There is good news to report on several fronts in the numbers for the Ottawa Real Estate market in March, the Ottawa Real Estate Board has reported.
March of 2017 saw a near-record number of resale property sales and realtors saw a lot more multiple offers during the month, partly because of lower inventory, the Board says in a press release.
Members of the Board sold 1,485 properties in March of 2017, making it the second-best March on record in the Ottawa area.
That’s up dramatically from the 1,160 properties sold in March of 2016, representing an increase of 28%. The sales were above the five-year average for the month of March in the Ottawa area, which is 1,240. The sales in March of 2017 were just 13 properties shy of the all-time record, which was set in March of 2010.
“The busy spring selling season descended upon Ottawa early this year,” said Rick Eisert, President of the Ottawa Real Estate Board.
“We’re also starting to see properties move faster, with the average cumulative days on market sitting at 82 days. With all these positive numbers, it’s still important to emphasize that price and conditions vary from neighbourhood to neighbourhood.”
Rick Eisert said that along with the lower inventory, “the number of properties listed in March also experienced a decrease over last year and is about 100 units shy of the five-year average for March.”
The March sales included 314 in the condominium class category and 1,171 in the residential property class. The condo class refers to any property, regardless of style, which is registered as a condominium, as well as properties which are co-ops, life leases and timeshares. The residential property class refers to all other properties.
As for prices, the average sale price of a residential-class property in Ottawa in March was $415,467, an increase of 5.3 % over the average in March of 2016. The average sale price for a condo-class property was $272,597, also a 5.3 % increase over the average a year ago. The Board always cautions that while the average sale price in a given month “can be useful in establishing trends over time,” the price should “not be used as an indicator that specific properties have increased or decreased in value.
The Board says the Ottawa area has seen an increase in sales numbers for properties in the over $1 million range, “with 50 properties sold over $1 million in the first quarter of 2017, compared with only 22 in the first quarter of 2016. Again this month, a higher number of properties in the over $1 million price range were sold. These gains were in both the residential and condominium property classes, with seven more residential units and four more condo units sold this year over last year. These high-end property sales are taking place throughout the market, with Rockcliffe Park, the Glebe and Westboro leading the way.”
Still, it’s good to keep in mind that the two most active price points in the residential market in March were in the $300,000 to $399,999 and $400,000 to $499,999 range. Those two ranges accounted for 53.7 % of the market for residential properties.
Within the condo market, the most active price range was in the $150,000 to $249,999 range, accounting for 51.2% of the market. That’s especially good news if you happen to be a first-time buyer and possibly considering a condo. Prices in our region are still much more affordable than in the Toronto and Vancouver communities, making it much easier to get your foot into the market. In the city of Toronto for March, for example, the average sale price of a condominium apartment was $550,299.
If you are interested in selling or buying property as we enter the busy spring-summer season, I’d love to hear from you and chat about the Ottawa market, and the experience I can offer with more than three decades as a realtor. You can contact me through my website, www.nancybenson.com, or give me a call at 613-747-4747.
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