The City of Ottawa Economic Development Update provides an overview of quarterly and annual economic indicators to the city’s economy. The Q1 2023 update covers the months of January, February, and March 2023. In Q1 2023, the City of Ottawa saw:
- A 6.9 per cent increase in housing starts from Q1 2022 from 1,521 to 1,626 housing starts.
- This increase was primarily due to apartment starts, which saw an additional 473 units compared to Q1 2022.
- Year-over-year, the unemployment rate decreased 0.7 percentage points to sit at 3.9 per cent in Q1 2023.
- The inflation rate decreased 1.2 percentage points year-over-year to hit 5.4 per cent in Q1 2023.
- Total construction permit value decreased by 11.7 percent year-over-year, with a 14.6 percent decrease in residential permit value and a 2.4 percent decrease in non-residential permit value.
- The office vacancy rate increased 2.5 percentage points from Q1 2022 to reach 12.3 per cent.
To read the complete Economic Development Update, please visit ottawa.ca.
