The new and prevalent word in Real Estate the last 11 months is “Pent Up Buyer Demand,” and the Ottawa Real Estate market is experiencing this trend tenfold. As buyers continue to shop in the hot Ottawa market, January 2021 had an exceptional month in sales. Fortunately, more sellers listed their homes after waiting for the end of the holiday season.  However, once the Stay-At-Home Orders were announced mid-month, sellers reduced or held back on listing (rightfully so), according to Debra Wright, the Ottawa Real Estate Board President. “If the lockdown is extended, that could affect the market in the longer term; however, as we saw last year, the Ottawa market was resilient throughout and is being driven by the needs of Buyers and Sellers,” Wright adds.

Although inventory was up from December 2020, it was down from last year with 43% few homes or condominiums on the market. Despite this result, demand for properties in the Ottawa market remains.

The Real Estate in Ottawa January 2021

Residential Home Averages for January 2021:

Ottawa Real Estate Agents sold 674 residential-property class homes, up 21% from a year ago.

Home prices averages were $677,197, up 31% from a year ago. Compared to December, the average price for residential-class properties increased by 12%.

Ottawa homes stayed listed on the market for 25 days on average, 36.6% fewer days than last year.

Ottawa Condominium Averages:

A total of 290 condominium properties were sold in Ottawa and the area, increasing 31% from January 2020.

January’s average sale price for this class was  $380,336, an increase of 13% from January 2020, and the intermediate price units are 7% higher than December of last year.

Condominiums stayed on the market an average of 28 days, 9.8% fewer days than this time last year.

Important Note:

“I would like to caution those looking at the increase in average prices this month and believing that property values are accelerating at an extreme pace. In January, there was considerable movement in the upper end of the market, which caused a bit of a strange outcome in average price percentages.

For example, there were 63 house sales in the $1M+ price range, while last year at this time, there were only 16 homes sold in this price bracket. Sustained price movements are better reflected during the mid to latter part of the year, where trends begin to emerge, and comparisons can be drawn,” advises Wright.

*The Ottawa and Ontario Real Estate Boards caution consumers in using average sale prices as an indicator as to whether a specific property has increased or decreased in value.  The average sale price calculation consists of the total $ volume of all residential and condominium properties sold.  It’s important to realize that pricing and conditions will vary from neighbourhood to neighbourhood.