August 2021 Real Estate Newsletter

Fall is fast approaching! It seems everyone is out enjoying what’s left of summer – heading to cottages, vacations, beaches and more. The real estate market seems to be slower moving and prices are not quite as aggressive compared to earlier in the year. However, looking at the overall year-to-date number for both 2021 and 2020, every neighbourhood in Ottawa and the surrounding communities have seen a major increase in sales volume and price. For example, if we look at the entire community of Barrhaven, the sales data from the Ottawa Real Estate Board shows 679 homes were sold from January 2020 to June 2020. January 2021 to June 2021 shows 1,046 homes sold. That’s a 54.1% increase in sales. The average home price also climbed from $513,227 in 2020 to $676, 494 – a whopping 31.8% increase in price!  My advice – don’t wait for the market to “crash” to buy or invest in real estate. The longer you wait, the more you will miss out and you will get to a point where you will have pushed yourself out of the market all together.

Rural Areas

Living during COVID19 has forced a lot of folks to work from home and shop online. This lifestyle change has made many people reconsider their living situation – moving away from the condo or townhouse life to a country home with land, a home office and privacy. The demand for homes in areas such as Greely, Osgoode, Manotick, Carleton Place and others began to drive prices upwards at an exceptional rate. Many of these rural neighbourhoods saw a 30-40% price increase compared to the previous year. This trend seems to be moving further out both east towards Rockland and west towards Dunrobin. Moving northwest towards Cobden, Pembroke and Petawawa appear to be the best bang for buck – you can buy a nice bungalow with some land for under $400,000.