With low interest rates on mortgages, bubbly job stats and a crunch on housing supply, buyers and sellers in Ottawa are navigating a never-before-seen real estate market.The lockdown caused by COVID-19 has meant people are less likely to list their properties for sale, but current buyers keep coming online. Construction in the city is also falling victim to a material shortage, Mr. Walker says. Timelines have been bumped to 18-24 months from 12-18 months for new builds, according to Mr.
This has left some buyers wondering what more can they do in order to buy a home in Canada’s capital. Debra Wright, the president of the Ottawa Real Estate Board, calls the current situation in the city “unprecedented.”She says the ongoing stresses have made transaction process difficult for the mental health of both buyers and sellers. There’s also the financial burden, Ms. Wright says, of paying for a property inspection for upwards of 10 different homes before getting an offer accepted – although many sales are now being accepted with no conditions applied at all.
It’s reached a point, Mr. Caceres says, where buyers need to add 20 per cent on top of whatever the listing price is. He believes it will be at least another year before they are able to get into a home without getting into a hard-to-manage financial situation. The average home price in Canada’s capital is $580,000, according to 2020 year-end statistics via the Canadian Real Estate Association. That’s a record high for Ottawa, but only about half the average price of a home in Toronto, which sits at $1.025-million.
More than 23 per cent of those employed in Ottawa work in public administration, according to Statistics Canada. The city also boasts four post-secondary institutions and numerous embassies, while tech jobs make up 9.9 per cent of total employment – double the Canadian average, according to a report from CBRE.