Ottawa’s Real Estate Problem is an Inventory Problem
by Dave Williams
In January, 1981 homes & condos were listed for sale in Ottawa and 602 homes & condos sold, or about 30%
<See all Ottawa Real Estate Statistics>
However there were already 4694 properties on the market, making the 602 sales represent a total of 9% of the total inventory of homes for sale in January 2013…
…thus reveals the true culprit of Ottawa’s Real Estate Problems, The Inventory of homes for sale is Very High. It would take over 8 months to sell all the homes for sale in Ottawa right now, assuming no new homes came on the market.
February 2013 started with 4956 properties
for sale in Ottawa, this is:
-
10% higher that 2012
-
40% higher that 2011
-
60% higher that 2010
In 3 years the inventory of homes foe sale has JUMPED 60% while the number of homes selling each years has stayed consistent with only minor fluctuations of 1 or 2%
Breaking it down further the inventory of:
Houses (3669) |
vs |
Condos (1287) |
|
has increased by… |
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|
|
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It’s clear to me now that Ottawa’s real estate market has an Inventory Problem.
We have too many homes for sale or not enough buyers for them.
What is your solution? [Comment Below]
*The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author.
The Tulip Team Blog 
Excellent article Dave, great graphics, very visual and easy to read, I think there are many reasons why,here are a few:
-The newspapers and media have beaten down the market, causing many people to question whether now is the right time to buy
-To some extent, the changes the the government enforced has caused some first time homebuyers to take more time to accumulate downpayments
-A lot of people in the government are still not 100% sure if they are going to have their permanent income or if there will be another round of cuts
Good analyis! We think that the following factors are playing a role also:
-some buyers are holding off thinking that prices will drop significantly and there may be some buying opportunities but as we know, this rarely (if ever) happens in Ottawa real estate. Overall average prices have only declined 5 times in the last 50+ years and by small %.
-seller pricing expectations may be based on the last 5-10 year bullish market but price levels are making buyers question the added financial responsibility
-uncertainty over where mortgage rates may be headed in the intermediate/longer term