Residential

The Bank of Canada said in a study Monday that the closure of many downtown services coupled with a desire for more living space increased demand for homes in suburban areas.

Economists attribute much of the cooling to rising interest and mortgage rates.

Homebuilders started work on 1,315 new dwelling units in Ottawa-Gatineau in April, down from 1,718 starts in the same month in 2021.

This amount is complemented by $740,000 for fee and development charge waivers from the City of Ottawa and $4 million in Ontario Priorities Housing Initiative funding.

The average residential-class property changed hands for about $802,000 last month, the city's real estate board said, up eight per cent from a year earlier but down more than $25,000 from April.

Canadian homebuyers are increasingly considering credit unions and private lenders to secure mortgages as rates rise, brokers say.

Realtors and lawyers say they have noticed buyers looking at what options they have to get out of a purchase because conditions have shifted dramatically from the previous highs and frenzied pace.

The association found the number of homes sold dropped by 25.7 per cent to 54,894 last month from 73,907 in April 2021, when the country set a record for the month.

Multi-unit starts on the Quebec side of the river dropped from 547 in April 2021 to just 163 last month, a decline of 70 per cent.

Ottawa firm said its funds from operations rose nearly 18 per cent compared with the first quarter of 2021, while its same-property occupancy rate jumped almost five percentage points.