Ottawa home sales surge in May as buyers are ‘gaining confidence’: OREB

David Sali

June 9, 2025

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The Ottawa Real Estate Board says homebuyers “appear to be gaining confidence” as home sales rose significantly in May compared with the same month a year ago. OREB says 1,807 housing units changed hands last month, a 14.9 per cent increase from May 2024 and a whopping 33 per cent jump from the previous month. While year-to-date activity in Ottawa remains in line with 2024 at about 5,800 total sales, OREB says the surge from April to May suggests the capital is “experiencing a delayed spring market” as buyers are getting more comfortable with shopping for homes again. “April’s federal election took up real estate in consumers’ minds,” OREB president Paul Czan said in a news release. “Now, we’re seeing a shift in the marketplace, with active listings on the rise and months of inventory holding steady. Buyers appear to be gaining confidence, re-entering the market and transacting. For sellers, however, rising inventory means that competitive pricing and strong presentation are more critical than ever.” The sales jump in Ottawa last month is in sharp contrast to other big Canadian markets such as the Greater Toronto Area, where transactions fell more than 13 per cent year-over-year, and Vancouver, where sales plummeted 18.5 per cent compared with May 2024. Czan said that while those markets are “showing signs of stagnation,” Ottawa is holding its own. “Buyers and sellers are still able to transact fairly, with sale prices remaining close to list, even amid broader economic uncertainty,” he said, adding the Bank of Canada’s recent decision to hold its benchmark interest rate steady “may spur more activity” as buyers grow more confident. The number of new listings in Ottawa rose 8.7 per cent from a year ago to 3,430 last month. OREB said there were 4,347 active residential listings at the end of last month, up 13.5 per cent from May 2024. The overall composite benchmark price of a home in Ottawa was $629,800 last month, a 0.8 per cent increase from the same month a year ago. The benchmark price for single-family homes was $700,000, up 0.6 per cent year-over-year, while the benchmark price for a townhouse/row unit was $446,900, a 3.4 per cent increase from a year earlier. The average price of homes sold last month was $728,623, a 4.8 per cent increase from May 2024. “This was the month Ottawa needed,” Brandon Reay, manager at RE/MAX Hallmark Realty Group, said in a news release. “May didn’t just outperform expectations; it brought us back in line with last year’s volume after a sluggish start to 2025.” Still, Reay said he doesn’t expect a return to the overheated market conditions of earlier in the decade, when bidding wars were commonplace. “Buyers are more cautious, more selective, and better informed than they were a few years ago,” he said.