Inventory levels trending downwards in November

Members of the Ottawa Real Estate Board sold 995 residential properties in November through the Board's Multiple Listing Service® System, compared with 986 in November 2015, an increase of 0.9 per cent. The five-year average for November sales is 939.

The condo market appears to be on the rise now, a welcome change compared to earlier in the year, with sales coming in at 16.2 per cent higher than November 2015. Several factors could have contributed to this increase - inventory levels trending downwards, steady prices, or buyers affected by the newly changed mortgage rules.

The cumulative days on market have shown a steady decline for the first six months of the year, then has shown the same steady increase, so that the cumulative days on market in November (105 days) essentially mirrored that of January (110 days).

The average for residential class property sold in November in the Ottawa area was $405,320 an increase of 6.5 per cent over November 2015. The average sale price for a condominium class property was $277,650, an increase of one per cent over November 2015.

The facts for November 2016

• New listings taken decreased by 13% to 1,444 listings
• The inventory at the end of November decreased over 14% to 5,753 listings.
• The sales to inventory ratio increased to 17% (A Balanced Market is between 15% and 25%)
• The average sale price to average lost price ratio combined was 97.2%