Westmount Market Report by Andy Dodge

December Sales:

Emphasis on Condos

Condominiums appear to be the late-2021 feature in Westmount real estate, which may have something to do with the lack of supply in the house market. Though prices are easing off somewhat, it may be that buyers are settling for apartment or duplex-type living rather than pay out the prices being asked for local houses.

Eight single-family dwelling sales in December rounded out the calendar year for Westmount real estate, but another two condo sales that month brought the total for the fourth quarter of 2021 to 19 sales, a record high for the fourth quarter going back to 1999. Last year saw a total 61 condo sales, also a record high.                                                                            

Condo prices stayed relatively similar throughout the year, enraging between $1,024,000 and 1,096,000 per quarter except for two high-rise penthouses that sold for $4,850,000 and $4,000,000 in the third quarter, skewing the average prices upward and with well-above average mark-ups over valuation. Except for those two (and the new units at 1111 Atwater Ave., which have yet to be included in the valuation roll for comparison purposes), the highest price in the year was $2,550,000 and the lowest price was $380,000, a sale which took place in November. For the record, the highest price in the fourth quarter was $1,680,000 for an upper duplex on Arlington Ave. One more share of a Wood Ave. duplex also sold in December.

December’s single-family sales included one lower-Westmount house, extensively renovated, that went for $5,200,000, and an upper-level house which sold for $3,300,000, an indication there is still a market in that range. Three others sold above $2 million and the lowest price was $1,600,000. Mark-ups over valuation ranged from two percent to 67.9 percent, with the average at 32.8 percent.

As of mid-January only 53 houses remained on the market, down from 74 a month earlier, and only six of those are asking less than $2,000,000, the lowest asking $1,188,000.

Some 40 houses have been rented in 2021 — five of them for more than $10,000 per month — and there are 15 houses on the rental market now, up from 11 a month earlier.

As we move into the spring market things should start getting busier for Westmount real estate and as demand grows the prices should start moving up again. Overall, prices were up 13 percent between 2020 and 2021; with an expected hike in interest rates in the coming year this might put a stall on price levels generally in the Montreal area, and this will eventually be felt in Westmount as well.