2006 was a very good year in Westmount

The same cannot be said of Westmount, where the average adjusted price of real estate was up some 6.3 per cent on a year-to-year basis and topped the $1 million mark in every month of the year except last February. By December the average markup topped 65 per cent of the 2004 valuations and pulled the average markup for the year to almost 50 per cent.

Three houses sold twice during the year: 648 Grosvenor Avenue was picked up for $860,000 in May and resold for $1,082,500 in December; 561 Roslyn Avenue went for $800,000 in February and then $1,400,000 in November; and 744 Upper Roslyn changed hands for $625,000 in February and $800,000 in October. Total volume for one- and two-family dwellings was 176, slightly higher than the 174 registrations in 2005 and 172 in 2004.

The highest price was a cool $5.6 million for 65 Belvedere Place in September, less than had been paid for 80 Sunnyside Avenue back in 2001 when it included a huge land lot fronting on Lexington Avenue and Edgehill Road. With the extra land removed and renovations inside the house, 80 Sunnyside sold last year for $4,550,000, second-highest price of the year, then three other houses sold in the $3 million range.

The lowest price of $300,000 involved the sale of 63 Prospect Street in June, while twin houses at 126 and 128 Abbott Avenue each went for $335,000 in April and May. Only one other house sold below $400,000 during the year.

Two properties went for more than three times their 2004 tax value, topped off by 320-20A Elm Avenue whose $1,695,000 price represented a 212-percent markup. The $300,000 paid out for 63 Prospect represented only two-thirds of its municipal evaluation and was the only sale for less than 90 percent of valuation; eight sales were registered at between 90 and 100 percent of assessment, including the two sales on Abbott.

Twenty-five apartment-type condominiums and 10 made out of duplexes or triplexes were sold in 2006. Of the first group, the highest price involved Apt. 2101 at 1 Wood Avenue, which sold in December for $2,125,000. The lowest price was $189,200 for a small apartment at 4410 Côte des Neiges Road, on the city’s northern border. Another apartment in the same building brought the second-lowest price, $230,000; only one other apartment sold for less than $400,000. While two of the duplex-type condo sales had no prices attached to them, the others sold in a fairly tight range between $255,000 and $525,000, the latter for a new-construction dwelling at 4656 St. Catherine Street. The price range is hardly representative of some Westmount duplex-type condos which have sold as high as $800,000.

Of course, the latest trend is to buy co-op units in large apartment buildings such as 2 and 3 Westmount Square and 4444 Shebrooke Street, for which no registration is required, thus avoiding municipal transfer tax. At 435-39 Grosvenor Avenue a usufruct agreement is registered, and in various duplexes and triplexes shares of buildings include registrations and transfer taxes are applied.

Vacant land sales include the two lots which previously had been part of the 80 Sunnyside property, which sold for an average $1,160 per square metre or $108 per square foot, and part of the former Campbell Gardens on the other end of Edgehill Road, which sold for $765 per square metre or $71 per square foot.