Real estate platform OJO Labs is expanding into Canada, the company announced this week.
Canadian customers can now work directly with the OJO concierge team to connect with local agents and mortgage professionals from Royal Bank of Canada, said Natalka Falcomer, who was named president of OJO Home Canada.
“OJO Labs provides intuitive, personalized consumer experience, streamlining the process by matching homebuyers and sellers with the insights, tools, and industry experts they need at just the right time,” Falcomer said. “This is crucial in Canada’s nuanced marketplace, which is moving at lightning speed.”
Canada’s housing market reached record heights over the last year due to increased demand for bigger living spaces combined with other factors, Falcomer said — leaving Canadian homebuyers facing the tightest market on record.
The price of the average Canadian home that sold in June was $679,000, a 25% increase from the prior year. As is the case in the U.S., while sale prices have skyrocketed, the number of sales is beginning to trail off, largely due to the combination of low inventory and record prices.
The Canadian Real Estate Association, an industry trade group, said Thursday that home sales have fallen for three consecutive months after hitting an all-time high in March 2021. Just over 50,000 Canadian homes changed hands during June.
Markets in British Columbia and Ontario have surged over 30% over the last year, and it’s primarily the suburbs that have shown the biggest gains. The annual increase in Vancouver came in at around 14%, while in Toronto it was 20%, CREA said.
John Berkowitz, OJO Labs CEO, said the company will now offer coverage in the Greater Toronto Area, Southwestern Ontario, the Greater Ottawa Region, Calgary Metropolitan Region, Edmonton Metropolitan Region, Central Alberta, Saskatchewan, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador, Vancouver, Fraser Valley, Okanagan-Mainline, Victoria and Vancouver Island.
This year alone, OJO Labs acquired real estate search site Movoto and personal finance platform Digs. It also launched in 2020 The OJO Select Network, which matches agents with home buyers and sellers based on customer needs.
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