It was a wild month in February for Ottawa new home sales. They were up a whopping 76 per cent compared to the same month last year, which itself saw a strong performance.
There were 662 new home sales in February, compared to 376 a year ago, according to the latest Greater Ottawa Home Builders’ Association report prepared by industry analyst PMA Brethour Realty Group.
It was “an impressive performance by the market, especially considering that sales over the past few years have been quite good,” says PMA’s Ottawa president, Cheryl Rice.
So far for the year to date, new home sales are up 57 per cent over the same period last year. There were 1,132 sales in January and February combined, compared to 720 in 2019.
So, what’s behind the increase?
Rice attributes it to various factors.
“Strong demand clearly fuelled February sales, in spite of new home price increases,” she says. “Immigration, jobs, investors and consumer motivation to buy now rather than later were important contributing factors.
“In February, there were small product releases by quite a few builders. This is often done to pace sales in order to better manage construction schedules, closing dates, costs and pricing.”
Not surprisingly, perennial market leaders Minto Communities and Mattamy Homes had a good month, but topping them both was Claridge Homes, which recorded 144 sales for the month.
Blame it on townhomes again
Rice points to new townhome releases by Claridge at Bridlewood Trails, which had not had townhomes available for some time, as a key contributor to Claridge’s performance for the month: 76 of Claridge’s sales were townhomes.
“They sold very quickly due to pent-up demand for that product type.”
Minto also had townhomes at its Avalon Encore, Quinn’s Pointe and Arcadia projects contributing significantly to sales. Of the 123 homes Minto sold in February, 87 of them were towns.
But what happens now?
While the market was on pace to continue its red-hot performance through March and into the traditionally most popular time to buy — spring — the upheaval caused by COVID-19 measures has now thrown that into doubt.
Builders have closed their sales centres and model homes to the public and most have suspended planned lot releases for the time being. Although they are still available via phone, email and website chats, with some operating by appointment only, it is definitely not business as usual.
“The COVID-19 virus will have an impact on Ottawa’s new home sales in the coming weeks, but the extent to which the virus and protective measures have on sales numbers is yet to be seen,” says Rice. “We do expect, though, that consumers and builders will seek out and find new and innovative ways of using technology to sell and purchase new homes.”
In the meantime, potential buyers are encouraged to reach out to a builder’s sales centre before trying to visit. Contact information for the builders and their sales centres can be accessed via our development profiles.
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