Ottawa housing,
examined.

In the news: what it means for Ottawa housing

• Ottawa candidates agree on faster housing approvals. Who should pay for growth?
• CREA’s October forecast: what the lower sales outlook means for Ottawa
• More listings, different outcomes: reading Ottawa’s September market
• 560 Hazeldean Road: Council approves rezoning for a planned 347 homes
• Comparing Ottawa new-build prices: 12 advertised offers and the costs to verify

Neighbourhood and area reports

• Kanata housing report: townhouse budgets, detached prices and selling times in Q3 2026
• Barrhaven housing report: what Q3 2026 sales reveal about budgets and moving up
• Ottawa Centre condo report: Q3 2026 prices, budgets and asking-price outcomes
• Alta Vista and Area detached report: Q3 2026 prices, competition and six-month context
• Orleans–Cumberland and Area report: Q3 2026 townhouse and detached choices
• Lower Town–Sandy Hill condo report: six-month prices and budgets through September 2026

Market research and comparisons

• How often did “over asking” still mean below the original asking price in Ottawa?
• What did under $400,000 buy in Ottawa two-bedroom condos in Q3 2026?
• Ottawa housing pipeline: 3,208 starts in Q3 2026
• How long did Ottawa-region homes take to sell in September 2026?
• What was Ottawa’s townhouse-to-detached price gap in September 2026?
• What sold for $600,000 or less in the Ottawa region in September 2026?
• How common were asking-price reductions before Ottawa-region homes sold in September?
• Were Ottawa-region homes selling below asking in September 2026?
• Kanata versus Barrhaven: how did townhouse and detached sales compare in Q3?
• Where was Ottawa’s townhouse-to-detached price gap smallest in Q3?
• Where did $600,000 buy a three-bedroom freehold townhouse in Q3?
• What changed in Ottawa-region home sales in Q3 2026?
• Where were Ottawa buyers most often paying above asking in Q3?
• What did another $100,000 buy in Ottawa’s Q3 housing market?
• How did Ottawa sale discounts differ by asking-price band in Q3?
• How did Ottawa’s three-bedroom home types compare in Q3?
• Buying an Ottawa condo around $350,000: what changes when the fee is higher?

Canadian REALTOR membership: national trends and the Ottawa comparison

CREA reported 156,319 net members at June 30, 2026, down 3.2% from a year earlier. Ottawa’s reported board membership was 3,995, down 0.3%. National membership was 5.0% below its December 2023 high within the 23 quarters examined; Ottawa was 3.4% above its December 2023 count.

Are Canadians using AI to research mortgages?

CMHC’s 2026 Mortgage Consumer Survey reports that 16% of respondents who searched online used AI to obtain mortgage information. The result describes AI use within mortgage research; it does not measure how many Canadians select a real estate agent through AI.

Why did Canadian real estate industry margins narrow as revenue rose?

In Canada’s real estate agents and brokers industry, operating revenue grew 9.2% in 2024 while operating expenses grew 10.8%. The operating profit margin fell from 28.1% in 2023 to 27.1% in 2024, a decline of 1.0 percentage point.

Did “international buyer” mean an overseas investor in CREA’s 2019 report?

No. Most of the international buyers described in CREA’s 2019 report belonged to its resident category: recent immigrants or qualifying temporary visa holders living in Canada.

Why do clients plan to choose a different REALTOR?

A bad experience was one reason people planned to choose a different agent, but availability and location also featured in CREA’s 2021 consumer study.

Did three-bedroom Ottawa condos cost more than two-bedroom condos?

Three-bedroom apartment condos had a median sale price of $370,750, compared with $405,000 for two-bedroom units in the annual sample. Their median monthly fees were higher: $967.45 versus $749.50. The data does not establish that adding a bedroom lowers a home's value.

What should an agent website deliver—and how would you know?

NAR’s 2026 Member Profile reports a median of 0% of business attributed to an agent website for 2025, even though 73% of members had a website.

What did Canadian REALTORS earn? CREA’s 2018 income breakdown

Forty-one per cent of respondents to CREA’s 2019 membership survey reported gross personal REALTOR income below $60,000 for 2018. Nearly a quarter reported less than $30,000.

How much more did a freehold townhouse cost than a condo townhouse in Ottawa?

The annual median sale price was $600,000 for freehold townhouses and $395,700 for condo townhouses—a $204,300 gap between the two groups. The condo-townhouse median recorded fee was $471.00 per month.

How should a new agent build a business before repeat clients arrive?

Referrals were the primary lead source for 61% of respondents to CREA’s 2019 membership survey. But a new agent cannot assume the same source of business will be available at the same scale from the beginning.

How did Ottawa condo fees compare when utilities were listed as included?

Among apartment condos in the 1,000–1,199-square-foot band, the median monthly fee was $928.82 when heat was listed as included and $722.71 when that inclusion was not recorded. The difference describes two groups of sold units; it is not an estimate of the heating bill.

Did slower-selling Ottawa homes sell further below their original asking price?

For detached homes, the median gap below original asking was 0.1% among sales reporting 0–14 days on market and 6.3% among those reporting 61 or more days. Apartment condos showed a similar contrast: 1.0% and 6.4%. These associations do not establish that waiting caused the difference.

Why is the overall REALTOR income figure a poor budget for a new agent?

U.S. REALTORS with two years of experience or less reported median gross income of US$8,000 for 2025. The median across all members was US$59,200.

Where did a $3,000 budget find three-bedroom Ottawa rentals?

In the September 23 snapshot, 197 of 229 selected three-bedroom rental episodes asked $3,000 per month or less. Freehold townhouses supplied 144 of those listings. Barrhaven had 51 of 52 selected three-bedroom episodes within that budget; all 46 in Kanata were within it.

What did roughly $1 million buy across Ottawa?

Of 975 sold listing episodes priced from $900,000 through $1.1 million, 902 were detached homes—92.5% of the four-category sample in that range. The kind of detached home varied across Ottawa's market areas.

What should buyers and sellers expect their real estate agent to help them decide?

Buyers put finding the right home first. Sellers put competitive pricing first. In CREA’s 2021 consumer study, those services received the largest shares of first-place selections: 32.7% for finding a home and 28.6% for pricing one to sell.

Was Ottawa’s townhouse-to-detached price gap getting bigger or smaller?

The difference between detached and freehold-townhouse median sale prices was $221,750 in August 2026. That was $4,950 wider than July, but $21,825 narrower than August 2025. The monthly and annual comparisons pointed in different directions.

What are monthly condo fees in Ottawa—and what is included?

The median monthly condo fee was $686.08 for apartment condominiums and $471.00 for townhouse condominiums in the annual sold sample. Apartment fees varied substantially with the reported size of the unit.

How do Ottawa rental price cuts differ from the rental rules changing in 2027?

In our September 11 PropTx comparison sample, 86 of 581 active listing episodes had asking prices below their original level: 14.8%. Those advertised price changes are different from a statutory reduction in an existing tenant's rent.

Do homes with swimming pools sell for more in Ottawa?

Detached homes classified with an inground pool had a median sold price of $1,005,000, compared with $805,000 for homes explicitly classified with no pool. That $200,000 difference describes two groups of homes; it is not an estimate of what installing a pool adds to a property.

What should Ottawa owners consider before switching from selling to renting?

In our September 11 rental snapshot, median monthly asking prices ranged from $2,395 for apartment condos to $3,500 for detached homes across four selected property groups. These advertised amounts are a starting point for a rental budget, not confirmed rental income or evidence that unsuccessful sellers are switching to renting.

How many transactions do Ottawa real estate agents complete in a year?

The median was four transaction sides among 3,262 individual agent records with Ottawa activity from September 1, 2025, to August 31, 2026. Ten transactions placed an agent among the top 22.2% of this dataset; 20 reached the top 7.3%, and 25 reached the top 4.3%. Agents with zero transactions were not included.

What did Ottawa leased listings report for time on market in August?

The 419 qualifying Ottawa leased listing episodes in our August 2026 sample had a median provider-reported time on market of 18 days, compared with 15 days in July and 16 days in August 2025. These are reported durations for records that reached Leased status, not a promise of how quickly a new rental will find a tenant.

What does our Ottawa rental sample add to an Ottawa–Gatineau cost comparison?

Our September 11 PropTx sample put the median recorded asking price for 118 active two-bedroom apartment-condominium episodes at $2,572.50. That is useful Ottawa-side evidence, but it cannot be subtracted from a Gatineau purpose-built average to calculate a moving saving.

Which Ottawa areas sold faster or slower in August?

Among the six area/property-type groups meeting the monthly sample rule, Kanata detached homes had the largest increase in median reported selling time: 26 days in August, up from 21 in July. Orleans–Cumberland detached homes had the largest decline: 19 days, down from 23.

How much higher were two-bedroom condo asking prices in our Ottawa rental sample?

In our September 11 active apartment-condominium sample, the median recorded asking price was $2,100 for one-bedroom units and $2,572.50 for two-bedroom units. The difference was $472.50, or 22.5% of the one-bedroom median.

What could a first-time buyer find for $500,000 or less in Ottawa?

Of 742 observed listing episodes asking $500,000 or less on September 15, 698 were apartment or townhouse condominiums—94.1% of the four-category sample within that budget. The threshold also captured 32 freehold townhouses and 12 detached listings.

What does a $2,500 rental budget open up in our Ottawa sample?

Raising the monthly asking-rent ceiling from $2,000 to $2,500 expands the qualifying count from 40 to 220 listing episodes in our September 11 Ottawa-region sample: from 6.9% to 37.9% of 581 records. The higher ceiling includes 92 townhouses, alongside 127 apartment condos and one detached home.

How common were asking-price reductions in our Ottawa rental sample?

Eighty-six of 581 active rental listing episodes in our September 11 comparison sample had a recorded asking price below their original asking price: 14.8%. Among the 419 qualifying August leased episodes, 46 had the same net difference: 11.0%.

What does free rent save when Ottawa rental listings leave other costs unclear?

In our September 11 PropTx comparison sample of 581 active Ottawa-region rentals, 191 explicitly listed parking as included, 137 listed water and 74 listed heat. The figures show why comparing rental offers requires more than the asking price. They do not identify which listings offered free rent.

Ottawa’s summer slowdown: what changed heading into fall?

Across four Ottawa-region home categories, reported sales fell 24.2% from July to August 2026, compared with a 7.7% decline over the same months in 2025. August sales were 18.5% below a year earlier, while new listings were almost unchanged.

Your Ottawa home hasn’t sold in two weeks. What does the data actually say?

Unsold after two weeks? Ottawa-region median selling times were 27–34 days in August 2026. What that means—and does not mean—for your listing.

What is the price gap between an Ottawa townhouse and a detached home?

Ottawa-region detached homes had an August 2026 median sale price of $805,000, versus $582,500 for freehold townhouses—a $222,500 gap.