Journal
Notes on the Ottawa market.
Market letters, buying & selling guides, neighbourhood notes, investor and commercial analysis.
NEIGHBOURHOODS
Hintonburg's 11 metre cap covers 83% of N4B, not all of it
Oct 28, 2026 · 4 min read
I told you Hintonburg's residential streets were all capped at 11 metres. I counted every address and 209 of them are not. Here is where they are and what 14.5 metres changes.
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Old Ottawa South has no N1 lots, and 1 in 10 is in a flood plain
Oct 21, 2026 · 5 min read
No Old Ottawa South address is zoned N1, 82.6% are N3 or N4, and one in ten sits in the flood plain overlay. Here is what that does to a lot, measured address by address.
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Ottawa Centre sank to 27.6% in September. Now what for the Glebe?
Oct 14, 2026 · 4 min read
Ottawa Centre's sales-to-new-listings ratio dropped 12 points since July. I scored my July Glebe post against the September OREB data, and the answer depends on whether you own a condo or a house.
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I said Westboro's train opens early 2027. I was wrong.
Oct 7, 2026 · 4 min read
I told you Westboro's station would open early 2027. The city's schedule already said Q3 2027, then July's flood hit. Here is the corrected timeline and what September's OREB data did to my August call.
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Barrhaven's Greenbank road: Phase 1 is only 15% of the job
Sep 30, 2026 · 4 min read
In August I said Greenbank's first phase included the Jock River bridge. It does not. The city prices Phase 1 at $58M of a $380M project, about 15 per cent.
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Orléans LRT: the earliest honest opening date is November
Sep 23, 2026 · 5 min read
Pre-trial running in early October, then 21 days of trial, then up to 10 days of certification. Add it up and the earliest date a passenger boards in Orléans is November 3.
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317 Kanata homes ring the old golf course. I measured it.
Sep 16, 2026 · 5 min read
The old Kanata golf course is zoned for housing and the soil results are in. I measured how many homes sit on its edge, and put the mercury numbers on a scale.
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Half of Manotick is on septic. I counted the pipes.
Sep 9, 2026 · 5 min read
Manotick's servicing is a coin flip, street by street. I ran the City's own water and sewer mains against 3,376 village addresses. Here is who has pipe and who never will.
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Hintonburg's zoning already changed. It was 2020
Sep 2, 2026 · 5 min read
Ottawa rewrote its zoning map and Hintonburg came out with new letters and the same rules. The four-unit appeal everyone is watching is about a cap this neighbourhood never had.
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Old Ottawa South has two markets. Carleton splits them.
Aug 26, 2026 · 5 min read
Vacancy is highest near post-secondary campuses and Carleton is running a $32 million deficit. Old Ottawa South has two housing markets and they are moving in opposite directions.
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Lansdowne is a job site until 2030. Price the Glebe for it.
Aug 19, 2026 · 5 min read
Two tower cranes are up at Lansdowne and the build runs to late 2030. Crews can work until 10 pm, seven days a week. Here is what that does to a Glebe listing and how to price around it.
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Westboro's train is almost here. So are 1,441 new units.
Aug 12, 2026 · 5 min read
Three Westboro proposals add up to 1,441 units, and the biggest one needs no council vote. Ottawa's apartment benchmark is down 5.2 per cent. Here's how to price around that.
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Barrhaven is building a downtown around a train nobody funded
Aug 5, 2026 · 5 min read
Barrhaven's LRT extension is fully designed and priced at $4 billion. The city is buying land for a downtown built around a station that has no funding. Here's what is actually getting built, and what to pay for it.
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Orléans has a finished train and no opening date
Jul 29, 2026 · 5 min read
Twelve and a half kilometres of track, five finished stations, and as of mid-July no timeline to open any of it. Here's what that's actually worth when you're bidding on a house in the east end.
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Kanata North is bigger than I told you in May
Jul 15, 2026 · 5 min read
In May I wrote that Kanata North employs roughly 24,000 people. The KNBA's new report says 30,978 direct jobs and $17.9 billion in output. Meanwhile Ottawa Suburb West is quietly the tightest submarket in the city. Here's what connects the two.
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Why the Glebe is up 10.3% while Ottawa cools
Jul 8, 2026 · 5 min read
OREB says stop reading citywide headlines and look local. The Glebe proves the point: it's up 10.3% year over year while Ottawa's benchmark slipped. Here's what's really happening in Ottawa's canal-side classic in 2026.
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Manotick neighbourhood guide: village living on the Rideau
Jun 4, 2026 · 3 min read
Manotick is a village of about 5,500 within the City of Ottawa, located 30 minutes south of downtown along the Rideau River. The neighbourhood is defined by the village core, the river, and the newer Mahogany community to the south.
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Hintonburg neighbourhood guide: art, infill, and Wellington West
Jun 1, 2026 · 3 min read
If Westboro is what Hintonburg will be in ten years, Hintonburg in 2026 is the most interesting transitional neighbourhood in the city.
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Old Ottawa South neighbourhood guide: Bank, Brewer, and Carleton
May 29, 2026 · 3 min read
Old Ottawa South sits south of The Glebe, bordered by the Rideau River on three sides. The neighbourhood is centred on the Bank Street south commercial strip, anchored by Hopewell Avenue Public School and Brewer Park, and shaped by Carleton…
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The Glebe neighbourhood guide: Edwardian homes and Lansdowne
May 25, 2026 · 3 min read
The Glebe is Ottawa's longest-running premium walkable neighbourhood. Bank Street is the spine, Lansdowne is the anchor, the Rideau Canal forms the eastern boundary, and the housing stock is dominated by Edwardian and early-20th-century det…
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Westboro neighbourhood guide: urbanist living west of Tunney's
May 19, 2026 · 3 min read
Westboro has become the model of Ottawa's urbanist housing pivot. Wellington West is a genuine walkable commercial strip, Confederation Line LRT puts the area 12 minutes from downtown, and infill density has reshaped what the housing stock…
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Barrhaven neighbourhood guide: Ottawa's south-end suburb
May 13, 2026 · 3 min read
Barrhaven now houses about 95,000 people and continues to expand south and west. It's Ottawa's quintessential family suburb — newer construction, large lots in some pockets, strong schools, and the south-end commute that LRT Stage 2 will ev…
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Orleans neighbourhood guide: the francophone east end
May 10, 2026 · 3 min read
Orleans is Ottawa's largest east-end community, with a population around 110,000 and a distinct francophone heritage. It's been a steady family suburb for decades, and the 2026 market continues to reward that consistency.
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Kanata neighbourhood guide: tech, families, and value
May 5, 2026 · 2 min read
Kanata isn't a single neighbourhood — it's a former municipality of around 110,000 people, spanning from Beaverbrook in the north to Bridlewood and Glen Cairn in the south. Each pocket has a distinct character and price band.
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