Those who are looking for an Ottawa mortgage on a brand new house might find that there are fewer pickings than there have been in the past year. The good news is, considering that the past year has shown record starts, the numbers in the nation’s capital are still very good!
According to a report released by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation last week, the amount of construction starts on new homes in March totaled 336 homes, down from 583 when compared to March of 2011 – a month in which Ottawa saw the most housing starts on record. During the entire first quarter of 2012, housing starts in Ottawa were also up by 3.5%, showing that there are still a lot of buyers on the marketplace. Townhouses saw the most starts, and it’s thought that this shift is happening as an increasing number of Baby Boomers look to sell their homes and downsize into something smaller. And in fact, during the first quarter of 2012 the number of townhouse starts was 428, compared with just 345 during the same time in 2011.
Along with the report released by CMHC, senior market analyst for the Crown corporation, Sandra Perez Torres said in a statement, “Ottawa’s new home market this past March slowed down compared to a recent historical record last year. The townhouse sector was alone in bucking this trend, registering another month of robust activity – in fact, accounting for almost half of total residential construction.”
The suburbs of Nepean and Gloucester saw the most growth, and accounted for 67.5% of the starts during March 2012, with a total of 227 new homes being built in these areas. Not surprisingly, condominiums still made up for most of downtown Ottawa’s growth, seeing 71 new units in one high-rise downtown building. The community of Gatineau saw the slowest starts in Ottawa, with just 373 starts in the entire first quarter of 2012 compared with 428 starts that were begun during the first quarter of 2011.
But even with the slow starts, lenders and Ottawa mortgage brokers aren’t expecting any slowdown in the market. CIBC World Markets economist said, “Although we expect starts to soften in due course, the latest figures suggest that, for the time being, the housing sector still has a considerable amount of energy, aided by low financing costs.”
