Ottawa had 15,646 dwellings under construction at the end of Q2 2026, and 13,202 of them were apartments. In that quarter alone, the City of Ottawa’s Housing Approvals workbook records 2,192 dwellings approved through official plan and zoning amendments, 2,706 dwellings covered by net building permits, 2,411 construction starts and 2,600 completions. Separately, the City’s permit files for January to September 2026 add up to 7,828 net new dwellings. RentSetGo Property Management publishes this page from those two City of Ottawa open data series, retrieved October 25, 2026, and updates it quarterly.
Supply is half of every rent decision. The other half, what a specific home can actually charge, is covered in our guide to how much rent you can charge in Ottawa. This page covers the supply side: how many homes are coming, what kind they are, and where in the city they land. If you own a rental, or you are about to close on a new build, the ward numbers matter more than the city totals, so that is how the data is organized below.
How many homes are in Ottawa’s housing pipeline?
The pipeline has six stages in the City’s workbook. Two approval stages come first: dwellings granted land use permission through Official Plan or Zoning By-law Amendments, then dwellings approved through plans of subdivision, plans of condominium, site plan control, minor variances and severances. Building permits follow, counted net of demolition permits. The last three stages, starts, under construction and completions, are sourced from CMHC. Five of the six are flows within the quarter. Under construction is a stock, the count of dwellings being built on the last day of the quarter, and it should never be added to the flows.
| Stage, Q2 2026 | Dwellings | Of which apartments |
|---|---|---|
| OP and Zoning Approvals | 2,192 | 1,876 |
| All Other Approvals | 2,570 | 1,736 |
| Building Permits (net) | 2,706 | 1,720 |
| Starts | 2,411 | 1,608 |
| Under Construction (stock at quarter end) | 15,646 | 13,202 |
| Completions | 2,600 | 1,933 |
The fourteen-quarter trend is noisy at the front of the pipeline and steadier at the back. Official plan and zoning approvals swung from 4,881 dwellings in Q3 2023 down to 444 in Q1 2026, then back to 2,192 in Q2 2026, because a few large projects can dominate a single quarter. Completions moved in a narrower band, between 1,299 and 2,861 per quarter across the same period. The stock under construction has stayed between roughly 14,200 and 16,200 dwellings the whole time. Read the approvals as direction, not as a schedule.
Dwellings by pipeline stage, Q1 2023 to Q2 2026. Source: City of Ottawa Open Data, Housing Approvals workbook, retrieved October 25, 2026.
What kinds of homes is Ottawa building?
Apartments, mostly. Apartments were 1,876 of the 2,192 dwellings approved through official plan and zoning amendments in Q2 2026, about 86 percent, and 1,933 of the quarter’s 2,600 completions. Across the four quarters to Q2 2026, the pattern holds at every stage: 8,211 of 10,422 official plan and zoning approvals were apartments, as were 8,607 of 11,686 net permitted dwellings and 5,331 of 8,471 completions. In the workbook’s type split, the apartment category includes stacked townhouse units, so it runs a little broader than tower units alone.
Ground-oriented housing is the smaller share but not a small number. Rowhouses accounted for 1,727 of the net dwellings permitted over those four quarters, and singles for 1,187. Semi-detached homes barely register in the approval data, with 2 dwellings at the official plan and zoning stage across the full year. An owner deciding what to buy, or what their existing home will compete against, is mostly looking at a market where new supply arrives as apartment units first and suburban rowhouses second.
What this data can’t tell you
Three limits are worth stating plainly. First, the City’s approvals and permits data carries no split of rental versus ownership tenure, so this page does not publish one. A permitted apartment building may be purpose-built rental, condominium, or a mix its owner decides later, and any source that gives you an exact rental share from this data is guessing. Second, an approval is not a start and a permit is not a finished home: projects are revised, delayed and sometimes cancelled after they are counted. Third, the finest geography the two series share is the ward. Neighbourhood-level permit counts would need address geocoding the City does not publish with these files, so ward is where this page stops.
Which Ottawa wards are adding the most homes in 2026?
The permit files answer this at the level of the individual permit. From January to September 2026, Ottawa issued permits recording 8,091 dwellings added and 263 removed, a net gain of 7,828 dwellings across 7,473 permit records. The growth is concentrated. The top 10 wards account for 6,118 of the 7,828 net units, about 78 percent, and the top of the table is suburban: Orléans South-Navan, Barrhaven West and Kanata North. Somerset, the downtown ward, is the inner-urban exception in fourth place, carried by large apartment permits. Growth at this scale is exactly what our Barrhaven, Kanata and Orléans management pages watch quarter to quarter.
| Ward | Net new dwellings, Jan–Sep 2026 | Permit records |
|---|---|---|
| Ward 19, Orléans South-Navan | 928 | 422 |
| Ward 3, Barrhaven West | 787 | 427 |
| Ward 4, Kanata North | 751 | 579 |
| Ward 14, Somerset | 709 | 290 |
| Ward 6, Stittsville | 661 | 391 |
| Ward 22, Riverside South-Findlay Creek | 525 | 383 |
| Ward 13, Rideau-Rockcliffe | 490 | 193 |
| Ward 9, Knoxdale-Merivale | 451 | 351 |
| Ward 7, Bay | 409 | 591 |
| Ward 12, Rideau-Vanier | 407 | 258 |
Top 10 wards by net new dwellings permitted, January to September 2026. Source: City of Ottawa Open Data, Construction, Demolition, and Pool Permits 2026, retrieved October 25, 2026.
By building type, the 2026 permits split into 3,562 net apartment units, 2,574 rowhouses, 1,353 singles, 206 semi-detached homes and a small remainder of other types. Duplexes recorded a small net loss of 6 units over the nine months. Three permit records in the file carry no ward; they are counted in the city total and left out of the ward table, which is why the ward figures reconcile to the total only with those records included.
What are the largest projects permitted in Ottawa in 2026?
Every one of the ten largest unit-creating permits issued from January to September 2026 is an apartment building, and the range runs from 144 to 418 units at a single project. These are public permit records, grouped by permit number so a project permitted in phases counts once. The construction value shown is the value recorded on the permit itself. Phased permits often record only part of a project’s value, and one of these ten records $0 in the source file, so treat the values as filing data, not project budgets.
| Project address, as recorded | Ward | Net units | Value on permit | Permit issued |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 150 Laurier Ave West | Ward 14, Somerset | 418 | $11,503,495 | March 31, 2026 |
| 1350 Fisher Ave | Ward 9, Knoxdale-Merivale | 374 | $46,493,744 | March 4, 2026 |
| 365 Forest St | Ward 7, Bay | 350 | $69,013,220 | April 16, 2026 |
| 1137 Ogilvie Rd | Ward 11, Beacon Hill-Cyrville | 273 | $7,608,073 | May 1, 2026 |
| 299 City Centre Ave | Ward 14, Somerset | 248 | $8,268,203 | March 20, 2026 |
| 1186 Wellington St West | Ward 15, Kitchissippi | 214 | $0, as recorded | March 3, 2026 |
| 125 and 135 Oshedinaa St | Ward 13, Rideau-Rockcliffe | 200 | $5,400,997 | March 24, 2026 |
| 425 Culdaff Rd | Ward 6, Stittsville | 177 | $35,430,453 | July 31, 2026 |
| 200 Beausoleil Dr | Ward 12, Rideau-Vanier | 159 | $26,755,745 | May 11, 2026 |
| 2425 and 2431 Bank St, 1311 Hunt Club Rd | Ward 10, Gloucester-Southgate | 144 | $32,521,751 | March 27, 2026 |
Are secondary suites and coach houses growing in Ottawa?
Yes, steadily. Ottawa publishes no register of additional dwelling units, so this count is built from permit description text: a permit counts when its description mentions a secondary dwelling, an additional dwelling or a coach house, with cancelled records excluded and units taken from the permit’s own net unit column. On that method, suite permits rose from 269 in 2023 to 364 in 2024 and 409 in 2025, and the first nine months of 2026 already show 312 permits adding 569 units. The count is approximate by construction: a suite described in other words is missed, and a small number of matched permits record no net new unit. Our guide to adding secondary dwelling units in Ottawa covers the approval and construction side of the same trend. The full suite count, by ward and type, is on our Ottawa secondary suites page.
| Year | Suite permits | Units added |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 269 | 377 |
| 2024 | 364 | 568 |
| 2025 | 409 | 723 |
| 2026, January to September | 312 | 569 |
Permits describing a secondary dwelling, additional dwelling or coach house, by year. Counts are description-based. Source: City of Ottawa Open Data, permits workbooks 2023 to 2026, retrieved October 25, 2026.
What This Means if You Own a Rental in Ottawa
The figures above are measurements. What follows is our reading of them for Ottawa landlords, labelled as interpretation throughout.
Most of the new competition is apartments
The under-construction stock at the end of Q2 2026 was 15,646 dwellings. Apartments were 13,202 of them, about 84 percent of everything being built in the city. Completions tell the same story: 8,471 dwellings finished in the four quarters to Q2 2026, and 5,331 of them were apartments. In our reading, owners of apartment units, whether a single condo or a whole building, face the most new competition, and it does not arrive evenly. It lands building by building, in the quarters when large projects finish.
Suburban townhouses are in the pipeline too
Rowhouses account for 2,574 of the 7,828 net new dwellings permitted from January to September 2026, roughly a third, with a further 1,353 singles. Much of that stock is in suburban communities where the tenant pool overlaps heavily with existing townhouse rentals. If you own a townhouse in a growth ward, the competing unit is increasingly likely to be a brand new one a few streets away, not another resale.
Your exposure is your ward, not the city average
The 2026 permit growth is concentrated: Orléans South-Navan added 928 net units, Barrhaven West 787, Kanata North 751, Somerset 709 and Stittsville 661, while several established wards added fewer than 100. Citywide averages hide this. A landlord’s real exposure is the completions near their own property, and at the project level those can be large: the single biggest permit of 2026 so far is 418 apartment units at 150 Laurier Ave West in Somerset ward. We read the ward table, not the city total, as the number to watch.
The supply wave has not finished
Over the four quarters to Q2 2026, Ottawa permitted 11,686 net dwellings while 8,471 were completed, and 15,646 dwellings were still under construction at the end of the period. More dwellings are entering the system than leaving it, so new completions should keep arriving through the coming quarters. For landlords, that argues for timing leases and renewals with local completions in mind rather than assuming today’s conditions hold.
Legal suites are a growing slice of the stock
Permits for secondary and additional dwelling units rose from 269 in 2023 to 364 in 2024 and 409 in 2025, and the first nine months of 2026 already show 312 permits adding 569 units. Counted from permit descriptions, these are legal suites in existing houses, and they compete directly with basement apartments and duplex units. For owners with a suitable house, the same trend is an opportunity: a legal suite adds a rent-producing unit without buying another property.
New-build owners: plan lease-up against your own ward
Apartments also dominate the front of the pipeline: 1,876 of the 2,192 dwellings approved through official plan and zoning amendments in Q2 2026 were apartments. Buildings approved today are the lease-up competition of the next few years, and several large projects can complete in the same ward in the same season. If you are closing on a new build, we would plan pricing, timing and incentives against the completions scheduled around your building, not against the citywide average. Our guide for owners buying an Ottawa new build from out of province walks through that first lease-up in detail.
When this is a watch item, not an action item
Plenty of landlords can reasonably do nothing with this page. If your property is tenanted on a stable long-term lease in a ward adding little new stock, the pipeline is background, not a problem to solve, and the City’s own dashboard is free to check once a quarter. Where the numbers start to bite is at a decision point: a purchase, a closing, a renewal, a unit coming empty in a ward with large completions landing. That is also where our property management service earns its fee: it prices and leases against the local supply picture instead of the city average.
The Bottom Line
Ottawa’s pipeline is large and mostly apartments, and it is landing in a handful of wards. At Q2 2026 the city had 15,646 dwellings under construction, permits for 2026 are running at 7,828 net new dwellings through September, and four suburban wards plus downtown Somerset are absorbing most of the growth. None of that dictates a rent or a purchase decision on its own. It does tell you where to look: your ward, your building type, and the completions scheduled near your property over the next few quarters. This page is refreshed quarterly from the City’s published files, and the figures above are the October 25, 2026 retrieval.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many homes are under construction in Ottawa right now?
15,646 dwellings at the end of Q2 2026, the latest quarter in the City of Ottawa’s Housing Approvals workbook, retrieved October 25, 2026. Apartments account for 13,202 of them. Starts, under construction and completions in that workbook are CMHC-sourced.
Which Ottawa wards are adding the most homes in 2026?
By net units permitted from January to September 2026: Orléans South-Navan (928), Barrhaven West (787), Kanata North (751), Somerset (709) and Stittsville (661). The top 10 wards account for 6,118 of the city’s 7,828 net new units, about 78 percent.
Does this data show how many new Ottawa homes will be rentals?
No. The City’s approvals and permits data does not split dwellings by tenure, so this page does not estimate a rental share. A permitted apartment building may be purpose-built rental, condominium, or a mix decided later by its owner.
What is the difference between an approval, a building permit and a completion?
An approval grants land use permission or clears a subdivision, condominium, site plan, minor variance or severance. A building permit authorizes construction of specific dwellings, counted net of demolitions. A completion is a finished dwelling, recorded by CMHC. The same home is counted at each stage as it moves through, so stage totals cannot be added together.
How fast are secondary suites and coach houses growing in Ottawa?
Permits describing a secondary dwelling, additional dwelling or coach house rose from 269 in 2023 to 364 in 2024 and 409 in 2025. The 2025 permits added 723 units. The first nine months of 2026 show 312 permits and 569 units. The count is built from permit description text, so it is approximate.
How often is this page updated?
Quarterly. The approvals data runs about two months behind the current quarter, and the permits data is compiled monthly. This edition uses approvals to Q2 2026 and permits to September 2026, retrieved October 25, 2026.
Closing on an Ottawa New Build, or Holding a Rental in a Growth Ward?
RentSetGo Property Management leases and manages new builds and resale rentals across Ottawa. We price against the local picture this page tracks, the permits and completions landing in the property’s own ward, then handle the listing, tenant screening, leasing and day-to-day management from there.
Send us the address of the property you own or are considering. We will return a free rental appraisal for that property, with its ward’s pipeline figures attached so you can see what your rent is competing against.
613-800-2523 · info@rentsetgo.ca
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Managing rentals for local, out-of-province and non-resident owners across Ottawa, including new-build communities in Orléans, Barrhaven and Kanata.
Related Reading
- Bought an Ottawa New Build From Out of Province? What a Property Manager Handles
- How Much Rent Can You Charge in Ottawa? A 2026 Market Guide for Landlords
- Adding Secondary Dwelling Units in Ottawa
- How Much Does Property Management Cost in Ottawa?
- City of Ottawa Housing Approvals Dashboard (official source)
- Ottawa Secondary Suites: The Quiet Supply Boom, in Numbers
- Ottawa Renters by Ward: Where the City’s Renters Live
- Ottawa Development Applications: The Front End of the Housing Pipeline
Data: City of Ottawa Open Data, Housing Approvals workbook and Construction, Demolition, and Pool Permits workbooks, retrieved October 25, 2026; contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Ottawa. Starts, under construction and completions are CMHC-sourced within the City workbook. Approvals data runs to Q2 2026 and lags the current quarter by about two months; permits run to September 2026. The sources publish no rental versus ownership tenure split, and none is estimated here. Secondary suite counts are built from permit description text and are approximate. One source figure disagrees with itself: Q1 2025 net building permits appear as 1,572 in one workbook sheet and 1,573 in another; this page uses 1,572. This page is general information about Ottawa housing supply, not legal, tax, insurance or investment advice, and figures change as the City revises its files. Consult a licensed paralegal or lawyer, an accountant, or an insurance broker for advice on your own property.