Last year saw the city of Ottawa set a new record for home sales, surpassing the previous record set in 2007. Obviously, the impact of low mortgage rates and increasing consumer confidence are having the same impact on the residents of Ottawa as those in the rest of the country.
What I didn’t realize was how affordable, in comparison to Toronto and Vancouver, housing in Ottawa was. The average price in 2009 for a resale home was $303,900. Meanwhile, that same time period saw the average house in Vancouver sell for almost twice that amount.
Apparently, the Ottawa housing market is known for being moderate and cautious. In part, this is due to the financial stability of the high number of government employees residing in the city. This translates into less mania and panic in the housing market, which in turn results in fewer peaks and valleys in real estate prices.
