Ontario Construction News staff writer
The latest numbers on new home sales in the Ottawa area, for November 2023, show a large increase of 318 per cent compared to a low recorded in November, 2022.
Despite the annual increase, the figure represents a 25 per cent drop from October, 2023 and overall numbers are far lower than in recent booming years.
“The large jump year over year in November for new home sales is a positive sign, but still falls well short of what we need to meet our housing targets,” Jason Burggraaf, executive director of the Greater Ottawa Home Builders’ Association (GOHBA), said in a Dec. 20 statement.
Newly released data compiled by the association and PMA Brethour records 209 new home sales in November 2023, compared to just 50 in November, 2022. Despite the year-over-year increase, the latest figures represent a 25 per cent drop from October 2023, which saw a total of 280 new homes sales. The November sales figures are much lower than the peak reached in November 2021, when 639 new home sales were reported.
When looking at the wider picture, year-to-date sales are down 10 per cent at 2,420, compared to 2022’s 2,714 new home sales over the same period. The figures are a big drop from four years ago, when new home sales had reached 5,986 by November 2019.
“Consumer confidence and high interest rates are keeping people on the sidelines,” said Burggraaf.
More than half of the new home sales — 57 per cent — for November took place in Ottawa’s south end. This was followed by the west end with 23 per cent, the east end with 19 per cent, and central Ottawa with one per cent. The new home sales in South Ottawa represent 119 of the 209 total new home sales reported in November.
In terms of product type, November saw a return to townhomes at 54 per cent of new home sales, compared to October 2023 when 42 per cent of new home sales were condo towns, the report says.