While prices barely budged compared to last year, transactions in the September 2024 resale market showed a continuation of the growth that’s defined this year.
Realtors sold 1,047 homes through the Ottawa Real Estate Board’s Multiple Listing Service (MLS), according to the board. That was an 11.4 per cent increase from September 2023, although still more than 15 per cent below the 10-year average.
For the year to date, there have been 10,485 resale units sold, an increase of 6.4 per cent from the same period in 2023.
“As we navigate a shifting housing market, Ottawa’s fall outlook is healthy,” said board president Curtis Fillier in a statement. “Activity is robust with an uptick in sales and prices remaining steady.”
He added that buyers and sellers alike are rethinking their purchasing power amidst news about further interest rate cuts on the horizon, longer amortizations and increased price caps for insured mortgages.
Illustration: Ottawa Real Estate Board
By the numbers: prices, listings and insufficient new-build homes
The benchmark price in September for single-family homes was $729,000, up 0.5 per cent compared to the same month last year. Townhomes/row units had a benchmark price of $500,000, down 1.7 per cent from last year, while apartments were $414,200, down 1.3 per cent.
For the year to date, the average price of homes in Ottawa is $679,082, up just 0.9 per cent over last year.
New listings remained active at 2,343 last month, more than 11 per cent higher than the 10-year average.
Months of inventory — the number of months it would take to sell current inventories at the current rate of sales activity — was 3.4 at the end of September, up from 3.2 months in September 2023.
Despite the continuing increase in new listings and months of inventory, Fillier said Ottawa has chronic supply issues. “We’re not building enough homes in the city, and we’re not building enough of the right homes to address the ‘missing middle.’” (Missing middle refers to the lack of medium-density housing.)
The board’s September report also referenced a recent report from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) that found Ottawa’s “population-adjusted construction is at its lowest level in nearly a decade.”
As well, the board pointed to the City of Ottawa progress report showing that, at the end of August, the city was at only 22 per cent of its annual housing target.
