The Ottawa market right now is a little confusing.

Some homes are selling quickly, sometimes with strong interest almost immediately. Others — including perfectly good homes — are sitting longer than sellers expected.

That doesn’t mean the market is crashing, and it doesn’t mean buyers have disappeared. Ottawa is still a balanced market overall. But there is considerably more choice for buyers than we became accustomed to during the hotter markets of the last few years.

So why are some homes still selling quickly?

Usually, it comes down to a combination of price, condition, location and competition.

Buyers have become much more selective. When a home is well presented, shows well and is priced properly against the homes someone can actually buy today, people notice it.

When a property starts even a little too high, buyers now have enough alternatives that they can simply move on to the next one.

That makes the first couple of weeks on the market particularly important.

Not every part of Ottawa is behaving the same way either.

Single-family homes have generally been holding up better, while the condo apartment market has been softer. Even neighbourhood to neighbourhood, I’m seeing differences that simply don’t show up in the city-wide average.

That’s why I’m not a big believer in telling someone, “Ottawa prices are up” or “Ottawa prices are down” and leaving it at that. It might have very little to do with your particular house or the neighbourhood you’re trying to buy in.

For sellers, pricing matters more than it did a few years ago.

You can certainly test the upper end of the market when there is a good reason to — a better lot, renovations, no rear neighbours, a particularly good location — but the market normally tells us fairly quickly whether buyers agree.

My preference is to watch the response, be honest about what we’re seeing and adjust when the evidence tells us to.

For buyers, this is actually a pretty interesting market.

There is more time to look, more inventory to compare and, in some situations, considerably more room to negotiate than there was during the frenzy.

Good homes can still move quickly, though, so being prepared matters.

If you're curious about what is happening with your particular home or neighbourhood, just let me know. I'm always happy to give you my honest opinion — no pressure and no sales pitch.

Chris Nash

Sales Representative

Royal LePage Team Realty

613-869-6274

OTTRealty.ca