Following a stronger than usual start to the year, April new home sales in Ottawa cooled slightly.
There were 453 new homes sales in April, down 3.4 per cent compared to the 469 homes sold in April 2017, according to the Greater Ottawa Home Builders’ Association monthly new home report, which is compiled by industry analyst PMA Brethour Realty Group.
Sales were also down compared to March, when 475 homes were sold. The results reverse the trend of the first three months of 2018, all of which had sales above their respective months the year before.
However, sales overall for the year are still up 2.7 per cent, with 1,672 sales so far this year, compared to 1,628 last year. And April sales were still higher than the 10-year average for the month.
“Tight supply, a shortage of trades, longer closing dates, unknown future costs,” are all contributing to the market conditions, PMA’s Ottawa president, Cheryl Rice, says in a release. And all of this is while buyers “anxiously await new openings and product releases.”
The resale market, on the other hand, jumped more than 13 per cent, yet Rice notes that “ever-increasing buyer demand, low resale inventory, bidding wars, and record-high prices are creating conditions for an unprecedented sellers’ market in Ottawa.”
An interest rate hike in April of almost half a percentage point by one bank that prompted others to follow suit “is sure to impact mortgage approvals,” she says, “but determined new home buyers wanting to get in on the action in Canada’s hottest housing market – will.”
More affordable home options are doing particularly well, Rice says. “Townhomes are flying off the shelf – builders can’t release them fast enough.” Townhomes captured 42 per cent of the market share for the month. “And this pace, or should I say race, is showing no sign of slowing down anytime soon.”
Related
How Ottawa’s resale market did in April
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