The September Ottawa Market Update – Interest Rates and Inventory in Balance

Well the August numbers are in from the Ottawa Real Estate Board and in general the news is mostly good – prices are flat from August 2023, but interest rates are going down rapidly, and inventory is only slightly higher than last year.

So here are the numbers for August 2024:

• The number of homes sold through the MLS® System of the Ottawa Real Estate Board (OREB) totaled 1,100 units in August 2024. This was a 10.2% increase from August 2023.
• The Benchmark Price for single family homes was $732,500 – down 0.3% on a year over year basis in August.
• The Benchmark Price for a Townhouse was $502,200 – up 0.3% compared to a year ago.
• The Benchmark Price for an Apartment was $416,800, down 1.2% from a year ago.
• Months of inventory numbered 3.0 at the end of August 2024, up from 2.6 in August 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.

So basically we have two forces in balance, acting on the market at the moment – interest rates going down, which should push prices up, and inventory going up slightly, which tends to bring prices down.

At this point I would say that we are in a “mild buyer’s market” because at 3 months of inventory, buyers currently have more choice than they have in previous years, and sellers are forced to wait a little bit longer than they would like to make a sale.

As a “Rule of Thumb” anything over 2 months of inventory is often seen as a buyers market, while less than 2 months of inventory would be a “seller’s market”.

Best,

Chris Hendricks, J.D.

Real Estate Broker, REALTOR ™

P.S. Speaking of buyers market – I currently have buyers looking for a home in the Glebe, click here for more information or email me if you or someone you know is thinking of selling a home in the Glebe this year.

And if you are in the market to buy a property in 2024, reach out to me about my database of hard to find deals and off-market properties that could save you money on your next home purchase.