July sales: Lower prices moving market

Prices have been inching their way up since February, moving Westmount’s “average” house toward the $1.2 million mark, still well below the $1.3 million levels of 18 months ago, but — so far at least — defying the normal mid-summer slump. But the “average” is being driven by the lower half of the market: in the past three months the highest price has been $1.53 million, while fully half of the current listings in Westmount are asking more than $1.5 million. Between March 26 and April 29, agents logged four sales at more than $2 million, but except for that brief period there have been no sales that high in the rest of the year.

In July, volume was strong with a dozen sales compared to a monthly average of 11.7, and this in a year which is running about 70 per cent of average volume for the year. Prices ranged from $421,000 to $1.52 million, and the raw average stayed below the $1 million mark for the third month in a row, but markups over valuation were stronger, driving the prices upward. Only two of 12 sales in July were for less than tax value, while three markups topped 40 per cent and one was 70 per cent over valuation.

Two condominiums sold in July, one very high price and one very low. Agents logged 10 sales in the second quarter of 2009, slightly higher than any second quarter since 2004, another indication that buyers are opting for housing under the $1.5 million level.

The same can be said for adjacent-Westmount, which recorded seven home sales in July, five of them in the downtown area east of the city limits. Prices last month ranged from $525,000 to $1.55 million only two over $1 million. Markups in the centre-city area are down from where they were last year, while they are up in the northern (Côte des Neiges) sector and about the same in eastern Notre Dame de Grâce.

Agents say the buyers are out there, and ready to pay for homes which are properly priced, but those with houses asking more than about $1.6 million might have to wait a while before they can sell.

NOTE: The preceding article relates to offers to purchase Westmount residential dwellings which were reported by the local real estate agents as having been accepted in July, 2009. Because they are not final registered sales, the addresses and prices cannot be made public, but give a good idea of current trends in local real estate activity. The graph on this page offers a picture of these trends over time.