Housing starts, resales remain strong in February.
March 8, 2004 - Activity at both ends of Ottawa's housing market remained robust in February, according to a pair of reports Monday, with both construction starts and resales faring well compared to a year ago.
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. reported Monday that construction began on 419 new residential units last month, up by 50 per cent from a year ago.
Christian Douchant, senior market analyst for Ottawa, said it was the strongest showing for the month of February since 2001 and twice the 10-year average.
Driving the increase was a big spike in the multiples market, which includes more affordable housing types such as condos and townhouses. Multiples starts last month jumped by almost 83 per cent, to 318 from 174 a year ago.
"Townhouse (row) construction took off in February", Douchant said in the report. He added that, "consumer demand for townhouse units is still strong and will remain an affordable option for those consumers seeking accommodations in the new home market."
Demand for costlier single-family homes slackened last month, with the number of starts falling almost four per cent from the year before, to 101 from 105.
"Single-family starts came in just below the 10-year average for single-detached construction, which is 102 units for the month of February," Douchant said. He added that, "though we can still expect to see a favourable year for single-family construction, it will not reach the level achieved last year."
Despite expectations that the local housing market will ease in 2004, the total number of starts for the first two months of the year is up by almost 43 per cent from the same period of 2003, to 860. Single-family starts are up by 7.6 per cent on the year to date, while multiples are up by 63 per cent.
Compared to January of this year, February was a bit weaker, with the actual number of starts down about five per cent to 419 from 441.
RESALES STEADY
In the resale market, the Ottawa Real Estate Board reported on Monday that the number of homes changing hands last month held steady with February 2003.
OREB reported that 946 residential properties in Ottawa changed hands last month, compared to 945 a year ago.
Compared to January, the number of resales was up by 47 per cent, to 644.
The average selling price in February was $225,675. That was up by about six per cent from a year ago, but down about 1.2 per cent from $228,417 in January.
OREB president Glenda Brindle pointed out that about 28 per cent of the homes sold priced under $175,000.
The resale market is also expected to slow in 2004 as three years of feverish activity eases to more balanced conditions. A key indicator of that easing trend is an increase in the number of homes being listed for sale.
Brindle said the inventory of homes for sale climbed last month as is typical for this time of year. But even taking into account any seasonal patterns, the number of residential properties and condos listed for sale was up significantly from a year ago.
OREB said that, as of the end of February, there were 3,117 residential properties and condos listed for sale on the Multiple Listing Service used by the majority of real estate agents. That total was up by 13 per cent from 2,740 in January and by 18.6 per cent from 2,628 in February 2003.
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