December 2016 – Ottawa Real Estate Board

Ottawa REALTORS® donate over $100,000 to local charities

Members of the Ottawa Real Estate Board (OREB) contributed over $100,000 to the Ontario REALTORS Care® Foundation this year, the largest amount OREB Members have ever contributed to the Foundation. With this large amount, 26 shelter-related charities in the Ottawa-area

The funds were raised through the Board’s annual charity golf tournament, the “$2 per Member per month” campaign, where every Member contributes $2 a month, and the RONA Card program, where a percentage of sales by OREB cardholders gets donated to the Foundation.

“We as REALTORS® are a very visible part of our communities. You see our For Sales signs and our bus benches everywhere. It is where we live and work, so it goes without saying that we have a deep sense of caring and compassion for our communities,” says new Ottawa Real Estate Board President, Risk Eisert. “These grants are a small gesture to help out local charities who work so hard to make a difference. We are very proud of our affiliation with these charities and wish them well with their great work.”

Each and every one of these charities assist those among us who do not have adequate shelter; those who may be dealing with homelessness, addiction, mental or physical illness, spousal or familial abuse, physical disability, poverty, or aging. The work these organizations do is essential to the well-being of our community, but it is often difficult and stressful work, and there is never adequate funding available from public sources for equipment, staff, and infrastructure. These grants are a way of recognizing their valued work in our community.

“This year, Members of OREB’s REALTORS Care® Committee visited two of the charities receiving grants – Options Bytown and the Youth Services Bureau,” explains Rachel Hammer, OREB Director and REALTORS Care® Committee Chair. “It gave us an opportunity to see firsthand how our grants will be used and to get a better sense of the great work each charity does in our community.”

The 2016 Ottawa-area grant recipients are as follows:

Boys and Girls Club of Ottawa
Bruce House
Carleton Place and District Youth Centre
Chrysalis House (WOCRC)
The Door Youth Centre
Eastern Ottawa Resource Centre
Habitat for Humanity
Harmony House
Harvest House
Hospice at May Court
Jericho Road Christian Ministries
LiveWorkPlay
Maison d’Amitié
Nelson House
Options Bytown
Ottawa Carleton Lifeskills
Ottawa Rotary Home Foundation
Parents’ Lifelines of Eastern Ontario
QuickStart
Rogers House
Serenity Renewal for Families
Shepherds of Good Hope
St. Mary’s Home
YMCA Youth Housing Program
Youth Services Bureau
Youville Centre

The Ontario REALTORS Care® Foundation is operated by the Ontario Real Estate Association, and provides grants to Ontario shelter-related charities. The REALTORS Care® Foundation is supported by Ontario real estate boards and associations, and their REALTOR® Members.

The Ottawa Real Estate Board announces new President for 2017

On December 1, 2016, Members of the Ottawa Real Estate Board elected a new Board of Directors for the upcoming year. The Ottawa Real Estate Board is the city’s largest trade association with over 3,100 sales representatives and brokers in the Ottawa area.

The new Executive will be comprised of 2017 President Rick Eisert, Past-President Shane Silva, President-Elect Ralph Shaw, and Vice-President Dwight Delahunt.

New President, Rick Eisert, has been a Member of the Ottawa Real Estate Board for 34 years, and has served on numerous committee’s and task forces since 1994, including Governance, MLS® & Technology, Professional Standards, and more. Rick was first elected to the Board of Directors in 2011 for a two-year term, and then rejoined in 2015, when he was named Vice President. In 2016 he was voted as President-Elect.

“I have worked very hard this past year to prepare for this moment and for the year ahead,” says new President, Rick Eisert. “I am humbled and very proud to serve as President of this amazing organization, and am very excited about the year ahead.”

Joining Rick are continuing Directors Rachel Hammer, Dominique Milne, Anna Russell, and Debra Wright for the second year of their two-year term, along with newly elected/appointed Directors, David Armstrong, Deborah Burgoyne, Andrew Ouellette, Anne Scharf, and Richard Smith (Chair of the Commercial Services Division).

“To be an effective Board in this environment of rapid technology change, we will need to be nimble and adaptive,” explains Eisert. “As the Board of Directors, it is our responsibility to keep our focus on the horizon. We need to be ready to adapt to changes in our environment, especially ones that could be viewed as threats to our organization, our REALTOR® community, and the clients we serve. I look forward to helping ensure that our organization remains a strong and productive voice in our community.”

The Ottawa Real Estate Board (OREB) exists to help our Member REALTORS® succeed. We do this by providing leading edge technology tools and resources; by upholding high ethical standards and practices; and by advocating for our Members. OREB is a proud participant in the Ontario REALTORS Care® Foundation’s campaign to help shelter-related charities in the Ottawa area. Members of the Board are also members of the Ontario Real Estate Association and the Canadian Real Estate Association.

Top row: Anne Scarf, Richard Smith, Rachel Hammer, Dwight Delahunt, David Armstrong, Andrew Ouellette

Middle row: Debra Wright, Dominique Milne, Anna Russell, Deborah Burgoyne

Bottom row: Shane Silva, Rick Eisert, Ralph Shaw

Condo sales continue to bolster Ottawa resale market

Members of the Ottawa Real Estate Board sold 995 residential properties in November through the Board’s Multiple Listing Service® System, compared with 986 in November 2015, an increase of 0.9 per cent. The five-year average for November sales is 939.

“After a few breakaway months, the Ottawa resale market has come back down with sales typical of November,” says new Ottawa Real Estate Board President, Rick Eisert. “The condo market appears to be on the rise now, a welcome change compared to earlier in the year, with sales coming in at 16.2 per cent higher than November 2015. Several factors could have contributed to this increase – inventory levels trending downwards, steady prices, or buyers affected by the newly changed mortgage rules.”

November’s sales included 230 in the condominium property class, and 765 in the residential property class. The condominium property class includes any property, regardless of style (i.e. detached, semi-detached, apartment, townhouse, 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.

“Year-to-date unit sales to the end of November have now surpassed all previous year-end totals,” explains Eisert. “This year has been an exceptional year for sales for Ottawa Real Estate Board Members, and the year isn’t even over yet. The cumulative days on market have shown a steady decline for the first six months of the year, then has shown the same steady increase, so that the cumulative days on market in November (105 days) essentially mirrored that of January (110 days).”

The average sale price of a residential-class property sold in November in the Ottawa area was $405,320 an increase of 6.5 per cent over November 2015. The average sale price for a condominium-class property was $277,650, an increase of one per cent over November 2015. The Board cautions that average sale price information can be useful in establishing trends over time but should not be used as an indicator that specific properties have increased or decreased in value. The average sale price is calculated based on the total dollar volume of all properties sold.

“In the residential market the two most active price points were $300,000 to $399,999 and then $400,000-$499,999 for the month of November, accounting for 50.3 per cent of the market. The condominium market was most active in the $150,000 to $249,999 price range, accounting for 55.2 per cent of the market,” says Eisert. “In addition to residential and condominium sales, OREB Members have assisted clients with renting over 2,900 properties since the beginning of the year.”