With an increase in sales of 42% over February 2009, February 2010 was definitely a seller’s market in the Ottawa area.
“EMC Business – Members of the Ottawa Real Estate Board sold 1,118 residential properties in February 2010 through the Board’s Multiple Listing Service® system compared with 787 in February 2009. That’s an increase of 42.1 per cent.
323 of those sales were in the condominium property class, while 795 were in the residential property class. The condominium property class includes any property, regardless of style (i.e. detached, semi-detached, apartment, stacked etc.) which is registered as a condominium, as well as properties which are co-operatives, life leases and timeshares. The residential property class includes all other residential properties.
Last month’s sales were near the top of the usual range for this time of year, as opposed to February of 2009, which was the last month of the brief slowdown we saw in Ottawa’s resale housing market, due to uncertain global economic conditions. The following month, March 2009, saw the Ottawa resale housing market begin to recover and become more active again.
So far in 2010, OREB Members have sold 1,838 properties, putting us well ahead of the 1,316 properties sold in the first two months of 2009. Again, that large gap is due to the unusually slow start to 2009.
In Ottawa, the inventory of homes listed for sale remains lower than in past years, and the homes that are listed are selling quickly. Those factors are keeping Ottawa in a seller’s market for the moment. A seller’s market is defined as a time when more than 50 per cent of the homes listed for sale are sold during the measuring period.”
