Home Prices Are Getting Bid Down in 99% of Ottawa Neighbourhoods

Throughout the first three quarters of the year, the vast majority of neighbourhoods across Ottawa have remained in underbidding territory.

By Josh Sherman | 2 minute read

Only one Ottawa neighbourhood was overbid in Q3.

Ottawa’s housing market was almost entirely underbid in the third quarter, new analysis from digital real estate platform Wahi suggests. Some 99% of the city’s neighbourhoods were in underbidding territory during Q3. The share of neighbourhoods in underbidding territory increased from 89% in the second quarter. 

Throughout the year, the vast majority of Ottawa neighbourhoods have seen prices bid down, although Q2 had seen underbidding activity fall back slightly from Q1, when 94% of neighbourhoods were underbid.  “As we’ve seen in other Canadian housing markets, including Toronto and Calgary, more underbidding activity doesn’t necessarily lead to large price drops,” says Wahi CEO Benjy Katchen. “Overall, Ottawa home prices are holding relatively steady,” he adds.

The median price of an Ottawa home, including houses and condos, was $640,000 in Q3, roughly unchanged compared to a year ago. Buyers appeared to take advantage of stable pricing, with 2,995 homes changing hands in Q3, a year-over-year increase of about 13%. 

The Top 5 Ottawa Underbidding Neighbourhoods in Q3 2024

As was the case in the previous quarter, Ottawa’s top underbidding neighbourhoods tended to be higher-priced communities, with the exception of Fitzroy, which had a median sold price of $494,000.

Despite having the lowest median list and sold prices by far, Fitzroy had the largest median underbid amount by more than $10,000 over the other neighbourhoods in the top five, representing an 8% difference. The other neighbourhoods were underbid by about 3% each. 

Fitzroy was also an outlier as a community with a higher concentration of recreational properties, particularly along the Ottawa River. Glebe – Dows Lake and Old Ottawa South, the second- and third-most underbid neighbourhoods, are centrally located urban communities. Meanwhile, Greely and Carp, which rounded out the top five underbidding neighbourhoods, have rural and suburban attributes.

Crystal Bay – Lakeview Park was Ottawa’s lone overbid neighbourhood in Q3, although with a median overbid amount of $100, prices were effectively flat. In Q2, ​​Trend-Arlington was the city’s only overbid neighbourhood. 

How Wahi Ranks Ottawa’s Overbidding and Underbidding Neighbourhoods

Each quarter, Wahi compares the differences between median list and sold prices to determine whether neighbourhoods are in overbidding or underbidding territory, excluding those neighbourhoods with fewer than five transactions over the study period.

A total of 90 neighbourhoods out of Ottawa’s approximately 100 met this threshold in Q3, unchanged from Q2. Data is sourced from the Ottawa Real Estate Board and Information Technology Systems Ontario.

The top overbidding and underbidding neighbourhoods are ranked by the median overbid or underbid amount. The median overbid and underbid amounts are calculated by subtracting the list price from the sold price of each individual listing in a given neighbourhood. These are then ranked by the median of all subtractions and presented as the median overbid or underbid amount.