Ottawa’s housing market had a strong start to the year, with a 5.5 per cent jump in the average home price compared with this time last year, according to the latest trends report.
The city’s strong local economy and overall job stability contributed to the increase, according to the spring market trends report released by real-estate agency Re/Max Tuesday.
The report is forecasting a jump in new houses built along the O-Train Confederation Line this year, ahead of its opening in 2018.
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The value of an Algonquin College degree: Experiential learning, taught by industry experts
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The average residential sale price between January and March was $381,524, up from $361,503 a year ago. Meanwhile, the average price for condos was $270,498, up from $252,341 this time last year.
Overall there was an 18.4 per cent increase in units sold in Ottawa, with 3,156 units sold between January and March, compared with 2,666 units during the same period last year.
The Re/Max report mirrored strong results from the Ottawa Real Estate Board’s members in that agency’s most recent monthly report.
OREB said local realtors sold the second-highest number of homes on record for the month of March, recording 1,485 home sales last month, up 27 per cent from the 1,166 sales a year earlier. The five-year average for the month of March is 1,240 sales.
OREB said first-quarter sales in Ottawa are up 18.6 per cent year-over-year.
– With files from OBJ staff
This article originally appeared in Metro News on April 25.
