Ottawa Rents Up 8.1% Annually in Q4 as Vacancy Declines

According to Urbanation's latest Q4-2022 Ottawa Rental market Report, rents in new purpoe-built projects in Ottawa increased 8.1% annually to a record high.

Below are some highlights of the latest Q3-2022 results:

• The average surveyed rent for new purpose-built units was $3.06 psf ($2,458 for 803 sf), increasing 8.1% year-over-year.

• Within newer buildings completed and stabilized since 2016, vacancy moved down from 2.6% in Q4-2021 to 1.8% in Q4-2022.

• The inventory of new purpose-built rentals under construction in Ottawa declined to 6,666 units in Q4-2022 from a recent high of 7,039 units in Q3-2022.

• Rental construction starts in Ottawa declined from 2,854 units in 2021 to 2,168 units in 2022, equal to a 24% annual decrease.

• New purpose-built rental completions slowed from a recent high of 2,292 units in 2021 to 1,714 units in 2022. Rental completions are projected to rise to a total of 2,429 units in 2023.

• Condominium lease activity via MLS increased 1.4% in 2022 to a record high of 1,116 transactions.

• Fourth quarter lease transactions for condominiums increased 7.4% year-over-year to a Q4 high of 270 units.

• Condominium rents reached a record high $2,325 ($2.64 psf) in Q4-2022, increasing 4.2% quarter-over-quarter and 7.4% year-over-year.

• Average condo rents surpassed their pre-pandemic high of $2,177 in Q4-2019 by 6.8%.

• In the latest five-year period to Q4-2022, annual rent growth for condominiums averaged 6.0%, with 10-year average growth of 3.3%.