May 2023 Newsletter

Jun 14

This month we had our favourite client event yet, a new addition to our administrative team, and some interesting changes in the market! Read on to find out more.

Welcome Joanne!

This month we welcomed Joanne, our new Agent Concierge, onto the team! Joanne has 10 years of experience in the industry and we are so excited for her to apply it to our team! Joanne’s role involves helping the agents with everything related to the buying and selling process.

VIP Movie Night

To show appreciation to our clients, we hosted a VIP movie night at Lansdowne Cinemas! We were so happy to see so many of our clients, watch an amazing movie together, and offer plenty (potentially too much) popcorn to our guests!

Housing Prices Jumped up to 14% This Year

Mitch MacKenzie took a look at trends for specific property types this year - and found that some property styles have seen a jump in prices up to 14%! Stacked condos have increased 14.17% so far this year. Residential detached homes saw a 12.88% increase, condo apartments are up by 7.55%, and semi detached homes are up 4.96%. Mitch explains that consumer confidence is increasing, bringing in more buyers, more competition, and more multiple-offer scenarios.

Real Estate News

Interested in hearing more from our agents about real estate? Let’s dive into some of our top blog posts this month:

Historic Homes of Ottawa
- Interested in what it takes to own a historic home in Ottawa? We dove into some of the restrictions and benefits that are involved in historic home ownership. The Ontario Heritage Act is in place to protect properties that are designated in a variety of ways. The City of Ottawa is responsible for preserving heritage properties, and homeowners may be restricted from changing windows, adding or removing additions, demolishing parts of the home, or replacing porches. However, plenty of grants are available including the Heritage Grant Program and the Heritage Community Improvement Plan that can help heritage home owners care for their homes.
- Read here.
The Impact of Ottawa’s Green Initiatives
- Ottawa has undergone many changes to its green initiatives over the years, including more energy-efficient homes, green building certifications like the LEED and Energy Star certifications for new buildings, bike-friendly infrastructure, and more incentives and rebates for energy-efficient homeowners. In this blog post, we dove into some of the ways this has impacted the real estate market in Ottawa.
- Read here.
Ottawa’s Hidden Gems: Up and Coming Neighbourhoods
- While neighbourhoods like the Byward Market, the Glebe, and Westboro have been popular for a long time, there are plenty of neighbourhoods in Ottawa which are quickly becoming popular with both new Ottawa residents and current ones! On our list includes Overbrook, Mechanicsville, Hintonburg, and Riverside South - read more below on why!
- Read here.

Neighbourhood Monthly Statistics

Members of the Ottawa Real Estate Board sold 1939 properties in May, an increase of 6% from May of 2022! This includes 1477 freehold properties (up 8%) and 462 condos (up 1%). This is also just below the five-year average for May, which is 1961.

Ken Dekker, Ottawa Real Estate Board President, explains that May is typically the highest-selling month. He explains that this is the first volume increase in year-over-year sales since February 2022. It shows a lot of promise for sellers who were struggling with finding buyers during the interest rate increases.

Dekker explains that we are only seeing around 5-6 weeks of inventory, so our market is leaning heavily toward the seller side.

Average prices are decreasing year-over-year, but staying relatively similar to previous months. Freehold properties saw an average price of $745,902, which is a 7% decrease from last year, but the same as last month. Condominium class properties averaged at $442,859, a 6% decrease from last year but a 2% increase from last month. Year to date, freehold properties have seen a 12% decrease in price compared to 2022, and condominiums a 9% decrease from 2022.

Dekker continues to explain that we are not seeing any steep price escalations, and that May’s prices are still on par with April. With higher demand and low inventory, Dekker believes prices will continue to rise as long as interest rates remain the same or begin to drop.

May saw 2822 listings, which is down 9% from May 2022’s 3117 new listings, but up from last month’s 2140 new listings. This is also only slightly lower than the 5-year average for May listings, which is 2922.

Freehold inventory for this month has increased to 1.5 months over 1.2 months in May of 2022 but is down from the 1.9 months available in April. Condominium inventory has increased from 1 month in May 2022 to 1.3 months in May 2023 but is down from 1.9 months last month. Days on market for freeholds has dropped from 27 to 23 days. And for condos, from 33 to 26 over the last month.

Dekker explains that due to low inventory, multiple offer scenarios are happening more often, and that a well-equipped real estate agent will be able to help buyers and sellers navigate this new market.

Finally, OREB members helped 2731 clients find rentals in May, up 22% from the 2230 people assisted in May of 2022.

To learn more, check out our full blog post HERE