Five years ago, location meant one thing to most Ottawa buyers. How long it took to get downtown. Proximity to the core drove decisions. It shaped which neighbourhoods grew, which ones stalled, and how much premium buyers were willing to pay for a shorter commute.
Then remote work changed the math entirely.
When offices emptied out in 2020, something unexpected happened across Ottawa’s real estate market. Buyers started looking outward. Kanata, Barrhaven, Stittsville, Orleans, Manotick — communities that had always carried a commute premium in reverse suddenly became genuinely competitive. Not as a compromise, but as a first choice.
Demand in the suburbs and surrounding villages surged. Prices followed. And the profile of the Ottawa buyer shifted in ways we’re still feeling today.
What buyers are actually asking for now
The must-have list looks different than it did five years ago. A dedicated home office (not a corner of the bedroom, but a proper room with a door) has moved to the top of the checklist for a huge portion of buyers. So has outdoor space. Lot size. A finished lower level. Room to actually live in the home, not just sleep in it.
Features that used to be considered upgrades are now baseline expectations. And homes that don’t offer them are sitting longer, regardless of location.
The hybrid reality
Full remote work has pulled back for many, but hybrid work is now part of our lives. That means buyers are planning around three or four days in the office, not five. The calculus on distance has shifted accordingly.
A 35-minute drive matters a lot less when you’re only making it three times a week. And that opens up a much larger slice of the Ottawa region than buyers were seriously considering before.
Is this permanent?
The data suggests yes. Ottawa’s outer communities have held onto much of the demand they gained during the pandemic years, even as the market has cooled and corrected elsewhere. Buyers aren’t chasing space as urgently as they were in 2021, but they’re not walking it back either. The priorities have reset.
What’s changed isn’t just where people are looking. It’s what they believe a home is supposed to do for them. It’s a workspace. A retreat. A full life, not just a place to land at the end of a commute.
That shift, more than any interest rate or inventory number, may be the most lasting thing the last five years did to Ottawa real estate.
