“New year, new me” for the Ottawa real estate market
Before we hop on the 2023 real estate ride, let’s take a moment to reflect on the roller coaster that was 2022. While the year really ended on a quiet note in December, the Ottawa Real Estate Board (OREB) recorded that spring of 2022 was quite active with resales and high prices. Overall, 2022 resales were 25% less than in 2021, as things calmed down towards the end of the year.
Once rising interest rates came into the picture last year, buyer motivation was suppressed, and many took on a “wait and see” approach. However, that being said, this has given our market the opportunity to return to a balanced state. This is good; Ottawa’s market has been suffering from “chronic supply insufficiency,” which OREB cites as the leading reason why the market has appreciated so rapidly in the past five years. Hopefully we will continue to see steadily rising inventory, despite the fact that inflation has taken the momentum out of some building projects, which doesn’t help with increasing supply.
With the economic environment and real estate pulling a “new year, new me” situation, it will be interesting to see how 2023 plays out, especially in the Ottawa market, where many area-specific variables are at play in influencing market performance across town.
NUMBERS DECEMBER 2022
2022 in review:
- Total residential and condo resales in 2022: 15,288
- Compared with 20,289 in 2021, decrease of 25%
- Total sales volume in 2022 was approx. $10.5B
- Compared to $13B in 2021
Properties sold:
601 residential properties sold in December 2022
- (compared with 857 in December 2021, decrease of 30%)
- Five-year avg. for total unit sales in December: 775
Sales breakdown:
466 in residential-property class (down 22% from a year ago)
135 in the condo class (down 48% from a year ago)
Avg. sale price:
Residential: $655,839 (-7% from a year ago)
- Year-to-date avg.: $769,623 (7% increase over 2021)
Condo: $434,973 (+9% from a year ago)
- Year-to-date avg.: $453,770 (8% increase over 2021)
*Note that varied pricing and conditions in different neighbourhoods affect average sale prices
New listings:
699 properties were listed in December
- 17% higher than new listings in 2021 (600) and 56% lower than new listings in November 2022 (1,598)
- The 5-year average for new listings in December is 662
- 3.7 months of inventory for residential-class properties (increase from 0.9 months back in 2021)
- 3.9 months inventory for condo-class properties (increase from 0.9 months back in 2021)
Rentals:
6,105 properties were rented through OREB members this past year compared to 4,813 in 2021.
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