As the holiday season approaches, people seem to be less interested in real estate and more interested in setting up lights and Black Friday deals. Still, we did see an increase in sales compared to 2019 as 2020 was quite an anomaly. Let’s see what the numbers have to tell us.
Here are the November 2021 numbers:
- Total number of units sold: 1,459 – down 9% from 1,605 in November 2020.
- Five-year average unit sales for November: 1,348.
“Although the resale transactions in November were down compared to a year ago, this is because 2020’s peak market activity shifted to later in the year due to the initial pandemic lockdown. In reality, November’s unit sales tracked 14% higher than 2019 (1,284), a more relevant base year for comparison,” states Ottawa Real Estate Board President Debra Wright.
Here are the specifics for each property class:
- Number of residential-class properties sold: 1,086 – down 10% from 977 in November 2020.
- Average sale price of a residential-class property: $716,992 – up 19% in November 2020.
- Number of condominium-class properties sold: 373 – down 7% from 347 in November 2020.
- Average sale price of a condominium-class property: $432,099 – up 19% in November 2020.
“Despite significant increases in average prices over November 2020, month-to-month price accelerations have tapered off slightly, with average prices for residential units on par with October’s and condo average prices increasing by 7%. This is a far better situation than the monthly price escalations we had seen in the first quarter of 2021,” suggests Wright. “However, there is no question that supply constraints will continue to place upward pressure on prices until that is remedied.”
“While the drop in volume of new listings is typical for November, our inventory, at one month’s supply, is much lower than it should be. 1,430 new listings entered the market last month, a 27% decrease from October (1,960) and 13% less than last November (1,635). While still 30 or so units over the five-year listing average, this is simply not sustainable and is taking us further away from the balanced market that will bring much-needed relief to potential Buyers,” Wright cautions.