Ottawa Real Estate Board

The number of homes sold through the MLS® System of the Ottawa Real Estate Board totaled 999 units in February 2023. This was a substantial decline of 40.2% from February 2022.

Home sales were 27.8% below the five-year average and 20.4% below the 10-year average for the month of February.

On a year-to-date basis, home sales totaled 1,732 units over the first two months of the year. This was a big decline of 37.6% from the same period in 2022.

“Home sales are still running below typical levels for this time of year and will likely continue to do so until we see a more substantial influx of supply into the market,” said Ken Dekker, President of the Ottawa Real Estate Board. “New listings are also running below their average and recorded an abnormally low reading in February, which might be crimping sales activity. We are looking to an increase in confidence in sellers to return to the market as the busy spring season approaches to provide a boost to the supply of inventories so that buyers will have more options to choose from.”

The MLS® Home Price Index (HPI) tracks price trends far more accurately than is possible using average or median price measures. The overall MLS® HPI composite benchmark price was $613,000 in February 2023, a substantial decrease of 13.9% compared to February 2022.

The benchmark price for single-family homes was $688,500, a big reduction of 15% on a year-over-year basis in February. By comparison, the benchmark price for townhouse/row units was $487,400, a substantial decline of 17.1% compared to a year earlier, while the benchmark apartment price was $411,500, a decline of 4.7% from year-ago levels.

The average price of homes sold in February 2023 was $600,632, a substantial decline of 15.5% from February 2022.

The more comprehensive year-to-date average price was $588,717, a sharp decrease of 13.8% from the first two months of 2022.

OREB cautions that the average sale price can be useful in establishing trends over time but should not be used as an indicator that specific properties have increased or decreased in value. The calculation of the average sale price is based on the total dollar volume of all properties sold. Price will vary from neighbourhood to neighbourhood.

The dollar value of all home sales in February 2023 was $600 million, down sharply by 49.4% from the same month in 2022.

The number of new listings saw a substantial decrease of 22.6% from February 2022. There were 1,592 new residential listings in February 2023. This was the lowest number of new listings added in the month of February in two decades.

New listings were 13.8% below the five-year average and 28.8% below the 10-year average for the month of February.

Active residential listings numbered 2,736 units on the market at the end of February, more than double the levels from a year earlier, leaping 137.3% from the end of February 2022.

Active listings were 18.4% above the five-year average and 43.7% below the 10-year average for the month of February.

Months of inventory numbered 2.7 at the end of February 2023, up from the 0.7 months recorded at the end of February 2022 and below the long-run average of 4.3 months for this time of year. 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.