Ottawa Market Notes — October 2026

Hi — Mert here.

I hope Thanksgiving was a good one, and that the leaves on your lawn are mostly someone else’s.

1,010 homes sold in September. That’s down 6.6% from last year, but up slightly from August. Sales normally dip at this point in the year. This time they didn’t.

Here’s the part the headlines skipped. New listings jumped 38% from August, to 2,927. The MLS® HPI benchmark slipped 2.2% month over month to $623,500, which is only 0.3% below last year. Homes now take a median of 27 days to sell, up from 22 last year, and they’re going for 97.5% of asking. Buyers aren’t rushing. Values aren’t caving.

Buyers: you have more room to negotiate than you did a year ago. Ottawa is at 4.8 months of inventory, up from 4.5 in August.

Every October I load up the car and leave a pumpkin on the doorsteps of past clients. This year that meant covering the whole city, porch to porch, with leaves underfoot. To everyone who sent a message after finding one: thank you. I read every one, and hearing that the kids loved them was the best part. The tags also carried a preview of something I’m starting in 2027: a donation to CHEO for every home I sell. Every friend you refer helps local kids, too.

Apartments are the soft spot: sales down nearly a quarter, and the benchmark 6.1% below last year. If you own a condo and plan to sell, pricing and positioning will do more work than patience. Townhouses remain the tightest segment.

The Bank of Canada held at 2.25% on September 2, its seventh hold in a row. It flagged upside risk to inflation from high oil prices and new US tariffs, with CPI sitting around 3%. The October 28 decision comes with a new Monetary Policy Report. If you’re shopping with a pre-approval, a hold keeps your numbers where they are. I’ll post what changes, if anything, the day it lands. Read the release.

Book a furnace service before the cold snap, not during it.

Test your smoke and CO alarms. The clocks change November 1, so do it then.

Shut off and drain outdoor taps, and disconnect the hoses.

Four short ones, about 60 seconds each.

Save the date: October 28.	Thinking about a brand-new home? This might be the best time in years.
Ottawa’s market just shifted in buyers’ favour	Is Ottawa a buyer’s market or a seller’s market? The honest answer is both.

Source: OREB, October 5, 2026

Market figures from the Ottawa Real Estate Board MLS® System. Information believed reliable but not guaranteed. Not intended to solicit buyers or sellers currently under contract.