Temperatures may have cooled in November but the Ottawa new home market sure didn’t. And no one felt that more than Richcraft, which had a banner month in more ways than one.
New home sales for November hit 447, a whopping 56.3 per cent higher than the same month last year, which saw 286 sales, according to industry analyst PMA Brethour Realty Group. And Richcraft saw more than its usual amount of those sales, coming in second in market share for the month, bumping out perennial top performer Minto.
The results were icing on the cake for Richcraft, which also celebrated its dominance at the local housing industry’s SAM awards, taking home 10 trophies for sales and marketing achievements that were given out by the Greater Ottawa Home Builders’ Association.
When it came to home sales, Richcraft recorded 48 purchases for a 10.7-per-cent share, behind Mattamy at 17.7 per cent. eQ Homes was a close third at 9.4 per cent and Minto, which typically jockeys with Mattamy for top spot each month, came in fourth in market share for November.
Also performing well for the month were Tamarack and Urbandale. In fact, it was a strong month for many Ottawa builders, with total sales reaching higher than they have in the past five years.
And for the year to date, sales have already surpassed the total for all of 2016 (4,425 sales), and blown past the 5,000 benchmark to hit 5,242, an almost 25-per-cent increase over the same time last year.
“The Ottawa market has proven its resilience against downward pressures such as the new mortgage rules, interest rate hikes, and higher land and construction costs for builders,” PMA’s Ottawa president, Cheryl Rice, says in a statement. “This past year, Ottawa has been the epitome of a balanced market where supply meets demand, and price increases are steady and incremental.”
Rice expects sales will see a slight dip in the first quarter of 2018 as the market adjusts to a new stress test that comes into effect Jan. 1 and targets uninsured borrowers with down payments of over 20 per cent. But she expects it will “bounce back to life in the spring and for the remainder of the year.
“Ottawa continues to be one of the most affordable and desirable places to buy a new home,” she says.
Related
