Ottawa Retail Market Splits: Suburbs Thrive as Downtown Struggles

Ottawa's retail landscape is becoming a tale of two cities, according to CBRE's Canada retail rent survey for the first half of 2026, released Thursday. The commercial real estate firm's data shows retail vacancies in Ottawa's core remain high even as suburban plazas fill up fast.

Downtown Rents Keep Falling

In the ByWard Market, net asking rental rates have fallen to between $25 and $45 per square foot, down from a range of $30 to $50 in the previous survey six months ago. That's a meaningful drop for one of Ottawa's most recognizable retail strips, and it points to landlords cutting prices to try to fill empty storefronts.

Other neighbourhoods inside the Greenbelt are holding up better. Rates in the Glebe and Westboro are steady at $40 to $55 per square foot, suggesting the pain is concentrated downtown rather than spread across every central Ottawa shopping strip.

Suburbs Are Booming

The suburban side of the ledger looks completely different. Asking net rents at power centres, the big-box plazas that anchor communities across the city, are now as much as $65 per square foot, up from a high of $55 at the end of 2025. CBRE says retail vacancies in the suburbs are few and far between as population growth in areas like Riverside South and Barrhaven fuels demand for services such as groceries and pharmacies.

That demand is already translating into deals. Activate Games recently signed a long-term lease for 18,000 square feet of space at the Pinecrest Shopping Centre, one of the clearest signs yet that retailers see suburban Ottawa as the place to be right now.

Signs of Life Downtown

It's not all bad news for the core. CBRE's senior Ottawa vice-president, Jamie Boyce, said the firm is starting to see more vibrancy downtown. Brent Taylor, who owns Brentcom Realty Corp, said there are people who now have downtown on their target screens for retail space where they didn't before.

Why Ottawa Is Lagging

Hugh Gorman, CEO of Colonnade BridgePort, pointed to a specific reason Ottawa is trailing other Canadian cities in its downtown recovery: the federal government's return to office has not moved as fast as the private sector's. The federal government recently mandated that employees be in the office four days a week, a policy that should eventually push more workers, and their lunchtime and after-work spending, back into the downtown core.

For now, the numbers tell a clear story: if you're a retailer looking for foot traffic in Ottawa, the suburbs are where the action is, while downtown waits to see if a fuller return to office actually brings people back.

Sources: Ottawa Business Journal