March 5, 2010 : A Great Start to 2010 for Ottawa’s Housing Market

Members of the Ottawa Real Estate Board sold 1,118 residential properties in February through the Board’s Multiple Listing Service® system compared with 787 in February 2009, an increase of 42.1 per cent.

Of those sales, 323 were in the condominium property class, while 795 were in the residential property class. The condominium property class includes any property, regardless of style (i.e. detached, semi-detached, apartment, stacked etc.) which is registered as a condominium, as well as properties which are co-operatives, life leases and timeshares. The residential property class includes all other residential properties.

It is often said that the quality of life in a community has a good relationship to the number of artists that live there. This interesting study provides insight into Ottawa's arts community.
 
Ottawa – More than one-third of Canada’s artists (53,500) live in five of the largest cities according to a report released today. Based on 2006 data, the report ranks Ottawa fifth for number of artists (4,600) behind Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver and Calgary. Arts research firm Hill Strategies carried out the study, which identifies neighbourhoods with the largest concentration of artists and highlights their income and education against local labour force data.

The Honourable Jim Flaherty, Minister of Finance, today announced a number of measured steps to support the long-term stability of Canada's housing market and continue to encourage home ownership for Canadians.

"Canada's housing market is healthy, stable and supported by our country's solid economic fundamentals," said Minister Flaherty. "However, a key lesson of the global financial crisis is that early policy action can help prevent negative trends from developing."

The Government will therefore adjust the rules for government-backed insured mortgages as follows:

Subject: Stop the HST – Cost of buying, owning and selling a home to go up by 8%

November 4, 2009 : Resale home sales still riding high in Ottawa

Members of the Ottawa Real Estate Board sold 1,202 residential properties in October through the Board’s Multiple Listing Service® system compared with 964 in October 2008, an increase of 24.7 per cent.