Residential

The national housing agency says the seasonally adjusted annual rate of housing starts in August was 267,443 units, down three per cent from 275,158 in July.

In its latest housing market outlook released Thursday, the association said it expects 532,545 properties to trade hands via Canadian MLS systems this year.

“Eventually, interest rates will go back down, and then people are going to (scramble) trying to buy everything up,” Paul Rushforth predicts, adding city could see “a mini version" of 2021's frenzy.

Ottawa realtors sold 1,137 residential properties in August, down 27 per cent from the 1,565 transactions a year earlier and well below the five-year average of 1,603.

Firm backed by billionaire tech magnate Terry Matthews says it hopes to start construction on the $120-million project, which will include a restaurant and about 250 apartment units, this fall.

Housing agency says work began on 2,130 new housing units in the National Capital Region last month, with multi-unit builds soaring almost 400 per cent year-over-year.

On a seasonally adjusted basis, the association says sales in July fell 5.3 per cent compared with June. The actual number of sales last month was 37,975, down 29 per cent compared with July last year.

Immigration-fuelled population growth and rising interest rates that have driven up the cost of buying a home helped boost Minto Apartment REIT’s bottom line in the second quarter.

Ottawa-based real estate investment trust said Tuesday its funds from operations rose 6.3 per cent compared with the second quarter of 2021 to $18.9 million.

Sales worth $1 million or more now account for nearly one in five Ottawa residential transactions – up from less than five per cent just two years ago, Engel & Volkers says.