Right about now, Ottawa’s real estate market should be seeing a surge in sales. The spring market comes around every year, showing strong signs in buying and selling activity. But in 2020, COVID-19 has put a delay on people’s buying and selling plans. Here are the stats:
Here are the May 2020 numbers:
- Total number of units sold: 1,345 – down 44% from 2,410 in May 2019.
- Five-year average unit sales for May: 2,048.
Here are the specifics for each property class:
- Number of residential-class properties sold: 1,066 – down 43% from 1,524 in May 2019.
- Average sale price of a residential-class property: $548,140 – up 11.2% from $486,748 in May 2019.
- Number of condominium-class properties sold: 279 – down 49% from 416 in May 2019.
- Average sale price of a condominium-class property: $343,589 – up 15.5% from $290,333 in May 2019.
“Just as May’s temperatures had us questioning what season we were in, our real estate market also underwent a seasonal switch, so to speak,” notes Ottawa Real Estate Board President Deborah Burgoyne. “This spring market is performing more like a fall market with the number of new listings and resales on par with what typically occurs in late October and November.”
With that being said, will we ever see a spring market this year? Could we see a rise in sales this summer, fall or winter? The lift of restrictions for COVID-19 could have a direct impact on how people respond to the real estate market for the rest of 2020. Only time will tell.