96 Nepean Street

I hope everyone had a wonderful and safe Holiday, 2012 is sure to be a great and prosperous year for all of us in the Ottawa Real Estate Market. One thing to look out for this year is the development of Centretown.

Claridge Homes plans to build a 27-storey tower in Centretown, just next to two other high-rise development sites it owns. The 199 unit tower will be located at 96 Nepean St which is between Metcalfe and O'Connor.

Claridge is requesting the site be zoned to allow an 83-metre-tall building and to reduce property setbacks at the front, rear and side.

The two 27-storey towers are expected to be finished by 2013. This is one of a handful of upcoming projects in the immediate area.

Contact me today to find out how you can get proprietary information on all of these projects.

For more information Click Here

Young Moguls - Condos & Cocktails

Do you find the new home development market too overwhelming? Let us take the guess work out of buying a new home. Even if you aren't currently in the market for a new home, come out, enjoy a cocktail, and get up to date on all current and upcoming new development projects.


Date: Thursday, December 8th
Time: 7:00-9:00pm
Location: TBD


Call me or email me today to register

IKEA in Ottawa

After 18 months of construction, the country's largest Ikea will open its doors on Dec. 7. This will attract locals and tourists by the thousands to Canada's biggest IKEA.

The 427,000-square-foot facility is one of the largest retail stores in the city. Thus bringing more traffic to nearby businesses, as well as increasing surrounding property values and sparking new developments including our new development called Westpines where prices start at $189,900.

For more information Click Here

New $18 million dollar pool for East End

Digging started Tuesday for a new $18 million municipal indoor pool facility in Ottawa's east end.

This new facility will includes a six-lane, 25-metre pool, a leisure pool, a fitness centre, a sauna and a multi-purpose room. All funded by tax-payers money.

The facility will be located at 2263 Portobello Blvd., near Innes and Trim roads, and is scheduled to open in January 2013.

This will be a wonderful facility to have in the East End, surely to increase all property values within the surrounding areas. It's great to see the goverment spend money in our communities.

Read more here: Click Here

New Downtown Listing

Here is a new listing located near Centretown under $375,000. Call me or email me for more info.

Check in often for more properties daily!

Outlet mall coming to Kanata

RioCan REIT and Tanger Outlet Centres Inc. recently purchased 50 acres of land in the city’s west end to construct the region’s first outlet mall near Highway 417 and Palladium Drive, close to Scotiabank Place

 The property is expected to sport 350,000 square feet of retail space when completed.

Chief executive for RioCan, Edward Sonshin, stated "Our site in Ottawa represents an exciting opportunity to expand our co-ownership platform beyond Toronto, into other key Canadian retail markets,"

Names of potential tenants and the anticipated purchase price were not disclosed in a release.

Most Ottawans these days tend to take the short drive to Syracuse and Watertown, N.Y., to shop to take advantage of the strong canadian dollar as well as the low taxes. This will be a nice alternative with less of a commute.

Soho Champagne Phase 2

Soho Champagne phase 2 will be launched in the new year. Contact me today to stay up to date on floorplans, price list and specifications. Beat the line ups and eliminate stress by meeting with me today to discuss all the wonderful opportunities still left at Soho Champagne phase 1 and to prepare yourself for the Soho Champagne phase 2 launch.

CMHC Outlook for Ottawa

"Construction activity for new condo apartment units is ... expected to remain historically high by the end of this year and next, but still below the all-time record posted in 2010. Healthy demand for smaller but trendier condos closer to the core is coming from affluent young professionals and empty-nesters looking for an active and convenient urban lifestyle.

"This in turn constitutes evidence suggesting that builders continue to operate largely in tune with demand fundamentals and have so far refrained from speculative overbuilding in a market segment that is drawing in growing investor presence ... With only few plans on the drawing boards, rental apartment construction is expected to remain subdued, opening the door to continued investor activity."

Consistent with Demographic Fundamentals

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation  (CMHC) is forecasting the number of new homes constructed in Ottawa will fall to the lowest level since 2005.  CMHC also says there is a significant trend behind the numbers.

"Demand for the popular condominium apartment segment will continue to rise," says CMHC's housing outlook report. "While semis and row (houses) will combine to dethrone the single-detached homes segment as the new dominant low-rise dwelling types in Ottawa for the first time in over 15 years."

Due to the low mortgage rates and modest prices, CMHC predicts that sales will continue to be moderate. CMHC expects average resale prices to increase by five per cent this year and match the general rate of inflation in 2012.

Read More Here: http://www.obj.ca/Real-Estate/Residential/2011-11-04/article-2796468/Housing-starts-to-drop-to-seven-year-low%3A-CMHC/1

Nothing wrong with Fall...

1,062 properties  were sold in the Ottawa Real Estate Board in October, a rise of 2.3 per cent from last year.

The sales were slightly below the five-year average for October, at 1,071. OREB said 253 of October's sales were in condos - up nearly 15 per cent from the same month last year - and 809 in residential properties.

While noting that condos were the main driver of resales that month, the average sale price of residential properties was $337,797, up two per cent from last year.

What a launch! Distillery starts off on a excellent step!

Last night was the grand opening of Distillery Warehouse Lofts and what a night it was! In less that 2 hours we were already 50% sold out. Purchasers were stunned by the level of finishing included standard inside the unbelievably low prices. There is still some great floor plans left. I have price lists and floor plans so contact me today to get your hands on a copy.

Distillery Warehouse Lofts TODAY!!!

Today is the day, Distillery Warehouse Lofts is lauching tonight at 5pm. Call me or email me right now for more information to be better prepared for tonight's VIP launch.

Soho Champagne

Soho Champagne are offering brand new incentives starting today with all purchases. Great for investors and owners. Contact me today to find out what they are!

SoBa

SoBa, a new development near Bank Street in Downtown Ottawa, will begin construction in 2014. It will be built by Toronto company Lamb Development Corp. who plans to construct the 244-unit tower in Centretown.The preliminary design of SoBa features a ground-level podium occupying the entire lot and a T-shaped structure beginning on the second floor and forming part of the podium until the seventh floor, according to city documents.

Other requested amendments include authorization to build a 7,500-square-foot retail store on the ground floor and reductions in required space for the front and rear yards, "communal amenity area" and landscaping. Recently, rezoning and site plan applications were recently filed with the city. The most recent application is to bring the building from 19 to 21 storeys.

The city has indicated they want more development within Centretown.

Follow my blog for more information as it becomes available.

Distillery Warehouse Lofts

Distillery Warehouse Lofts is coming up next week, call or email me today for more details!

Ottawa, award winners again!

The Ottawa-Gatineau area has once again earned the title of Best Canadian City, a prestigious award ranked by MoneySense magazine. This is not the first time our Nation's Capital has received this award. The Ottawa-Gatineau has proudly accepted it four times in the past six years. 

Representatives from MoneySense magazine judge 180 Canadian cities on several diverse factors. Arts & culture, crime rate, household income, medical doctors per capita, rates of employment and air quality are some of the criteria the judges use. "It's often been said that your home is probably the biggest financial investment you'll ever make," says Marnie Bennett, Team Leader at the Bennett Pros. "You'll want to make that investment in a place that will hold its value over time."

Click here to read more about this great article published by my Team Leader Marnie Bennett.

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Ottawa Condo Boom is for real

Have a look at this video that appeared on CBC News featuring none other than the Bennett Pros

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/story/2011/10/21/ottawa-condo-boom.html

On the RADIO

On Saturday October 15th, myself and some Bennett Pros team members had the opportunity to be on 580 CFRA, Ottawa's news leader.

On the broadcast, we announced several new projects to be on the look out for and covered topics that new and experienced home owners should consider when looking to purchase a home. If you'd like more information on any of these topics join us at our Condos and Cocktail event on Thursday, October 27th at our office at 250 Somerset St. The event will feature several pre-construction opportunities in the city as well as a crash course on condo buying. You can register on facebook or simply send me an email at Nick@bennettpros.com

To listen to the Bennett Pros podcast click here. http://bennettpros.com/gold_customform1.asp

Bayshore Shopping Center's expansion

Bayshore got approval from the city's planning committee this week on a massive expansion bringing it's rental space from the current 754,00 sq.ft to more than 1,000,000 sq.ft as well as adding additional parking spaces. The first stage of construction which is slated to start in the spring of 2012 would bring the rentable area to approximately 915,000 sq.ft. The expansions are estimated to be about $150 million.

This expansion will have positive effects on the housing in the area, including a face lift valued at $40 million on a housing area across the road from Bayshore named Accora Village which houses over 7,000 residents. Thus increasing home values in the area.

There are still plenty of approvals left to get from the city but the project is off on the right foot.

Ottawa on the up in September

Ottawa resales were up 12% in September according to the Ottawa Real Estate Board. This is great news for all Ottawa housing and investors. 1,202 properties were sold last month, an increase of 12.2% over 2010. Of the 1,202 sales, 280 were condos. This also encouraged an increase in average sales price by 3.4%.

As for the Ottawa housing starts, they were also up 35% in September over 2010 according to CHMC. A total of 627 units, a jump of 164 units over last year.

Good news all around!