By Carolyn Girard
While market analysts say resale housing in Ottawa boomed last year, they caution next year could tell a different story. Centretown has shown lower sales figures this year, a trend that reports predict will be nationwide by 2006.
“The market is no longer tight as it once was,” says Christian Douchant, senior market analyst for the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). “But with only two months left in the year, the market is still really good.”
Douchant says the housing market across Ottawa will see a balance for both buyers and sellers by next year. In Centretown, he says, this is the current reality. Sales were lower than in many of the developing areas like Barrhaven, making it a trend-setter of sorts for the nationwide predictions.
On average, Canada’s housing market held steady sales despite rising prices. Gregory Klump, chief economist for the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA), says his organization predicts a five per cent national increase for 2005. Then the market will start to stabilize for both buyers and sellers.
“Sales are expected to decrease,” he says. “With slightly less sales, you will have a more balanced market resulting in lower price increases.”
He says this means prices will keep rising across the country, but not as quickly.
Although houses in Centretown will also increase in price, Dave D’Angelo, a sales representative for Royal Lepage, says this area hit its boom in 2004 and began levelling out last January.
“Things might have been hot before, but this year has slowed down,” D’Angelo says. Many Centretown homeowners made their move and sold in the past few years while prices were high, he says.
While areas like Barrhaven and the west end saw prices rise almost six per cent more than in Centretown, D’Angelo says, he expects next year the average house in Ottawa will increase by single digits only, according to the CMHC’s November Housing Outlook report.
Many Centretown houses were already priced much higher than houses in other parts of the city, says Margie Hooper, a sales representative for Keller Williams Ottawa Realty.
“Certainly the Glebe and Ottawa South are highly sought after areas,” she says. “People strive for those areas because of the location.”
Because Centretown houses are so close to downtown , prices remain high, but that has not prevented a stable year of sales, Hooper says.
“A unique home in the neighbourhood will draw attention no matter the time of the year.” Hooper says some homes sell at much higher prices because they are older and unique.
Buyers looking for a home would find it hard to compare houses from one street to the next, unlike in suburban developments where the houses look alike and have the same structure, she says.
“(In Centretown) there are so many variations that it becomes a subjective decision by the buyer.”
Hooper says she doubts Centretown has to worry about a greater drop in sales because even if prices do go up, houses in this area will stay in popular demand.
And even though the winter season traditionally brings in less sales than the spring, homeowners can still expect to sell if they present their house attractively, Hooper says. Douchant says buyers can also heave a sigh of relief at next year’s prospects.
The availability of houses on the market will challenge homeowners to keep their prices affordable if they want to sell.