Top Real Estate Agents in Ottawa.

Ottawa Real Estate News

Ottawa Housing Market Overview

Ottawa's real estate market had a strong start to the spring season as home prices reached new all-time-highs of $677K. Almost 80% of resales in Ottawa sold over asking price this month, signalling strong demand from home buyers. Home sales also broke new records for the month of March with 2,285 transactions, a 50% increase year-over-year. Based on this strong start, Ottawa could easily previous housing activity records set in Summer 2020 in the next few months.

Notice: Year-over-year comparisons for March and the next two months will be exaggerated by the temporary downturn from the outbreak of COVID-19 in March 2020.

Home prices on Ottawa increased by 31% year-over-year to $677K. Single-family property prices saw the biggest increases with 36% year-over-year growth to $758K. Condo apartments followed with a 18% year-over-year increase to $437K. Unlike in Toronto's housing market or Vancouver's housing market, condo prices in Ottawa have grown significantly in the past year, signalling strong demand for all property types.

Home sales in Ottawa reached 2,285 transactions, a 50% increase year-over-year. Single-family properties saw a 46% increase in sales year-over-year while sales of condo apartments grew by 63% compared to March 2020. While the impact of COVID-19 in March 2020 has exaggerated year-over-year sales growth figures, sales activity is near Summer 2020 highs and could easily surpass them in the coming months as the spring real estate season ramps up.

Home prices in Ottawa remain significantly lower than those in Vancouver’s real estate market or Toronto’s real estate market. Most homes in Ottawa are still below the $1 million mark and are consequently still eligible for a minimum down payment of 5% and CMHC insurance, allowing a much larger audience of buyers to compete for very limited inventory. Rising mortgage rates have also pushed home buyers to quickly purchase and lock-in mortgage rates before rates rise any further, pushing short-term demand even higher. The rising rates could pose a long-term headwind to home prices, however, by decreasing the purchasing power of potential home buyers.

Ottawa Commission Structure

Real estate commissions are the fees that home sellers pay to the seller and buyer real estate agents for their services. In Ottawa, the total commission rate is set anywhere from 3.5% to 5%. Seller agents usually get 1% to 2.5% of the total commission with the buyer agents getting 2.5%. You can use our calculator provided below to calculate your real estate commission estimate for Ottawa. For other cities in Ontario, please visit our Ontario real estate commission calculator page for more information.

Ottawa Real Estate Tools for Buyers and Sellers