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Even so, there is a market for those willing to take risks — Ottawa’s 3,000 plus real estate agents managed to sell 13,400 residential properties last year through the multiple listing service, and 4,070 condos.

Overall, increases in the value of properties remains modest.

For 2018 as a whole, the average price for residential homes sold was $446,700 — up 5.1 per cent from 2017 — while condo prices averaged $278,300. That was up 3.2 per cent from 2017.

Condominiums were priciest downtown, where the average sale fetched $390,400 (based on 690 transactions). However, that was up just 1.3 per cent from the average in 2017. In the west end, condos sold for $332,000 (up 3.2 per cent) while in the south and east, they averaged $297,700 (up 4.2 per cent) and $243,200 (up 4.5 per cent) respectively.

The pattern for single family home sales also varied considerably. While the city-wide benchmark price in December was $433,500, up 7.3 per cent year over year, the increases ranged from 14.1 per cent in Hintonburg-West Centretown ($532,400) to just 0.3 per cent in New Edinburgh-Lindenlea ($769,800).

For much of 2018, especially during the early part, the largest gains in house prices occurred in the west, while the smallest hikes were in the east. In more recent months, the hottest markets for single family homes have moved further to the periphery — Carp, Stittsville and Orléans — as homebuyers hunted for bargains.

In December, there was a mix as districts in the east showed a resurgence. Real estate in Blackburn Hamlet, Orléans and Cumberland saw double-digit gains (or nearly so) compared with December 2017. Vanier, too, made the Top 10 list. Most of the other districts reporting year-over-year gains in excess of eight per cent were in the west while realtors in Centretown also saw hikes of more than nine per cent in the benchmark price for single-family homes.

At the same time, the majority of the real estate districts reporting the smallest increases in home prices were east of Bank St., including the city’s most expensive enclaves — Rockcliffe Park ($1.6 million, up 3.4 per cent) and New Edinburgh-Lindenlea.

Here’s a snapshot of how the market for single-family homes fared in December district by district compared to December 2017: