Ottawa homebuyers are back at it!

Some news from a recent RBC Economic Research report.

"Once again, the Ottawa-area housing market recently demonstrated its ability

to move past soft patches with minimal damage. After reaching all-time

highs early this year, home resales plummeted in May (on a seasonally adjusted

basis), as homebuyers opted to sit out the traditionally strong spring

season. Although such market movements were somewhat more dramatic

than in other areas of the province, they were largely driven by the same

transitory factors (HST and new mortgage lending rules). Consequently, it

was not surprising to see Ottawa homebuyers cautiously returning to the

market early this fall, once these special factors had largely run their course.

Nonetheless, the weak level of demand in the spring and summer amid still

plentiful availability of homes for sale applied downward pressure on prices.

This trend had a beneficial effect on affordability in the third quarter with

RBC’s Measures dropping 2.0 to 2.9 percentage points (depending on the

housing type) and helped to reduce some of the stress that had built up in the

market in the past year."

Amazingly, in Ottawa it would cost 38 % of household income to own a typical home. The same house in Vancouver would devour almost 70 %. Quite a difference.