April, 2008 

New Home Market (source Housing Now)
Ottawa’s Residential Construction Remains Vigorous in February 

(Information compliments of Andrew Thake, TD Canada Trust Mortgage Representative)
 

Total housing starts in the Ottawa Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) increased by 5.7 per cent, reaching 317 units this past month, compared to 300 in February 2007. Year-to-date starts are now up 27 per cent from the total for the first two months of 2007. The single-detached housing segment posted a 24 per cent increase in February and accounted for 48 per cent of total construction. Even though prices are on the rise home ownership remains within reach for many households as mortgage rates remain low.
Ottawa's condominium apartment activity was very strong, as this market segment accounted for 37 per cent of the total housing activity for the first two months of 2008 and increased by 62 per cent when compared to the previous year. In terms of volume, the region of Nepean positioned itself with the greatest increase in starts, with 38 per cent increase in February when compared to the same month in 2007. Following this trend are Cumberland and Kanata with 22 and 13 per cent increase respectively. In most of the other areas construction either remained stable or declined in relation to February 2007.On a year-to-date basis, it was the former municipality of Ottawa that has posted the greatest number of units started at 270 units, closely followed by Nepean with 207 homes started. Out of the total units started in the Old City of Ottawa, 257 were condo apartments.
 

Old Man Winter Chills Ottawa’s housing market (source Ottawa Real Estate
Board)
 

April 7, 2008 Members of the Ottawa Real Estate Board sold 1,086 residential units in March through the Board’s Multiple Listing Service® system compared with 1,303 in March 2007, a decrease of 16.7 per cent.
There were 983 sales in February 2008. 

“Record snowfalls and challenging weather certainly hindered sales last month. It’s tough for people to get out and see houses when even getting out of the driveway is a challenge,” said Board President Heather Skuce.
“Even so, sales are up from February, and the homes that sold last month were on the market for an average of only 34 days, proving that interested buyers are obviously still out there getting it done, despite the snow,”
she added. 

The average price of residential properties, including condominiums, sold in March in the Ottawa area was $288,068, an increase of 5.1 per cent over March 2007. The Board cautions that average price information can be useful in establishing trends over time but should not be used as an indicator that specific properties have increased or decreased in value. The average price is calculated based on the total dollar volume of all properties sold.