Ottawa Real Estate Statistics – May 2024 – Hot City, Cooling Markets
Update: Less than 12 hours after this post was written, the Bank of Canada reduced interest rates by .25%. This is the first time in two years that rates have gone down. The interest rate change is probably too small to make a big impact by itself, but the change in the trend might insert some new confidence into the Canadian real estate market.
Well, it’s absolutely sweltering outside at 29 degrees and I hope you are reading this in a comfy and air conditioned place!
But despite the heat on the streets, the Ottawa real estate market has been cooling off this month, as the recent Ottawa real estate statistics for May 2024 reveal.
Here are the headline numbers from May’s real estate statistics provided by the Ottawa Real Estate Board:
- Sales were down 9.2% vs May 2023.
- New listings were up 29% from May 2023.
- Active listings were up 59% from May 2023.
- Months of inventory are up to 2.3 from 1.3 in May 2023 and up from 2.0 last month.
- Average price was up 0.8% from May 2023.
- Median price was up 1.2% from May, 2023.
In summary, the trend from April is continuing, with prices up a small amount, while inventory is up by quite a bit over 2023’s numbers.
Why does this look like a cooling off? The rising inventory implies that prices might head lower soon. As a rule of thumb, when the market has more than 2 months of inventory, it tends to be a buyers market, with downward pressure on prices.
Also, anecdotally, I am still not seeing a significant number of properties hitting the market because of the incoming capital gains tax increases proposed by the Trudeau Government. We will see if that changes by the end of the month.
The Prognosis
Despite cooling off this month, prices still remain resilient, and the market remains pretty close to balanced. If you are wondering whether now is a good time to buy or sell, my advice 90% of the time is to think about what your goals are for your life and your family. But if inventory remains high, we may see prices drop a bit later in the summer. Update: The interest rate reductions announced on June 5th make this a bit less likely and increase the odds of a “hot” market this summer.
