Ottawa Office Market Report

Office fundamentals are comparatively stable. Ottawa’s office market has shown promising signs toward a recovery throughout 2022. Net absorption has been positive, resulting in vacancy decreasing and the average rental rate continuing to grow, though only slightly. Kanata, a suburban market within Ottawa, has remained one of the most robust areas since early 2021, due to the large local technology presence. Prior to the dot-com bubble, Kanata was becoming one of the major tech hubs in Canada, and with this sector growing during the health crisis, these companies have begun returning to the suburbs. Additionally, there is a large concentration of Class A assets in Kanata, making it a prime area for the national flight-to-quality trend. Nonetheless, with economic uncertainty prevailing, demand is expected to remain positive, but may begin to cool throughout the remainder of the year and slow momentum.