house drawing $7,900,000, reportedly agreed to on Christmas Eve, which became the highest price of the year — though there had been higher prices in 2015-17. Two other December sales were over $3 million and one more sold for $2,150,000, helping keep the average price at an all-time high. Lowest price for December was $1,250,000, a de Maisonneuve Blvd. house which went for 57 percent more than its municipal valuation, highest mark-up of the month, and in fact the price was 13 percent more than its asking price as a result of competing offers.

The average mark-up over municipal valuation dropped to 21.8 percent, the lowest average mark-up since last April, perhaps a result of the higher prices involved in the sales. For the year, the average mark-up is 28.6 percent compared to only 12.7 percent for all of 2017. And though the average adjusted price for Westmount moved down for the second month in a row, the “typical” house for the entire year 2018 was worth $2,026,335, up 14 percent over the annualized average for 2017.

Only two condominium sales were reported in December, bringing to eight the total for the fourth quarter of 2018, with prices ranging from $690,000 to $2,880,000. High $2 million sales have been reported in three straight quarters of 2018, all much higher than any previous maximum prices, and in the last two quarters they helped pull the average Westmount condominium price over $1 million. The average mark-up for condos in the fourth quarter dipped to 17.7 percent from 39.5 percent in the third quarter, but for the year 2018 the average is 24.6 percent, up 18 percent from 2017.

For whatever reason, no one- or two-family sales in adjacent-Westmount areas were reported in December, but generally prices were up last year compared to 2017, except for the Shaughnessy Village area where only one single-family dwelling sold in the entire year. Average prices ranged from $1,123,278 in southern Côte des Neiges to $2,014,333 in the Trafalgar-Daulac area, the latter keeping in close touch with the Westmount prices.

Posted by andy Posted in: Monthly Analysis No Comments » December 2018

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