When there are significantly more prospective real estate buyers than sellers or vice versa, things can get competitive in any market. This appears to be the situation in Ottawa’s real estate market, where there was a 21 percent decrease in residential properties for sale in Feb. 2018 compared to Feb. 2017. This is resulting in more real estate bidding wars in the city than in years prior, leading to some properties selling significantly over asking price.

There were only 3,028 residential real estate and 1,064 condominium listings in Ottawa in Feb. 2018. Hot areas in the city have seen higher closing prices as a result, mainly those along the Ottawa river to the east and west of downtown. The benchmark price for single family homes in Feb. 2018 was $409,200, a 8.5 percent increase from the year prior.

However, there was quite a bit of variance in pricing and increases throughout the region with more exclusive areas seeing the largest jump. Rockcliffe Park saw a 28.5 percent jump, with benchmark prices sitting at $1.5 million. Carlsbad Spring only increased by 1.9 percent and is the lowest in the city at $324,200.  Meanwhile, a lower number of listings mean that the number of properties sold was down 5.3 percent.

Ottawa’s real estate market, like others in the country, will continue to evolve and change. One of the things impacting these trends is real estate law. There are a number of legal requirements involved in buying and selling property, so retaining an Ottawa real estate lawyer when undergoing one of these transactions is a good idea.

Source: Ottawa Citizen, “Bidding wars and scant supply: Ottawa"s housing market finds itself listings-starved“, James Bagnall, March 6, 2018