The average price of a residential property in Ottawa cracked the $850,000 mark for the first time last month even as sales declined year-over-year, the Ottawa Real Estate Board said Tuesday.
Residential-class properties changed hands for an average of $853,615 in March, up 13 per cent from a year earlier, OREB reported in its monthly update. Prices kept rising even though sales of such properties were down 12 per cent compared with March 2021 to 1,493.
Condo prices also continued their steady upward climb last month, jumping 10 per cent year-over-year to an average of $479,405. A total of 518 condos were sold in March, a drop of 10 per cent from the previous year.
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Overall, members of the Ottawa Real Estate Board sold 2,011 residential properties last month, down from 2,274 transactions in March 2021 but still well above the five-year average of 1,792.
OREB president Penny Torontow pinned much of the sales decline on the “opportunity for unfettered travel” during March Break after many restrictions aimed at curbing the spread of COVID-19 were lifted.
She also said March’s “lion-like” weather might have played a role, noting March 2021 was “unseasonably warm” and may have spurred more potential homebuyers to hit the market earlier than usual.
“March tends to be the early indicator of the spring resale market pace, so we anticipate April’s numbers will be a better indication of just how the spring market will perform, which tends to be the peak time of year for resales,” Torontow added in a statement.
While the inventory of residential-class properties in Ottawa is up about 10.5 per cent over the same period last year, the stock of available condos for sale has dipped 12 per cent.
Overall, Torontow said there was just over half a month’s supply of inventory in the city, well below the fourth months’ worth of available housing that’s necessary to constitute what realtors consider to be a balanced market.
“It is encouraging to see new inventory entering the resale market,” she said. “However, these properties are being quickly absorbed due to the unrelenting high demand, and more listings are crucial to meeting this need.”
Torontow said she’s optimistic that new measures recently introduced by the provincial government aimed at boosting Ontario’s housing supply – including raising the foreign buyers’ tax to 20 per cent and expanding it across the province – will help cool down the market.
“This is a good start, and we are hopeful that with the application of these and further measures, Ottawa’s many potential home buyers waiting on the sidelines will finally be able to get a foothold in our local market,” she said.
