Ottawa housing starts drop 10% as Gatineau surges ahead
Only 3,728 new units began construction in the first five months of 2026, while Gatineau saw 41% growth in the same period.
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Housing construction in Ottawa slowed in the first half of 2026, with a notable shift across the river.
Between January and May, construction began on 3,728 housing units in Ottawa, down 10 per cent from 4,127 units in the same period last year, according to the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation. Of those units, only 587 were single-detached homes; the remaining 3,141 were apartments, condos, and other multi-unit projects.
Meanwhile, Gatineau showed the opposite trend. Housing starts there jumped 41 per cent to 1,573 units in the first five months of 2026, compared to 1,112 the previous year.
In May alone, 764 units were completed across Ottawa, with 17,212 units currently under construction and 4,453 approved but awaiting start. The slowdown reflects broader softness in the national housing market—the seasonally adjusted annual rate of housing starts nationally fell six per cent in May compared with April, to 261,377 units.