Ottawa development intelligence

Ottawa says yes, then makes you wait 21 months.

Getting a decision takes about 14 months. The paperwork AFTER the decision takes 21. That is the slowest step in the whole city, and almost nobody prices it in.

Orléans South-NavanBeacon Hill-CyrvilleRiverside South-Findlay CreekKitchissippiGloucester-SouthgateCollegeOrléans West-InnesRideau-JockOsgoodeBarrhaven EastBarrhaven WestSomersetKanata SouthKanata NorthCapitalRideau-RockcliffeOrléans East-CumberlandRiverKnoxdale-MerivaleStittsvilleWest Carleton-MarchAlta VistaBayRideau-Vanier14,700 units24,500 units31,700 units41,524 units51,500 units
Live map, rebuilt from the city register · 2026-09-15
433
live files
63,999
homes named
12,451
ready to build
316
developers

How to read it

One dot per live application. The bigger the dot, the more homes or floorspace behind it. The darker the dot, the further through the process it has got.

Pre-application86
Submission / completeness53
Circulation / comments66
Decision54
Appeal24
By-law in force70
Agreement / legal clearance66
Reactivated / other14

The five biggest right now

Numbered on the map.

14789 Bank Street4,700 units
2813 Albert Street4,500 units
36070 Fernbank Road1,700 units
43882 Barnsdale Road1,524 units
54497 O'Keefe Court1,500 units

The read — computed from 433 live files

21 mo

The wait is after the approval, not at it.

Files sit at “Agreement / legal clearance” a median of 21 months — against 14 at the decision itself.

Jul

The filing year has a peak.

61 land in July, 20 in January. A quarterly look flattens it away.

65%

Read from the description, not the form type.

280 of 433 live files are residential. The form says what was filed; the text says what is being built.

Median months at each stage

Pre-application11 mo · 86 filesSubmission / completeness9 mo · 53 filesCirculation / comments9 mo · 66 filesDecision14 mo · 54 filesAppeal15 mo · 24 filesBy-law in force14 mo · 70 filesAgreement / legal clearance21 mo · 66 files

The age of what is sitting at each stage today, not a cohort followed from filing to approval — that arrives as the fortnightly snapshots accumulate.

Three findings is the shallow end. The same register carries the filing season, the portfolios behind each name, the use mix read from the prose rather than the form. The rest of what it says →

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What was filed, what moved forward, what is now ready to build. One page.

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