August 2024 new-home sales show the Ottawa market is improving, but it’s a long, slow process.
The latest monthly report prepared for the Greater Ottawa Home Builders’ Association by industry analyst PMA Brethour Realty Group shows there were 230 new-home sales in August compared to 169 last year and 2,344 sales for the year to date, versus 1,736 last year.
“Considering the seasonal market, August new-home sales showed continued improvement over last year’s monthly and year-to-date sales with increases of 36.1 per cent and 35 per cent, respectively,” says PMA Ottawa president Cheryl Rice. “Not bad for a market in recovery mode.”
While that performance is still below the average, Rice is optimistic for the fall market.
“With two rate cuts so far this year and potentially another two quarter per cent cuts expected in the months to come, we could see a full point reduction in the Bank of Canada’s benchmark rate by the end of this year,” she says. “Of further encouragement to homebuyers and builders is the potential for another wave of rate reductions in 2025.
“And with buyers having sat on the sidelines for some time now observing and assessing inflationary, economic, employment and political factors that influence their ability to borrow and spend, the housing market is poised to heat up this fall.”
Not surprisingly given affordability concerns, townhomes captured half the sales in August, with the rest made up of singles (28 per cent), condo towns (13 per cent) and condo apartments (eight per cent).
And, as it has for some time, the south end of the city captured the highest share of sales at 41 per cent followed by the west at 31 per cent, east at 26 per cent and central at two per cent.
Builder innovation continues to drive affordability through new designs, floor plans and features, with some homes priced in the $300,000s, says Rice. “When was the last time we saw these prices?”
She also notes that new singles and even townhomes are being built to accommodate multi-generational and income-generating housing, offering more options for buyers. “The market is far from offering ‘something for everybody,’ but the range of new-home products and pricing options haven’t been this good in a very long time.”
