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."

Were number 1

An Ottawa real estate saleswoman has found herself on top of the world, thanks to her focus on marketing.

Marnie Bennett, an agent with Keller Williams, and founder of Bennett Real Estate Professionals, has been named the No. 1 Broker Worldwide for Keller Williams Realty International in 2010.

Bennett, 57, employs a team of 30 employees, including her three children, her husband, and some of her extended family.

Her team sold 627 new and resale homes last year, besting more than 80,000 other Keller Williams agents around the globe.

"Though there were challenges in 2010, we simply remained focused on our customers," says Bennett, who describes herself as "thrilled" with the recognition for her team's achievement.

Bennett, a fixture in Ottawa's real estate industry for 30 years, has developed a reputation as Ottawa's "condo queen," and her success in selling condominiums propelled her to the top of the Keller Williams ladder. She says she is involved in 25 per cent of all new condo sales in the nation's capital. More than 350 of the units she sold in 2010 were new, and a large number of those were condos. Her group helped to sell about 250 resale homes last year.

Her climb to condo royalty started in 2004 when she was contacted to help market Terry Guilbault's $60 million condominium development at 90 George St. on the edge of the ByWard Market. Bennett says it was then she realized Ottawa's condo potential.

The city has high average incomes, affordable real estate and the largest concentration of baby boomers in Canada.

As those people downsized, the market would be ripe for a condominium sales specialist. She hired interior decorators to help stage model homes and condos, filled a warehouse with quality furniture and brought 17 licensed real estate agents on staff to help with sales initiatives.

Demand for her marketing and sales expertise skyrocketed. She has been involved in several condo developments including, most recently, an Ashcroft Homes project on Richmond Road in Westboro, on the property that once housed the Sisters of Visitation Convent.

Barry Nabatian, an analyst with real estate research firm Shore Tanner and Associates, applauded Bennett. "She is really successful. She is very well known in Ottawa," he said.

"That is really impressive. She has really developed a knack for this."

Nabatian said a driving factor in her success has been the strength of the Ottawa real estate market through the economic downturn. While the volume of resale homes dipped between 2009 and 2010, average selling prices have increased by six to seven per cent, said Nabatian. Many other markets, especially those in the United States, have fared far worse.

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