Ottawa Housing Market: Home Prices and Sales | September 2026

The Ottawa Real Estate Board (OREB) reports resale activity for the City of Ottawa and the surrounding area on the Ontario side of the river; the Quebec side has its own report, the Gatineau housing market, and the two are compared in Ottawa vs Gatineau. OREB publishes all three price measures. This page shows its September 2026 release, published in October 2026, including its benchmark prices by home type for the same month. The Canadian housing market overview explains how the measures differ.

Ottawa home prices, September 2026

OREB’s composite benchmark was $623,500 (-0.3% year over year), the average sale $685,640 (-1.0%) and the median $625,000 (-0.8%). Homes sold for 97.5% of their asking price on average, and the median home took 27 days to sell, against 22 a year earlier.

Home types

OREB, September 2026. Benchmark and sales changes are from a year earlier.

Townhouse active listings were 19.3% above a year earlier. Apartments were the slackest segment: 7.3 months of inventory, up from 6.3 the month before and past CREA’s 6.4-month buyer’s-market line, a 27.0% sales-to-new-listings ratio and a median of 32 days on market.

Sales, listings and market balance

OREB counted 1,010 sales (-6.6% on a year earlier), 2,927 new listings and 4,813 active listings, 7.9% more than a year earlier. The board’s sales-to-new-listings ratio fell to 34.5% from 47.3% the month before, and months of inventory rose from 4.5 to 4.8; OREB says that was the lowest ratio and the highest months of inventory for the month in the past decade. Recomputed from the counts, the ratio is 34.5% and inventory 4.8 months, between CREA’s 3.6-month seller’s and 6.4-month buyer’s thresholds (what these measure).

OREB’s reading is that the shift came from supply: sales were nearly unchanged from the month before, while new listings rose 38.1%, so more homes were competing for a similar number of sales. The composite benchmark fell 2.2% from the month before, which the board says was the largest drop between those two months in a series that dates to 2005, while average and median prices stayed close to the month before. OREB describes conditions as shifting further in buyers’ favour.

By part of the city

Blank cells: OREB’s release does not give that figure for the submarket.

OREB says the three suburban submarkets accounted for 734 sales, 72.7% of the citywide total, 8.0% fewer than a year earlier, with each of the three down on the year. Suburb West, with the fewest months of inventory, was the tightest of the seven submarkets, and Ottawa Centre had 3.1 more months of inventory than Suburb West. The rural submarkets recorded 40 to 88 sales each in the month, so the board cautions that large percentage changes there should be read carefully. Neighbourhood descriptions are on where to live in Ottawa.

Buying costs in Ottawa

Ottawa has no municipal land transfer tax, so a buyer pays only Ontario’s. At the composite benchmark it is $8,945, the top 2% slice applying to the $223,500 above $400,000. Eligible first-time buyers get up to $4,000 refunded, leaving $4,945 (Ontario calculator). Ottawa’s tax rates are covered on Ottawa property tax.

Because the benchmark is above $500,000, the minimum down payment mixes 5% and 10%: $37,350, or 6% of the price. Insuring the mortgage at that down payment costs $23,446, added to the loan. An apartment at its $380,800 benchmark needs $19,040 down.

Income needed against Ottawa incomes

The Ottawa benchmark home needs near $141,200 a year of income at minimum down, or $123,300 with 20% down (calculation). For the Ontario part of the Ottawa-Gatineau CMA, the 2021 Census median household income was $102,000 (income year 2020), so the benchmark home asks for 38% more than the median household had. An apartment at its benchmark needs $88,800. Income percentiles in Ottawa show where those incomes fall.

Related pages

• Buying a home in Ottawa
• Ottawa rental market
• Ontario housing market
• Gatineau housing market