Ottawa’s July 2024 resale market continued the seesaw trend of the past several months. Sales transactions increased over July 2023 but followed a recent mix of declines and increases.
The latest report from the Ottawa Real Estate Board says Realtors sold 1,241 homes in July through the board’s Multiple Listing Service (MLS). That was an increase of 13.6 per cent from the same month last year but still almost nine per cent below the 10-year average.
Year-to-date sales are 5.5 per cent higher than 2023 and 4.6 per cent above the 10-year average.
“As the market pace typically slows in the summer, July’s activity is encouraging and could be a sign of more gains ahead,” said board president Curtis Fillier in a statement.
“Buyer confidence is slowly but surely catching up while sellers continue to add a steady stream of new listings. Of course, the extent to which that translates into transactions depends on the type of properties and price points available in our communities as supply and affordability issues persist.”
Illustration courtesy of Ottawa Real Estate Board
Fillier said two recent initiatives to help homebuyers — two interest cuts by the Bank of Canada and the federal government’s introduction of 30-year amortizations for first-time buyers of new-build homes — will help some buyers. However, he also pointed to a Bank of Canada comment that municipal zoning restrictions and high development fees are challenges to the supply in the new-build market.
According to the Ontario government, Ottawa is far behind in its 2024 housing starts. To date, it has built only 1,593 homes, or 13 per cent, of the 12,583 homes targeted for this year.
MORE: June resale market little changed from 2023
Singles continue to dominate & prices creep up
In keeping with the makeup of Ottawa’s existing housing stock, single-family homes continued to rule the resale market in July. Realtors sold 652 singles compared to 395 towns and 189 condos.
Prices were both up and down in the July 2024 resale market.
The benchmark price for singles was $734,700 (down 0.1 per cent from last July), townhomes were $506,900 (up 3.4 per cent) and condos were $422,800 (a 0.9 per cent decrease).
Year-to-date, overall benchmark prices are up 0.1 per cent from 2023 and up a staggering 50.5 per cent from five years ago.
Other numbers in the board’s July report include a continuing increase in new resale listings, which were 6.9 per cent above the 10-year average.
There were 2.8 months of inventory at the end of July, up from 2.3 in the same month last year. Inventory is the number of months it would take to sell current stocks at the current rate of sales activity.
