The boom in Ottawa’s housing market continued last month, with surging September resale numbers reported by the Ottawa Real Estate Board.
Realtors sold 51 per cent more homes through the board’s Multiple Listing Service (MLS) than they did in the same month last year. In total, 2,329 residential properties changed hands, up from 1,547 last September and far ahead of the five-year average of 1,602.
The bulk of the sales increase was in non-condominium properties.
Unusual pattern
“The resale market in 2020, especially since the outset of the pandemic, has certainly not followed the usual spring and fall cycles we typically experience,” said board president Deb Burgoyne in a statement. “This year has had its own distinct ebb and flow, and whether this momentum in our market will continue is difficult to predict.”
Burgoyne also noted that September was the second month in a row that inventory grew at a notable rate. Over 2,900 new properties entered the market in September, a promising sign after the long-standing inventory shortage that’s plagued the Ottawa resale market.
“(The) continued increase in new listings and demand remaining strong allows us to be cautiously optimistic” about the local market’s continued momentum, according to Burgoyne.
MORE: Ottawa’s resale market hot in August
Prices hit all-time high
In September, non-condo properties soared to an average selling price of $622,557. Condos averaged $373,565. By comparison, two years ago, in September 2018, non-condominium homes averaged less than $450,000 and condos were going for under $283,000.
However, Burgoyne pointed out that heavy movement in higher-priced homes last month pushed those average prices beyond what they might have otherwise been.
“September’s median prices, which is calculated removing the extreme upper and lower prices, do show more moderate price gains coming in at $570,000 for residential properties and $350,000 for condominiums,” she said.
She added that buyers, faced with a seller’s market, are becoming more flexible when it comes to a home’s condition or location.
