The August resale market in Ottawa experienced an “unusually sharp” drop in transactions, according to the Ottawa Real Estate Board. This followed sluggish sales during much of the year, although the market appeared to be stabilizing in July. The August sales decline hit all major housing types, from single-family homes to condos.
Realtors sold just 1,002 homes in August through the board’s Multiple Listing Service (MLS). That was down more than 18 per cent compared to the same month last year and a drop of more than 24 per cent from July 2026.
“This year’s slowdown was substantially larger than normal seasonal variation,” the board said in its report. “The August total tied 2022 for the lowest August sales count since 2016.”
Year-over-year, single-family sales fell 16.3 per cent, townhomes slipped just under 20 per cent and condo apartments declined more than 22 per cent. This broad-based weakness differs from earlier months, when the softer activity was more concentrated in townhouses and condos.
The board gave no definitive reason for last month’s poor sales performance.
For the year to date, Realtors have sold 9,283 homes compared to 9,936 at the same point last year, a decline of almost seven per cent. By comparison, the new-home market — buoyed by the temporary HST rebate starting in April — saw an increase of 50 per cent, from 2,066 to 3,090 through the end of July (August numbers not yet available at the time of writing.
Listings, inventory and prices
Last month’s slowdown was not caused by an infusion of fresh supply. In fact, both new listings and active listings dropped from July. Sales, however, tumbled much faster, weakening the usual relationship between supply and demand. Some sellers may be pausing or reassessing their plans rather than proceeding under current conditions, suggested the board, also noting that months of inventory rose to their highest August level since 2016.
Prices remained fairly stable in August. Average prices were $845,113 for single-family homes, $529,123 for townhomes and $426,930 for condos.
“Prices remained relatively steady despite the pullback in sales, which tells us this is not a simple story of the market moving uniformly in one direction,” said board president Tami Eades in a statement.
“Buyers are seeing less competitive conditions and have more time to make decisions, while sellers are facing more competition and may need to be thoughtful about pricing and positioning their homes for the current market. One month does not establish a trend, but the shift in sales and inventory is something we’ll be watching closely as we head into the fall market.”
