Ottawa's Resale Housing Market Stabilizes In July

The strong Ottawa real estate market showed signs of stability in its pricing and housing sales compared to previous months, including strong market growth that started to take off in mid-2019.  

Here are the indicators that signal the housing market's stability for the first time in over 2 years:

Residential Resale Prices Decreased Compared To Previous Months 

• Ottawa's residential resale prices averaged $685,426 compared to the average resale price of $726,000 in June this year, which is approximately a 6% decrease. While the average resale price increased, from July 2020 to July 2021, the percentage level of increase declined compared to previous months where the average resale price was 20% or more.

New Housing Inventory Increased Slightly

• New residential resale and condo listings increased slightly by 2.8% with 3,431 listings available in the market compared to 3,338 new listings that existed in July 2020. 

Reduced Sales In Residential Resale Market 

• 1,312 residential resale properties were sold, a decrease of 20%, compared to 1,641 properties sold in July 2020. 

• Residential resale properties were sold quickly on average from 33 days to 19 days on the market, which is a 41.8% decrease from July 2020.

• Based on the number of properties sold, buyers purchased residential properties in the $500,000 to $1,000,000 and over $1,000,000 price range which accounted for 76.2% of the residential resale property sales.

• Despite lower residential sale numbers, buyers purchased mostly: 
  • Two-storey properties - average sale price - $716,285 (previously $616,753 in July 2020)
  • Bungalows (1-storey) - average sale price - $648,689 (previously $546,981 in July 2020) 

• Most of the residential properties were purchased in:
  • Downtown/Central Ottawa - average sale price - $783,800 (previously $716,594 in July 2020)
  • Kanata/Nepean/Barrhaven - average sale price - $719,047 (previously $605,206 in July 2020)
  • Orleans - average sale price - $660,573 (previously $580,009 in July 2020)
  • Casselman/Rockland/Hawkesbury - average sale price - $513,871 (previously $430,031 in July 2020)

Slight Sale Increases In Condo Resale Market 

• 412 units were sold compared to 542 units sold in the same month in 2020, a 24% decrease. 

• Condo units did not sell quickly compared to residential properties. They were sold on average from 18 days to 22 days on the market, which is a 21.4% increase from the same month in 2020.  

• Based on the number of units sold, most buyers purchased condo units priced in the $250,000 to under the $500,000 price range, accounting for 81% of the condo market. 

• Despite lower condo sales, the most sold condo units were:  
  • Two-storey units - average sale price - $391,268 (previously $329,789 in July 2020)
  • One-level units - average sale price - $434,656 (previously $378,628 in July 2020)

• Most of the condos purchased were in:
  • Downtown/Central Ottawa - average sale price - $451,685 (previously $384,047 in July 2020) 

Eastern, Southern & Western Districts of Ottawa and Ottawa Valley Gained Significant Increases in Year-To-Date Average Sale Prices

Despite lower housing sales, districts in the eastern, southern and western rural parts of the city were the highly-ranked areas that had significant average sale price increases year-to-date (from July 2020 - July 2021):

• In core Ottawa, Stittsville and the surrounding areas, Kanata, Barrhaven and Orleans had both the average sale price gains over 14%, along with the highest number of housing sales. (See results in the first table below in the far left).

• From Arnprior to Cornwall and Kemptville South, residential properties were sold for an average of $526,500, a 20.5% increase compared to July 2020. (See results in the third table below in the far right).

Source: James Bagnall, Ottawa Citizen, @JamesBagnall1, August 5, 2021