2016 proves to be a record-breaking year for Ottawa resales

Members of the Ottawa Real Estate Board sold 715 residential properties in December through the Board's Multiple Listing Service® System, compared with 703 in December 2015, an increase of 1.7 percent. The five-year average for December sales in 656. The total number of residential and condo units sold through the Board's MLS® System throughout all of 2016 was 15,537, compared with 14,653 in 2015, an increase of six percent.

While prices remained fairly flat over the course of the year, the unit sales recorded in five separate months were the highest on record, including December. The spring market picked up early in April with strong sales and this trend continued well into the fall.

The listing inventory for both residential and condos trended lower all year, however units sold trended higher most months, outpacing 2015 by a fair margin. Cumulative days on market increased to 123 days in December, while the average for the year stayed steady at 91 days. Average residential sale prices remained virtually unchanged over last year, however we are seeing an increase in December compared to 2015, which could be a result of a higher concentration of properties sold in the $500,000 and up range.

The average sale price of a residential class property sold in December in the Ottawa area was $420,750, an increase of 8.7 percent over December 2015. The average sale price for a condominium-class property was $262,698, an increase of 4.9 percent over December 2015. The year-to-date numbers for average residential sale price in 2016 was $397,778, an increase of 1.5 percent over 2015.

The inventory of homes for sale at the end of December decreased by over 13% to 4,660 listings.

Finally, the average sale price to average list price ratio combined (residential & condominium) was 96.8%