Wanted: Ottawa Homes for Sale

Members of the Ottawa Real Estate Board sold 979 residential properties in February through the Board's Multiple Listing Service System, compared with 1,002 in February 2017, a decrease of 2.3 percent. The five-year average for February sales is 922. February's sales included 250 in the condominium property class and 729 in the residential property class.

There is no doubt our sales numbers would have been much higher if we had more properties available for sale. Buyer demand is there, but our inventory in both residential-class and condos continue to decline. This is creating a supply side issue in the Ottawa real estate market.

Compounding the supply issue is the fact that after a record year last year, new construction is hindered getting to market because builders just cannot find enough land as a result of the urban boundary and land prices going up.

The average sale price of a residential-class property sold in February in the Ottawa area was $429,600, an increase of 2.7 percent over February 2017. The average sale price for a condominium-class property was $273,174, an increase of 5.6 percent from February 2017.

The most active price point in the residential market continues to be the $300,000 to $449,999 range, accounting for 47 percent of the market.

Cumulative days on market for a home to sell is significantly less than this time last year - 77 versus 93 days. The average list to sale ratio has also increased to 98.3 percent versus 97.6 percent.