The New Year has shown no sign of slowing down as residential and condominium sales and prices continue to surpass last year’s results. Although, it’s important to note we are lower in every area compared to last month. Since we experienced another lockdown, how did that affect January’s real estate sales?
Here are the January 2021 numbers:
- Total number of units sold: 964 – up 24% from 778 in January 2020.
- Five-year average unit sales for January: 1,257.
“Pent-up Buyer demand fueled the exceptional number of sales that took place in January even as the mid-month lockdown further restricted supply. Earlier in the month, listing activity increased, likely driven by those Sellers waiting until after the holiday season to put their properties on the market. However, once the Stay-at-Home Order was announced, Sellers pulled back (rightfully so) and the number of properties entering the market declined,” states Ottawa Real Estate Board President Debra Wright.
Here are the specifics for each property class:
- Number of residential-class properties sold: 674 – up 21% from 532 in January 2020.
- Average sale price of a residential-class property: $677,197 – up 31% from $467,266 in January 2020.
- Number of condominium-class properties sold: 290 – up 31% from 200 in January 2020.
- Average sale price of a condominium-class property: $380,336 – up 13% from $330,892 in January 2020.
“I would like to caution those looking at the increase in average prices this month and believing that property values are accelerating at an extreme pace. In January, there was considerable movement in the upper end of the market, which caused a bit of an anomalous outcome in average price percentages. For example, there were 63 sales in the $1M+ price range, while last year at this time, there were only 16 transactions. Sustained price movements are better reflected during the mid to latter part of the year, where trends begin to emerge, and comparisons can be drawn,” advises Wright.
“This leads me into my next point – market activity has curtailed, there is no question about that, with January resale numbers lower than what we saw in December. But the effects of this second lockdown will not be entirely measurable until the coming months, dependent on when the mandated Stay-at-Home Order is retracted. If the lockdown is extended, that could affect the market in the longer term; however, as we saw last year, the market was resilient throughout and is being driven by the needs of Buyers and Sellers,” Wright concludes.
