Record-breaking 2021 for Ottawa real estate
Ottawa’s real estate market set new price and sales records in 2021 despite a December slowdown.
A record 20,302 residential and condo units were sold last year in Ottawa, the Ottawa Real Estate Board said Thursday. That’s up seven per cent from 2020.
The average residential sale price in Ottawa in 2021 was more than $719,000, a 24 per cent increase from 2020. Condos went for an average of more than $419,000, a 16 per cent increase.
“I have never seen it like this,” Ottawa Real Estate Board president Penny Torontow said. “Typically in Ottawa, historically, the market goes up three per cent, a real increase would have been 5 per cent. We’ve never seen increases accelerating like this in such a short span.”
The new records were set despite a slower December, which saw 14 per cent fewer home sales than December 2020.
Low inventory continues to drive price increases in the city. In December, 600 new listings entered the market, a 58 per cent decrease from November and 15 per cent lower than the five-year average.
“We have less than a month’s supply of inventory, which makes it a sellers’ market,” Torontow said. “There’s probably about 1,500 actual active listings right now on the market, but it’s not enough.”
Torontow said January through March are typically slower months, but it’s difficult to predict what the market will look like amid another pandemic wave.
“Buyers are fatigued, parents are focusing on remote learning, interest rate hikes are looming – I don’t expect we will see the first quarter increases as we did in 2021,” she said. “We are unlikely to see the true outcome of these macro factors until the spring.
But the market will continue to favour sellers as long as there are more buyers, she said.
“Until we get more inventory, until we have 60 to 90 days at least of supply, then it will continue to be a sellers’ market.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
From outer space? Sask. farmers baffled after discovering strange wreckage in field
A family of fifth generation farmers from Ituna, Sask. are trying to find answers after discovering several strange objects lying on their land.
This iconic Canadian song is turning 50
Andy Kim's 'Rock Me Gently' is marking a major milestone, as it celebrates its 50th anniversary.
Oprah Winfrey: I set an unrealistic standard for dieting
Oprah Winfrey said on Thursday evening that she has long played a role in promoting unhealthy and unrealistic diets.
Ontario family receives massive hospital bill as part of LTC law, refuses to pay
A southwestern Ontario woman has received an $8,400 bill from a hospital in Windsor, Ont., after she refused to put her mother in a nursing home she hated -- and she says she has no intention of paying it.
Toronto police called to Drake's Bridle Path mansion for another alleged intruder on Thursday
Toronto police say a man who allegedly attempted to access Drake’s Bridle Path property was taken to hospital on Thursday after an altercation with security guards.
Flat tire on a highway? Here's why you shouldn't try to fix it
If you're cruising down a highway and realize you have a flat tire, you may want to think twice before stopping to fix it on the side of the road.
Storm-battered U.S. South is again under threat. A boy swept into a drain fights for his life
Dangerous storms crashed over parts of the U.S. South on Thursday even as the region cleaned up from earlier severe weather that spawned tornadoes, killed at least three people, and gravely injured a boy who was swept into a storm drain as he played in a flooded street.
Broadcaster and commentator Rex Murphy dead at 77: National Post
The National Post is reporting that Rex Murphy, the pundit and columnist who hosted a national call-in radio show for decades, has died.
Pro-Palestinian protesters demand endowment transparency. But it's proving not to be simple
Over the last decade, students have pushed universities to cut financial ties with fossil fuel producers, weapons manufacturers, tobacco companies and prison firms. Here's why it's not always that simple.