Ottawa Real Estate Market Update — July 2026
July brought a sharper seasonal pullback than usual to Ottawa’s resale market, with both sales and new listings dropping from June while prices held roughly stable. Here’s the full picture from the Ottawa Real Estate Board’s official numbers.
July 2026 at a Glance
| Metric | July 2026 | vs. July 2025 | vs. June 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average sale price | $683,308 | −1.6% | −6.9% |
| Composite benchmark price | ~$634,000 | −0.5% | +0.3% |
| Homes sold | 1,325 | +0.5% | −12.7% |
| New listings | 2,530 | −0.8% | — |
| Active listings | 4,678 | +11.2% | — |
| Months of supply | 3.5 | Up from 3.3 | — |
| Sale-to-list price ratio | 97.8% | Down from 98.0% | — |
| Median days on market | 28 | Up from 24 | — |
Source: OREB newsroom, CREA Ottawa statistics
Reading the Average vs. Benchmark Price Gap
The average sale price dropped sharply from June to July — but that’s a mix-shift effect, not a market crash. The steadier composite benchmark price, which adjusts for the types of homes sold, actually edged up 0.3 percent month over month and was down just 0.5 percent year over year. In other words: underlying values held close to flat; June’s average was inflated by a heavier share of high-end detached sales, and July’s mix normalized.
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Price Trends by Property Type
| Property type | Average price | YoY change |
|---|---|---|
| Single-family detached | $825,000 | −3.3% |
| Townhome | $543,000 | −3.2% |
| Apartment/condo | $430,000 | −0.2% |
Notably, condos — the softest segment for most of 2026 — were the most stable category in July, essentially flat year over year, while detached and townhome pricing pulled back more than the headline numbers suggest.
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Sales Activity and Inventory
Sales slowed 12.7 percent from June to 1,325 transactions, though that’s still marginally ahead of July 2025. New listings eased 0.8 percent year over year, but active inventory remains 11.2 percent higher than a year ago at 4,678 listings, pushing months of supply out to 3.5 — the highest point of the year so far and a clearer tilt toward buyer-favourable conditions.
Homes also took longer to sell: median days on market rose from 24 to 28, and the average sale-to-list price ratio slipped slightly to 97.8 percent, meaning sellers are giving up a touch more room during negotiations than they were a year ago.
What This Means for Buyers
July offered the most breathing room of the year for buyers — more supply, slightly longer negotiating windows, and prices essentially flat to down across every property type. For buyers eyeing family homes in west-end communities such as Kanata, Stittsville, or Barrhaven, this kind of supply-heavy summer market is typically the best stretch of the year to negotiate on price or conditions.
What This Means for Sellers
With months of supply at 3.5 and days on market rising, July rewarded sellers who priced to current conditions rather than to spring benchmarks. The gap between average and benchmark pricing is also a useful talking point with sellers who see headline “average price” drops and assume their own home lost value — the benchmark tells a steadier story.
Ottawa Real Estate Market Update — July 2026 (FAQs)
$683,308, down 1.6 percent from July 2025 and down from June’s average, largely due to a shift in the mix of homes sold.
Not meaningfully. The composite MLS® Home Price Index benchmark, which adjusts for property mix, was up 0.3 percent from June and down just 0.5 percent year over year — a far steadier reading than the average price alone suggests.
1,325 homes sold, down 12.7 percent from June but up slightly (0.5 percent) from July 2025.
Conditions are leaning that way. With 3.5 months of supply, rising days on market, and a softening sale-to-list ratio, July 2026 offered more negotiating power to buyers than any other month so far this year.
Condos, with average prices down just 0.2 percent year over year — the smallest decline of any property type.
