The Ottawa Real Estate Board (OREB) and Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) have released the numbers for Ottawa’s housing market for February 2024.
Home Sales
In February 2024, the OREB reported 886 homes sold through the MLS System, for a 15.2% boost, compared to the same month in 2023. However, these numbers are lower than both the five-year and ten-year February averages by 13.8% and 5.7%, respectively.
Prices
The MLS Home Price Index composite benchmark price for all housing reached $628,500 in February 2024, with a 2.8% increase from February 2023. For single-family homes, the benchmark price stood at $708,500, showing an increase of 3.1% year-over-year. The benchmark price for apartments reached $417,000, a 2.7% increase from the same time in 2023. However, the townhouse and row-unit benchmark price increased less, only slightly by 0.6% to $495,000, compared to the previous year.
In February 2024, the average home price was $651,340, a rise of 2% over February 2023.
Listings and Demand
In February 2024, the number of new residential listings increased by 29.5% compared to February 2023, reaching a total of 1,539. The February 2024 new listings passed the five-year average by 10.3% but fell short of the ten-year average by 3.3% for the month of February.
At the end of February 2024, there were 2,158 active residential listings on the market, an increase of 16.3% over February 2023. Active listings exceeded the five-year average by 59.6% but were below the ten-year average by 17.7% for the month of February.
Months of inventory numbered 2.4 at the end of February 2024, unchanged from February 2023. The number of months of inventory is the number of months it would take to sell current inventories at the current rate of sales activity.
Demand is currently tight, but higher than 2021 and 2022 numbers. For comparison, in 2015 at the same time, there were 5,238 active listings and 6.9 months of inventory, while in 2016, there were 4,92 active listings and 6.1 months of inventory. These numbers have been decreasing to the lows of 2021 (732 active listings, and 0.6 months of demand) and 2022 (792 active listings, and 0.6 months of demand).
Rental Market
As of January 2024, in the purpose-built rental market, the vacancy rate stood at 2.1%, with an average rent of $1,698 for a two-bedroom unit. Meanwhile, in the condominium apartment market, the vacancy rate was notably lower at 0.4%, accompanied by a higher average rent of $2,085. Despite increased rental supply and demand, the overall vacancy rate in the region remained stable at 2.1%.
However, the availability of units in the lower rent ranges is notably scarce. Specifically, for two-bedroom apartments with rents under $750, the vacancy rate is recorded at 0.0%.
