Ottawa’s housing market is becoming seriously frothy. The latest resale data from the Ottawa Real Estate Board showed a 21 per cent year over year gain for condos and residential properties alike in February. It’s the second straight month of bubble-like hikes and contrasts strongly with the previous three years, when price hikes for residential properties averaged just seven per cent per year.
The board reported that the average price in February for a residential resale was $563,700 — up 21.1 per cent year over year — while condos sold for an average $349,800. That’s up 21.3 per cent from February 2019.
“These increases are the direct result of the sustained lack of inventory,” said board president Deborah Burgoyne. “Multiple offers have become commonplace in certain pockets of the city.” Indeed, Burgoyne points out that nearly 60 per cent of properties are selling for above the asking price compared to just 32 per cent a year earlier.
Inventories have been shrinking dramatically. There were just 1,522 residential listings at the end of February, down 37 per cent year over year. If you were looking for a condo, the pickings were shrinking even faster. The number of condos available for resale slipped to 289 at the end of February — down 61 per cent from a year ago.
Somewhat surprisingly, the number of properties sold last month actually jumped. There were 835 residential property sales, up 11 per cent year over year while board members also resold 306 condos, up 23 per cent from February 2019.
These increases can be explained by the speed with which properties changed hands. Residential properties sold in February had been on the market an average of 41 days compared to 53 days for homes sold in February 2019. The real surprise has been how quickly condos have been selling — February resales had been marketed for just 25 days on average compared to 61 days a year earlier.
Average sale prices varied widely by district. In the downtown core, condos resold for an average $459,200 — up 17 per cent year over year — while the least expensive condos were in the south end ($292,600 average price, up 25 per cent). Condominiums in the west end averaged $391,700 in February (up 19 per cent year over year) and $332,100 in the east end (up just 6 per cent).
Residential resale patterns varied hugely by district. Year to date the biggest price increases have been in Blackburn Hamlet (among districts with at least 10 unit sales). The average resale price was $582,900 — up 52 per cent from the same period in 2019. This mostly reflected a shifting geographical mix as most of the sales this year have been in the northeast part of the town while last year the majority of sales were in Blackburn Hamlet South.
Four other real estate districts saw house prices increase year over year between 33 per cent and 35 per cent year to date. These were: Hintonburg-West Centretown ($834,600 average price); Crystal Bay-Rocky Point-Bayshore ($722,600); Carp and area ($632,400) and Greely ($662,900).
The busiest districts for real estate reps were, as usual, Kanata and Barrhaven, which combined to account for 21 per cent of all residential properties sold in the first two months this year. The average price in Kanata for the 157 units sold was $560,500 (up 18.5 per cent year over year, year to date) while the 136 Barrhaven units sold fetched an average $537,700 (an increase of 17 per cent).
The biggest decline among districts with at least 10 sales was the Dunrobin area. The average price year to date was $428,800 compared to $727,600 during the same period last year. That’s down 41 per cent. However, drilling into sub-districts reveals the majority of this year’s transactions were in flood-prone Constance Bay while the year before more than half the sales were in the wealthier enclaves to the east of the town.
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