The effects of Ontario’s latest stay-home order amid the novel coronavirus on Ottawa’s housing market are yet to be seen, the local real estate board said this week, but “pent-up buyer demand” in the nation’s capital still drove a surge in January sales figures.
Members of the Ottawa Real Estate Board (OREB) sold 964 properties last month, an increase of 24 per cent over January 2020. Of those sales, 674 were in the residential property class, while 290 were condos.
As far as sales prices go, the average condo sale was priced at $380,336 in January, a year-over-year increase of 13 per cent from last year and a seven per cent increase from December 2020.
Story continues below advertisement
The average residential sale price last month ballooned to $677,197, up 31 per cent from January 2020 and up 12 per cent compared to the previous month.
But OREB President Debra Wright cautioned market watchers from reading too much into the soaring home prices. She pointed to increased sales activity at the higher end of Ottawa’s real estate market as driving the spike in value — 63 properties sold for more than $1 million last month, compared to just 16 in that price range a year ago.
5:44 Matt Lee looks at Kingston real estate stats for January
Matt Lee looks at Kingston real estate stats for January
Despite a surge in post-holiday listings early in the month, Ottawa is still facing a tight housing inventory, Wright noted. The stay-home order, which came into effect provincewide on Jan. 14, instilled an immediate slowdown on new listings in the local market, she said.
Inventory levels are now down “substantially” from this time last year, according to OREB, with 43 per cent fewer properties now on the market. If there were more stock, Wright expects sales would have been even higher in January.
Story continues below advertisement
“This inventory shortage coupled with strong demand triggered a brisk pace to the market. We would have certainly seen higher sales numbers if there were more properties available because the demand is definitely there,” she said.
While overall market activity is lower than it was at the end of 2020, the long-term prospects for Ottawa’s housing market in 2021 could be affected by the length of the current COVID-19 lockdown measures, Wright said.
“If the lockdown is extended, that could affect the market in the longer term; however, as we saw last year, the market was resilient throughout and is being driven by the needs of buyers and sellers.”
1:54 Agent shows Toronto home with COVID-19-positive residents inside
Agent shows Toronto home with COVID-19-positive residents inside – Jan 22, 2021
TORONTO – One expert predicts Ottawa‘s changes to mortgage rules will help spur demand among potential homebuyers but says policies aimed at driving new supply are needed to address the “core issues” facing the market.
The federal government’s changes, set to come into force mid-December, include a higher price cap for insured mortgages to allow more people to qualify for a mortgage with less than a 20 per cent down payment.
The government will also expand its 30-year mortgage amortization to include first-time homebuyers buying any type of home, as well as anybody buying a newly built home.
CIBC Capital Markets deputy chief economist Benjamin Tal calls it a “significant” move likely to accelerate the recovery of the housing market, a process already underway as interest rates have begun to fall.
However, he says in a note that policymakers should aim to “prevent that from becoming too much of a good thing” through policies geared toward the supply side.
Tal says the main issue is the lack of supply available to respond to Canada’s rapidly increasing population, particularly in major cities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17,2024.
OTTAWA – The Canadian Real Estate Association says the number of homes sold in August fell compared with a year ago as the market remained largely stuck in a holding pattern despite borrowing costs beginning to come down.
The association says the number of homes sold in August fell 2.1 per cent compared with the same month last year.
On a seasonally adjusted month-over-month basis, national home sales edged up 1.3 per cent from July.
CREA senior economist Shaun Cathcart says that with forecasts of lower interest rates throughout the rest of this year and into 2025, “it makes sense that prospective buyers might continue to hold off for improved affordability, especially since prices are still well behaved in most of the country.”
The national average sale price for August amounted to $649,100, a 0.1 per cent increase compared with a year earlier.
The number of newly listed properties was up 1.1 per cent month-over-month.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
MONTREAL – Two Quebec real estate brokers are facing fines and years-long suspensions for submitting bogus offers on homes to drive up prices during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Christine Girouard has been suspended for 14 years and her business partner, Jonathan Dauphinais-Fortin, has been suspended for nine years after Quebec’s authority of real estate brokerage found they used fake bids to get buyers to raise their offers.
Girouard is a well-known broker who previously starred on a Quebec reality show that follows top real estate agents in the province.
She is facing a fine of $50,000, while Dauphinais-Fortin has been fined $10,000.
The two brokers were suspended in May 2023 after La Presse published an article about their practices.
One buyer ended up paying $40,000 more than his initial offer in 2022 after Girouard and Dauphinais-Fortin concocted a second bid on the house he wanted to buy.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
