By Mark Buckshon
Ontario Development Information workers author
Ottawa’s housing market, recovering from a post-pandemic droop, faces uncertainties in 2025 because the area navigates political and financial challenges in each Canada and the US, stated audio system on the annual Hiya 2025/Goodbye 2024 Larger Ottawa Dwelling Builders’ Affiliation (GOHBA) gathering final Thursday (Feb. 6).
The occasion featured displays from trade consultants, together with Cheryl Rice from PMA Brethour Realty Group and David Coletto, CEO of Abacus Knowledge, who shed mild available on the market’s previous efficiency, present traits, and future outlook.
Rice, president of PMA Ottawa, supplied a complete overview of Ottawa’s 2024 housing market, highlighting its resilience within the face of financial challenges.
“The resale market has been on a roller coaster ride in recent years,” Rice stated, “but in 2024, Ottawa’s resale market bounced back, breaking a two-year decline with over 13,500 homes sold, up nearly 12% from 2023.” She attributed this rebound to a mixture of things, together with pent-up demand, elevated affordability attributable to decrease rates of interest, and progressive builder incentives.
Rice additionally acknowledged the challenges that persist out there, significantly the continued housing provide scarcity. “Residential supply has been on a downward trend since 2015,” she famous, “dropping from about 3,800 homes to a little under 1,300 in 2021.”
She emphasised the necessity for continued efforts to deal with key limitations to improvement, equivalent to lengthy approval processes and excessive improvement charges, echoing considerations addressed at an earlier GOHBA occasion the place Ottawa mayor Mark Sutcliffe was the speaker.
Looking forward to 2025, Rice acknowledged the uncertainty surrounding the market, significantly the potential influence of a commerce struggle with the US and the potential for a recession. “There’s a lot going on here in Canada, for sure,” she stated, and “there’s also a lot of changes happening south of the border that are deeply concerning.”
Nonetheless, she remained optimistic about Ottawa’s potential to climate these challenges, saying: “Ottawa is going into this period from a position of strength. Our full recovery may be delayed, but the market will come back.”
David Coletto, in his presentation, supplied a broader perspective, inspecting the nationwide financial and political panorama and its potential influence on the housing market. He described a “scarcity mindset” amongst Canadians, pushed by rising prices of dwelling, housing affordability considerations, and a way of uncertainty in regards to the future.
“The last five years have been incredibly unprecedented in terms of the sheer number of events that have happened,” he stated.
Coletto elaborated on the results of this shortage mindset.
“It drives us to zero-sum thinking,” the place people really feel they need to defend what they’ve or struggle to get what they want. He highlighted the influence of this mindset on varied features of Canadian society, from labor relations to political preferences, noting a rising sense of frustration and anxiousness amongst Canadians.
Regardless of the challenges, Coletto noticed alternatives for the housing trade. He emphasised the necessity to handle the housing provide scarcity and make it simpler to construct properties.
“We have to build more homes,” he urged. “We have to build them more quickly.” He additionally burdened the significance of partaking with the general public and addressing their considerations about affordability and accessibility.
Coletto concluded his presentation with a name to motion/
“This is a huge opportunity to drive an agenda that forces municipalities to make it easier to build homes, to reduce red tape and cost of doing business.”
He emphasised the necessity for collaboration and innovation within the housing trade to navigate the uncertainties of 2025 and past.
The occasion concluded with observations from Tanya Buckley from Cardel Canada Administration Ltd., who spoke in regards to the challenges of ladies making their approach within the constructing trade. She urged males to tackle the position of mentors as the necessity for ladies to enter the expert trades and associated professions might be even higher in upcoming years as immigration is curtailed.
