I’m pleased to share good news on many fronts from the Ottawa Real Estate Market Re-Sale scene in April of 2017, including near-record sales numbers for the month.
The Ottawa Real Estate Board also reports a trend towards a seller’s market, with lower inventory, increased demand and many more multiple offer situations than we had been seeing. If you have your home on the market or are about to list your home, that’s promising news.
In a press release, the Real Estate Board has reported that members of the Board sold 1,795 properties in April of 2017 through the Board’s Multiple Listing Service. That’s an increase of 4.9 per cent over the 1,711 that sold in April of 2016. It’s also above the five-year average for April sales, which is 1,613.
And it’s just shy of the all-time record, the Board reports.
“The April resale market continued its upward trend in units sold, just shy of a record set in 2010,” says Rick Eisert, President of the Ottawa Real Estate Board, in the release.
“Sales activity is indicating a trend towards a seller’s market. Lower inventory, combined with increased demand, is creating many more multiple offer situations and quicker moving properties, with the average cumulative days on market dipping to just 71 days.”
As well, Rick Eisert says, “we continue to see a trend in the amount of high-end units selling.”
The number of properties selling for $500,000 and up “has increased over last year and even more significantly in the over $1 million market, which doubled in sales over April 2016. Since the beginning of the year, 83 properties over $1 million switched hands, compared to only 38 in the same time-frame last year. The increase in sales for high-end properties may be fuelled by a combination of the migration of buyers from Toronto and move-up buyers. Another contributing factor is that many, generally well-paying, jobs are opening up in the high-tech sector, driving more people into the Ottawa market.”
As for prices, the average sale price of a residential-class property sold in April in the Ottawa area was $435,883, representing an increase of 7.9 per cent over April of 2016.
The average sale price of a condominium-class property was $268,553, an increase of 2.9 per cent over April of 2016. As it always does, the Board cautions that while the average price in a given month can be useful in establishing trends over time, it should not be used as an indicator that specific properties have increased or decreased in value.
The calculation of the average sale price for a specific month is based on the total dollar volume of all properties sold. Price and conditions will vary from neighbourhood to neighbourhood.
To give you a sense of the local market, the two most active price points in the Ottawa area in the residential market continue to be in the $300,000 to $399,999 range and then the $400,000 to $499,999 range. Those prices combined accounted for 55. 1 per cent of the Ottawa market.
Within the condo market, the most active price point was between $150,000 and $249,999. That price range accounted for 53.8 per cent of the condo market.
Looking at the actual number of sales in April, the Ottawa market saw 312 sales in the condo property class, and 1,483 in the residential property class. The condominium property class refers to any property, regardless of style, which is registered as a condominium, as well as properties which are co-operatives, life leases and timeshares. The residential property class refers to all other residential properties.
So things are looking exciting for the Ottawa market in our busy spring-summer buying season.
If you are interested in listing a property or buying in the coming months, I’d love to meet and chat with you about the local market, and tell you about the expertise I can offer, with more than 30 years as a realtor.
You can read more about me and my team and have a look at my listings at www.nancybenson.com, where you can also get in touch with me. You can also give me a call at 613-747-4747. I’d love to hear from you.
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