Journal
Notes on the Ottawa market.
Market letters, buying & selling guides, neighbourhood notes, investor and commercial analysis.
INVESTOR
Ottawa's balanced vacancy band is 2% to 4%, and we're at 3%
Sep 18, 2026 · 5 min read
CMHC just rebuilt the definition of a balanced rental market. Ottawa's band runs 2% to 4%, and our vacancy rate sits at exactly 3%. Here is what the midpoint costs you.
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Ottawa's four-unit rule is a ratio. N1 needs 500 square metres
Sep 11, 2026 · 5 min read
Everyone repeats four units as of right. The by-law actually says 0.8 per 100 square metres of lot area in N1. A 40 foot lot gets two, and the row is still under appeal.
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Ottawa rentals have to beat 6.6%, not 4.5%. Almost none do
Sep 4, 2026 · 5 min read
Rental money in Ottawa costs 4.5% to 5.5%. Over 25 years that is a 6.6% to 7.3% mortgage constant, and your cap rate has to beat it times your leverage. Almost nothing residential does.
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Ottawa turnover is 1.8x Toronto's. That used to be good news
Aug 28, 2026 · 5 min read
CMHC's turnover table says 16.6% of Ottawa rentals change tenants every year, 1.8 times Toronto's rate. Vacancy decontrol made that an asset for fifteen years. In 2026 it runs the other way.
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Ottawa's MLI Select rent cap is $1,535. Market is $1,926
Aug 21, 2026 · 5 min read
CMHC's MLI Select affordability test for Ottawa runs off a 2019 median renter income of $61,400. That puts the rent ceiling at $1,535 while the average two bedroom rents for $1,926. Here is what the gap costs.
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Ottawa killed parking minimums. Your suite already had none
Aug 14, 2026 · 5 min read
Ottawa scrapped minimum parking rates in the new zoning by-law. For secondary suites the minimum was already zero. Here is where it actually changes your numbers, and the transition rule nobody quotes.
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Ontario's 2027 rent cap is 1.9%. Ottawa's market cap is lower
Aug 7, 2026 · 6 min read
Ontario set the 2027 rent guideline at 1.9%. In Ottawa that is not the binding constraint. New-build vacancy is 6.7% and asking rents are down 4% off peak.
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Ottawa's vacant unit tax: the 2026 deadline was Canada Day
Jul 31, 2026 · 5 min read
Ottawa taxes a home that sits empty more than 184 days a year. Do the arithmetic and the last safe day to fill a unit for 2026 was July 1. Here's what it costs.
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Ottawa rents are softening in 2026: a reality check for small landlords
Jul 24, 2026 · 4 min read
Vacancy is up, two-thirds of buildings are offering incentives, and asking rents have been sliding since spring. The rent-always-goes-up bet just broke. Here's what that changes if you own a door or two.
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The fourplex that isn't: Ottawa's four-unit zoning is still under appeal
Jul 17, 2026 · 5 min read
Everyone is repeating the line about four units on every serviced lot. The provision is sitting at the Ontario Land Tribunal and is not in force. Here's what you can actually build, and what that means if you already paid a fourplex premium for the land.
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Ottawa student rentals in 2026: the per-door math and the by-law trap
Jul 10, 2026 · 5 min read
Every July a client sends me a five bedroom house near uOttawa and a spreadsheet: five rooms, $800 each, a cap rate that looks too good. The spreadsheet is usually where the trouble starts. Here's the real math.
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The 2.1% problem: what Ottawa landlords can charge in 2026
Jul 3, 2026 · 4 min read
Ontario capped 2026 rent increases at 2.1%, the lowest in four years. Meanwhile, Ottawa asking rents have been sliding since mid-2025. Here's the landlord math that actually matters.
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Ottawa condo investing in 2026: a reality check
Jun 26, 2026 · 5 min read
The condo is the property most often pitched to first-time Ottawa investors, and the one I most often talk people out of. Here's the 2026 math, with a worked cash-flow example.
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Multi-unit conversions: the basement secondary suite math
Jun 11, 2026 · 4 min read
The strongest leverage available to small-scale real estate investors in Ottawa right now is the legal basement secondary suite.
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Short-term rental rules in Ottawa: what's legal, what isn't
May 27, 2026 · 4 min read
The City of Ottawa's Short-Term Rental By-law (By-law No. 2021-104) substantially restricted who can run an Airbnb or VRBO in Ottawa. Many "investment" properties marketed as STR opportunities in 2026 are not actually legal.
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ROI on Ottawa rentals in 2026: where the cap rates are
May 11, 2026 · 4 min read
Most "investment property" content on the internet sells the dream. Let me walk through the actual cap rates I'm seeing on Ottawa deals in 2026, which property types work and which don't, and where buyers should focus.
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