Hi Everyone,
Let's get right into the Ottawa real estate market statistics.
$677,197
That was the average sale price of a residential home in Ottawa in the month of January.
***Ever wonder how the "Average Selling Price" number is calculated?? Find out at the bottom***
This price is up over 31% from January 2020:
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But why? The simple answer is supply.
The supply of residential homes continues to decline in the Ottawa area. The average number of residential active listings that were on the market in January 2021 was 62% lower than the previous January:
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So what does THIS mean? Well, from actual experience I can tell you. The past month I was representing buyer clients who were submitting offers for a few properties. House/Offer #1...there were 15 offers. House/Offer # 2...there were 19 offers. House/Offer # 3...there were 11 offers, with the final selling price for house #3 going $200,000+ above the list price. Needless to say, it is a sellers market!!
**There are ways "to get a sense" of how much a house will go over asking based on actual data I have collected throughout the buying process. Of course, every situation/property is different, but i've analyzed many offer situations over the past year to develop a model for this prediction.**
Until the supply factor changes, the sellers market and multi offers will continue in the residential segment.
Condominums
The condo market in Ottawa is also seeing gains, however, not at the pace of single family homes.
In January 2021, the average price of a condo in Ottawa was $380,336, up 12.8% from the previous January:
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When looking at the availability of condos in the Ottawa area, we notice a major difference when comparing to the residential space. In January 2021, there were 9% more condo units available for sale than the previous January:
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The buying trend in the last 10 months has been 'space'...people moving away from the downtown areas and into the suburbs so understandably we will see a bit more inventory in the condo space.
Summary
Normally reserved for a “quiet” month in real estate, January 2021 pushed that advice to the side. There were 20% more sales of residential properties in the month compared to last year. Houses spent 25 days on the market (on average) in January 2021 vs 39 days in January 2020. Needless to say, the market in Ottawa is weighted towards sellers.
In mid-January the Bank of Canada released a forecast for their overnight interest rate which heavily impacts mortgage rates. The Bank communicated they expect the overnight rate to be on hold "until into 2023," so expect financing rates to be at their historic lows for a while longer.
I'll continue to analyze housing and economic trends and update you all on foreseeable changes.
Average Selling Price - How is it calculated??
The Ottawa Real Estate Board (OREB) keeps track of every property transaction that occurs on the Multiple Listing Service (MLS);
First, they break it down by type of property sold and determine how many units of each type of property sold;
Then, they calculate the average sale price for each type of property;
Finally, they apply a weighted average to each type of property to come up with the final number that contributes to the monthly average.
Check out the January 2021 table for the Average Selling Price of a residential property in Ottawa:
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FYI - NEW WEBSITE ALERT
I have launched a new website!!
www.ericbraff.com
Check it out!! It's still in its initial stages and will be updated in the coming weeks. Have a look, click around, search for properties and play with mortgage calculators. As always, any feedback comments on it are always welcome!
As always, feel free to reach out if you have any questions about the Ottawa market or are considering buying or selling a property.
I'm always happy to help!
Have a great day!
Eric
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