The Molly & Claude Team

The Molly & Claude Team Realtors Ottawa, Royal LePageTeam Realty

CREA (Canadian Real Estate Association) – National Statistics

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CREA released its national April 2023 statistics recently.

Highlights are:
  • National home sales surged 11.3% month-over-month in April.
  • Actual (not seasonally adjusted) monthly activity came in 19.5% below April 2022.
  • The number of newly listed properties edged up 1.6% month-over-month but remain at a 20-year low.
  • The MLS® Home Price Index (HPI) climbed 1.6% month-over-month but was down 12.3% year-over-year.
  • The actual (not seasonally adjusted) national average sale price posted a 3.9% year-over-year decline in April.

Federal Housing Programs

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The CREA the Canadian Real Estate Association has been very active in helping Canadains with the home ownership process. There are the following programs: Home Buyers’ Plan, Canada Greener Homes Grant, First-Time Home Buyer Incentive (FTBHI), and Home Accessibility Tax Credit (HATC). In additional to those there are:

Programs for first-time home buyers:
  • First-Time Home Buyer Incentive (FTHBI): Provides a shared equity mortgage with the Government of Canada to help first-time home buyers lower their monthly mortgage payments without increasing their down payment.
  • First-Time Home Buyers’ Tax Credit (HBTC): Budget 2022 proposed increasing the amount used to calculate the First-Time Home Buyers’ Tax Credit to $10,000 (from $5,000), which would provide a tax credit of up to $1,500 to eligible home buyers. This amendment applies to the 2022 and subsequent taxation years.
  • Home Buyers’ Plan (HBP): Allows eligible home buyers to withdraw up to $35,000 from their Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP) to put towards the down payment of their first home.
  • Tax-Free First Home Savings Account (FHSA): Designed to give first-time home buyers the ability to save $40,000 on a tax-free basis with an annual contribution limit of $8,000. The government is working with financial institutions to have the infrastructure in place for individuals to be able to open an FHSA and start contributing at some point in 2023.
Upgrade/renovation programs:
  • Multigenerational Home Renovation Tax Credit: A refundable credit that allows families to claim up to $7,500 to build a secondary unit in their home to accommodate seniors or adults living with disabilities. Any expenditures to be claimed should be incurred after January 1, 2023.
  • Home accessibility tax credit (HATC): A non-refundable credit that helps support seniors and individuals living with a disability with a rebate on mobility renovations for their home for up to $10,000 in qualifying expense.
  • GST/HST new housing rebate: Offers a rebate on the GST or the HST for new homes. The rebate is available to home buyers who purchase a new-build home, preconstruction, or who make substantial renovations to an existing home.
Energy efficiency programs:
  • Canada Greener Homes Grant: Helps homeowners save money and lower their footprint while creating new jobs across Canada for energy advisors.
  • Greener Homes Loan: Helps Canadians make their homes more energy-efficient, by offering interest-free financing in addition to the Canada Greener Homes Grant to help you complete major retrofits recommended by your energy advisor.
  • Oil to Heat Pump Affordability Program: Helps Canadians who heat their home by oil switch to new, energy efficient heat pumps.
  • Energy Savings Rebate Program: Energy Savings Rebate program makes energy-efficient products more accessible to people across Ontario.
  • CREA has been active in advocating for energy-efficiency and sustainable building practices in Canada and is working on developing a green designation for REALTORS® interested in learning about sustainability in the housing space.
Other Programs/Resources:
  • Canada Housing Benefit: Aims to help low-income renters with the cost of renting. A client may be eligible for a tax-free one-time payment of $500 if their income and the amount that they pay on rent qualify.
  • Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) Resources for Buyers/Renters: Explore home buying calculators, buying and renting guides, mortgage and maintenance tops, FAQs and more.
  • CMHC Resources for Professionals: Explore funding programs, market intelligence, research, data, and more.
Bonus – programs for developers and builders
  • Deep Retrofit Accelerator Initiative: This program designed to build capacity and address barriers to deep retrofit project development and implementation, and facilitate the development of deep retrofit projects.
  • Green Municipal Fund: Helps local governments switch to sustainable practices through a unique mix of funding and training that leverages a $1.65 billion endowment from the Government of Canada. It aims to give municipalities the tools they need to accelerate the transition to a low-carbon future.
  • Toward Net-Zero Homes and Communities Program: Provides funding for innovative projects to support creative energy efficiency initiatives for the Canadian residential sector. Eligible activities must contribute to the improved energy efficiency of homes and increased understanding of the housing sector or energy-using products that affect energy consumption.
  • Prefabricated Exterior Energy Retrofit (PEER): Developing, testing and validating innovative prefabricated building envelope technologies for retrofitting the exteriors of existing Canadian homes.
  • Greener Neighbourhoods Pilot Program: Aims to validate the benefits and business cases of aggregated deep energy retrofits approaches in up to six community housing neighbourhoods in Canada.
  • Energy Efficient Buildings RD&D: aimed to increase energy efficiency and address climate change by improving how homes and buildings are designed, renovated, and constructed.
  • National Housing Co-Investment Funding: Provides capital to partnered organizations for new affordable housing and the renovation/repair of existing affordable and community housing.
  • Housing Accelerator Fund: A $4 billion program which will grow the annual housing supply in the country’s largest cities every year, creating a target of 100,000 new middle-class homes by 2024-25. The program is still being finalized by the government.
  • Rapid Housing Initiative: A program designed to provide capital contributions for the rapid construction of new housing and/or acquisition of existing buildings for rehabilitation or conversion to permanent affordable housing.

Market trends: Cottage prices to drop

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Phil Soper President and CEO of Royal LePage comments on the state of cottage prices across the country. He goes into detail about the effect of interest rates and inflation rates when buying recreational property. He also compares current prices to last year’s prices. I always add that comparing current prices with last year’s prices can be misleading. Last year’s prices were in an overheated market. If you look at prices over the course of the last few years you get a more complete picture.

Ottawa Real Estate News Release (OREB) – Resale Market Springs Back in Favour of Sellers

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OTTAWA, May 3, 2023 –  Members of the Ottawa Real Estate Board (OREB) sold 1,488 residential properties in April through the Board’s Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) System, compared with 1,876 in April 2022, a decrease of 21%. April’s sales included 1,156 in the freehold-property class, down 18% from a year ago, and 332 in the condominium-property category, a decrease of 29% from April 2022. The five-year average for total unit sales in April is 1,739.

“Ottawa’s resale market is on a steady upward trajectory, narrowing the comparison gap to peak pandemic activity in 2022. However, with new listings not keeping pace, the available housing stock is declining, and with less than two months of inventory — we’re back into seller’s market territory,” says Ottawa Real Estate Board President Ken Dekker.

By the Numbers – Average Prices*:

  • Average prices have increased by 13.9% in four months since the market low in December 2022.
  • The average sale price for a freehold-class property in April was $747,123, a decrease of 10% from 2022. However, it marks a 5% increase over March 2023.
  • The average sale price for a condominium-class property was $435,875, decreasing 8% from a year ago, but still a 4% gain over March 2023.
  • With year-to-date average sale prices at $718,633 for freeholds and $421,722 for condos, these values represent a 13% decrease over 2022 for freehold-class properties and a 10% decrease for condominium-class properties.
“Upward pressure on sales prices continues with average prices increasing for the fourth month since the market low in December. Additionally, multiple offer situations have returned to certain neighbourhoods and overall days on market are maintaining their downward trend. There continues to be low inventory in certain property classes and new product is coming to the market at a slower rate, which is affecting supply.”

By the Numbers – Inventory & New Listings:

  • April’s new listings (2,144) were 25% lower than April 2022 (2,843) and up 3% from March 2023 (2,089). The 5-year average for new listings in April is 2,575.
  • Months of Inventory for the freehold-class properties has increased to 1.9 months from 0.9 months in April 2022 but down from 2.3 months in March.
  • Months of Inventory for condominium-class properties has increased to 1.9 months from 0.8 months in April 2022, although down from 2.1 months in March.
  • Days on market (DOM) for freeholds decreased from 34 to 27 days and 39 to 33 days for condos compared to last month.
“These numbers are static, snapshots in time. REALTORS® can give buyers and sellers a fulsome day-to-day picture of how the market is shifting and heating up this season. They have their fingers on the pulse of each neighbourhood in the city and can help buyers and sellers make localized, strategic, data-informed decisions.”

REALTORS® also help with finding rentals and vetting potential tenants. Since the beginning of the year, OREB Members have assisted clients with renting 2,151 properties compared to 1,786 last year at this time, an increase of 20%.

* OREB cautions that the average sale price can be useful in establishing trends over time but should not be used as an indicator that specific properties have increased or decreased in value. The calculation of the average sale price is based on the total dollar volume of all properties sold. Price will vary from neighbourhood to neighbourhood.

Buckle Up: Are Housing Markets About to Spring Forward?

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Shaun Cathcart, Senior Economist with the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) shares his point of view on the spring market subsequent to CREA’s release of the statistics for March 2023.

A team member who keeps an eye on every condo sales in the Ottawa tells me sold prices are closer to the asking price or above. A client tells me as she is surfing she can feel the difference.

About Us

Molly Hoyle Sales Representative
Claude Jobin Représentant des ventes

E-Mail

claude@claudejobin.com




Phone / Address

Phone: 613.804.7979
1723 Carling Avenue
Ottawa, Ontario