Steady Year in Ottawa Residential Real Estate 

The Ottawa real estate board ended the year on a positive note with an uptick in 4^thquarter sales.  Overall transactions for the year showed a slight increase over a strong year in 2010.  2011 transactions totalled 14,412;  an increase of 1.7% over the previous year and also slightly higher than the 5 year transaction average. 

Average prices for properties sold continued to increase, with residential properties showing a 5.4% increase ($367,986) throughout the year and condos increases averaged 4.6% ($260,724).  The average property took slightly longer to sell in 2011 with residential properties selling in 36 days and condos in 35 days. 

One potential area for concern is that listing inventory has built throughout the year and at year end we have 31.9% more residential listings than a year ago and 12.1% more condos.  This would indicate that there are more sellers than buyers in the market and we would normally expect that this should put some pressure on selling prices but thus far the average price increases remain positive.  Although the month of December average price increases of properties sold was only .2% for residential properties and +3.0% for condos, so perhaps we are seeing a moderating influence from this additional listing inventory. 

Here are the average selling prices of some categories of homes in our area: 

Residential:

Overall average selling price during 2011: $385,523 +5.1%

2 storey detached home:  $431,881  +4.4%

Detached bungalow:  $343,523 +7.0%

2 storey row townhome:  $297,763 +4.9%

2 storey semi detached: $356,948  + 9.9% 

Condominium:

Apartment condo:  $290,009 + 3.7%

Row townhome:     $227,589 + 5.2%

Stacked townhome: $230,479 +4.8% 

For detailed information on your own neighbourhood, feel free to give us a call to schedule a no charge no obligation market analysis of your property. 

Gord McCormick, Broker of Record

Dawn Davey, Broker

Oasis Realty Brokerage

613-435-4692 or 613-371-9691

Slight sales transaction increase, average prices moderate and listing inventory continues to grow

Sales results in positive territory overall but still some mixed signals in our marketplace, based on just released October 2011 results from the Ottawa Real Estate Board.

Key Indicators/Trends:

Monthly Unit Sales: Unit residential and condo sales for the month were only slightly ahead of 2010 with a total of 1062 properties sold this year vs 1038 during the same month last year. (+2.3%) There were 809 residential properties sold and 253 condos during the month of October this year.

Year to date unit sales: Year to date unit sales are pretty well even to last year, with 9,852 residential properties sold (+.4%) and 2,839 condos sold (+1.4%) this year through October.

Year to date average prices: The average price of properties sold this year has increased 5.4% for residential properties and 5.1% for condos. The average residential property has sold for $368,270 and the average condo $260,204 on a year to date basis. Average prices pulled back in October, however with the average residential price sold during the month being up only 2% compared to 2010. Condos in October actually showed a slight decline (1.5%) in average price but this is on a relatively smaller sample size of only 253 sales.

Listing Inventory: Residential inventory is 35.1% higher than at the same time last year and condo inventory is 21.4% higher. While there are some anomalies caused by increases in certain types of listings being taken that were not as prevalent a year ago (mere postings, for example), there is no question that overall listing inventory has increased throughout the year during 2011. While the overall market is deemed to be in a “balanced” position, (roughly equal number of buyers and sellers) our anecdotal experience would suggest that the market is slowing and we are seeing some uncertainty and price ceiling pressure.

New Construction: New construction has seen a larger % of sales moving towards apartment condos, row town homes, stacked town homes and semi-detached homes at the expense of higher priced single family homes. This may be another indicator of some price pressure or pull back from a sustained period of price increases and the growing % of income necessary to support new home purchases on a monthly basis. This trend to condos and townhomes may also be somewhat due to the influence of the demographic shift of “baby boomers” moving in to smaller or less maintenance intensive properties.

Mortgage Rates: Mortgage rates continue to be at very attractive levels and thus support the housing market and equity growth by homeowners. Recent rates from mortgage brokers have shown 5 year fixed rates as low as 3.39% and variable rates in the 2.8-2.85% range

June 2011 Ottawa Sales: Largest sales month this year! Prices up, transactions improve and inventory still above last year

Unit Sales:

June results show 1712 properties sold by Ottawa Real Estate Board members, making this the largest month for unit transactions this year. Typically, May is the number one sales month but this year only 1659 sales were recorded in May. It is possible that a wet spring and the Federal Election may have delayed some purchasers. Transactions were actually 11% higher than in June 2010 but were still down 7.2% compared to 2009 and fairly flat against the 5 year average of 1695 units sold.

The year to date picture shows a unit sales decline of 6.3%, against the “beat the HST” market influence which boosted sales in the first portion of 2010.

Average Prices:

Prices of properties sold continue to rise with a fairly significant monthly increase of 9.6% for condos to $275,996 and +7.3% for residential properties to $375,539. On a year to date basis the overall average price of properties sold has increased 5.9%.

Inventory:

Residential listing inventory continues to run higher than a year ago at 22.2% and condo inventory is 19.1% higher than at the end of June 2010. Both of these numbers are relatively similar to results at the end of May this year. There are close to 8,000 total properties currently listed by the Ottawa Real Estate Board.

Average YTD Prices by Housing Type:

Detached single home: $392,091

Semi-detached home:   $354,689

Freehold Row home:     $310,245

Condo: (all types)         $260,326

Disappointing Sales Yield Lowest May Transaction Count since May 2005

Ottawa’s real estate market certainly appears to be slowing, based on recently released statistics for the month of May. With the exception of average resale prices which are still increasing, virtually all other key indicators are in negative territory.

The two most significant indicators are the number of sales transactions and listing inventory and both trends are somewhat worrisome. Since May is historically the number one sales month of the year, these results are especially significant. While the Ottawa Board press release notes that transactions were “virtually unchanged” from 2010, this does not provide a detailed enough comparison. In fact, one has to go all the way back to May 2005 to find a lower number of total residential sales transactions in the month of May.(combination of residential and condo unit sales)

While sales transactions in 2011 were only 1.6% fewer than in 2010, when compared against 2009 this year’s results represent a 15.7% decline. Also, year to date transaction levels are a full 10% lower than last year, so the market is definitely slowing.

At the end of May, there were 4814 residential properties listed for sale (22.1% more than last year) and 1161 condos. (27.4% more) This means there are more than 1100 more properties (res and condo combined) for sale than at the same time a year ago. The combination of the lower transaction volume and increasing inventory certainly points to demand shifting in favour of buyers, although technically, the market is still considered to be “balanced” (favouring neither seller nor buyer)

Those with properties currently listed will want to take a good look at their price positioning right now, as June normally is the second largest sales month of the year and is followed by July and August when transactions typically drop off 30-35%, as Ottawans go on vacation. Generally speaking, it would be advisable to take price reduction action now, when theoretically, there are more buyers in the market than there will be in 45 or 60 days from now.

Buyers without properties to sell; may find some buying opportunities in the coming months, as those with listed properties may find it necessary to re-adjust their price expectations in order to find a willing buyer. Accordingly, we would expect that the average price increases of sold properties to moderate.

Do not hesitate to give us a call if you would like to discuss how these market results and outlook affect your own housing plans.

Dawn Davey, Broker

Gord McCormick, Broker of Record

Oasis Realty Brokerage

613-435-4692

oasisrealty@rogers.com

www.oasisrealtyottawa.com

In today's real estate market environment, it just makes sense to be represented by a real estate professional and beat other buyers to new listings.  We constantly hear from buyers who follow new listings on their own, only to find out many properties are already sold by the time they see them.  As your buyer representatives, we will help insure you get immediate notification of all new listings that meet your buying criteria.  We will provide you notification to the hottest new homes for sale in Ottawa with our "Instantaneous listing notification service" and you will never miss out on a hot new listing again. See the "Home Search" page at left for details.       Welcome to Oasis Realty, Brokerage your source for Ottawa real estate which offers Quality Service & Affordable Rates!

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