The comparison covers 67 one-bedroom and 118 two-bedroom listing episodes. Both groups contain unfurnished, explicitly whole-property rentals advertised with 12-month terms. It is a difference between two groups, not the isolated price of adding a bedroom to an otherwise identical home.
The active asking-price comparison
| Active apartment-condominium group | Episodes | Median recorded ask |
|---|---|---|
| One bedroom | 67 | $2,100.00 |
| Two bedrooms | 118 | $2,572.50 |
| Difference between medians | — | $472.50 |
Source: PropTx active snapshot, September 11, 2026; Lab calculations. Figures are monthly asking prices; interpretation confirmed by the project owner on September 14.
The difference annualizes to $5,670 if unchanged for 12 months. That is arithmetic applied to group medians, not a quote for an available pair of apartments or an estimate of every household's additional annual cost.
Why the gap is not a pure bedroom premium
A second bedroom can arrive with a different location, floor area, parking arrangement, bathroom count or building. This analysis holds broad property type, furnishing, term and whole-property classification constant. It has not matched units by building, neighbourhood, floor area or included services.
A household should therefore treat the gap as context for comparing actual homes. It cannot assume that an extra room in its preferred building will cost exactly $472.50, or that everything else in the comparison will remain unchanged.
Sharing and buying more space are different decisions
For a couple already sharing a one-bedroom, moving to a two-bedroom increases the household bill in a hypothetical comparison using these medians. Splitting the $472.50 difference equally would add $236.25 per person monthly, if all other costs and terms were equal.
For two people who would otherwise rent separate one-bedroom homes, combining into one two-bedroom household creates a different budget. The occupants would need to compare actual suitable units and agree how to allocate space and costs. A mathematical split does not establish their obligations under a lease.
Owners can use the same evidence to frame a comparable-rent review. The two-bedroom median reflects a group of competing advertisements; it is not a suggested asking price for every two-bedroom condo.
The practical result is a measured starting point: in this restricted active sample, two-bedroom condo asking prices had a median about $473 above one-bedroom asking prices. The final household decision still depends on the homes, costs and terms actually available.
Source and methodology
New Purveyors Lab calculations from the PropTx VOW active snapshot extracted September 11, 2026, at approximately 1:17 p.m. Toronto time. “Ottawa region” uses CountyOrParish=Ottawa; equivalence to municipal or metropolitan boundaries has not been established. Data provider: PropTx.
The broader comparison selects records explicitly marked Entire Property, Unfurnished and 12 Months, with positive original and current asking prices, across four home categories. Of 1,083 active records, 581 met those criteria. This article narrows to apartment condominiums with exactly one or two bedrooms: 67 and 118 episodes respectively. Other bedroom counts are excluded from this comparison.
Matt Richling confirmed on September 14 that the active sample’s prices are monthly. PaymentFrequency was independently marked Monthly in 215 of the broader 581 records and blank in 366; the monthly interpretation for missing fields relies on the owner’s confirmation. The September 11 asking prices are retained. This article does not interpret ClosePrice as agreed rent or measure negotiated discounts.
These are listing episodes, not independently deduplicated homes or a census of Ottawa rentals. Prices are not matched for location, size or inclusions. Source-response hashes and sample counts were checked; medians use unrounded values. The $472.50 gap is 22.5% of the one-bedroom median. Multiplying it by 12 gives $5,670; neither calculation establishes a causal bedroom premium or an individual household’s bill. Availability may have changed since extraction.
Cite this article
New Purveyors Lab. “How much higher were two-bedroom condo asking prices in our Ottawa rental sample?” Published September 16, 2026. Article link.