Ottawa’s September 2023 resale market was smack dab in the middle of balanced territory with demand and supply in equal proportions, according to the Ottawa Real Estate Board (OREB).
A balanced market may not be as exciting as the frenetic sellers’ market we saw during the height of the pandemic, but it does mean there are enough homes to satisfy buyer needs, prices are holding fairly steady, buyers can take the time to get the all-important home inspection done — something many skipped during the pandemic because the competition for homes was so intense — and buyers and sellers both get a fair kick at the resale can.
In September, Realtors sold 946 homes through OREB’s Multiple Listing Service (MLS), down just slightly from the same month last year. However, September’s sales were almost 30 per cent less than the five-year average for the month and almost 24 per cent less than the 10-year average.
“Sales activity came in right on par with where it stood at the same time last year but was still running well below typical levels for a September,” said board president, Ken Dekker, in a statement.
Single-family homes saw the highest sales at 504, followed by townhomes (281) and condos (154).
For the year to date, Realtors have sold 9,889 homes, a drop of 13 per cent compared to the same period last year, when a strong start gave the entire year a bit of a boost.
Slow sales have been the case for more than a year and a half. The long-term slump, which market watchers attribute to factors that include high interest rates and inflation, holds true for many other Canadian cities as well as for Ottawa’s new-home market.
Prices vary little, inventory grows
September’s average resale price in Ottawa for a single-family home was $727,500, up a negligible 0.6 per cent from a year ago.
Townhomes sold for an average of $510,900, an increase of 2.5 per cent, and condos fetched $422,300, down 1.1 per cent.
These price increases contrast sharply with what was happening during the height of the pandemic. For example, in September 2021, overall non-condo prices were 13 per cent higher and condos were up 14 per cent compared to the previous year.
Prices vary a good deal depending on the neighbourhood, and a recent survey on housing affordability from the real estate data firm Wahi found Bells Corners was among Ontario’s most affordable housing markets. According to the survey, a household income of $125,000 will buy a home in Bells Corners, where the median price of a home was $499,950 at the time of the survey. Bells Corners was an outlier in Ottawa, where other neighbourhoods require a household income of at least $150,000.
New listings last month hit 2,259, an increase of almost 10 per cent from September 2022. Those listings were 4.8 per cent above the five-year average and seven per cent above the 10-year average for the month of September.
“New listings have surged in the past several months, which has caused overall inventories to begin gradually rising again,” said Dekker. “However, available supply is still low by historical standards, and we have ample room to absorb more listings coming on the market.”
