Ottawa vs Quebec City: which is better for Airbnb investment? (2026)

Bottom line

Ottawa and Quebec City score similarly on the metrics that matter most for short-term rental returns. The right pick depends on whether you optimise for yield (lower regulation risk, higher RevPAR) or capital growth.

Head-to-head metrics

	Ottawa	Quebec City
Median occupancy	34.5%	34.5%
Median daily rate	£78	£151
Median RevPAR	£29	£44
Active listings	1,796	1,999
YoY occupancy	+0 pts	-9.9 pts
YoY daily rate	+22.5%	+61.3%
Regulation risk	—	—
Annual night cap	None	None
License required	No	No

Full analysis: Ottawa vs Quebec City

There is no clean winner between Ottawa and Quebec City. Ottawa posts 34.5% occupancy and £29 RevPAR; Quebec City posts 34.5% occupancy and £44 RevPAR. Weighted together with regulation risk the two finish inside the margin we are willing to call, which is the honest answer rather than an evasive one — a scoring gap this small would flip on the next data refresh. When markets are this close the decision stops being about the market and starts being about the deal: what you pay, what it costs to run, and how quickly you could exit.

On the mechanics of the yield the two are hard to separate. Ottawa runs 34.5% occupancy at £78 a night; Quebec City runs 34.5% at £151. That leaves RevPAR almost level too — £44 against £29 — so operating quality, not market selection, is what will decide your return between these two.

A tie does not mean the two are interchangeable — it means each holds something the other does not. The twelve-month direction favours Ottawa too: occupancy there moved +0 points while Quebec City moved −9.9 points. Nightly rates are also climbing faster in Quebec City, +61.3% over the last year against +22.5% in Ottawa. Pick the one whose advantage matches how you intend to operate, because the composite score will not do that job for you.

Neither Ottawa nor Quebec City currently has a verified short-term rental regulation record in our register, so the comparison above is a yield comparison only. Regulation is the single largest source of downside in this asset class — an unverified market is an unpriced risk, not an absent one.

The two calendars also behave differently. Ottawa peaks in September at 53% and bottoms in February at 27.4%; Quebec City runs from 58.9% in October down to 27.9% in January. Ottawa is the steadier of the two at 25.6 points peak-to-trough against 31 — easier to underwrite against a mortgage — while Quebec City concentrates its return into a shorter window and rewards operators who price the peak aggressively instead of holding a flat rate all year.

Who each suits, then. Ottawa suits buyers who want a conventional, lightly regulated entry and whose economics survive high turnover — more bookings, more cleans, more guest contact per pound of revenue. Quebec City answers to the same regulatory profile, so the split between them is operational rather than legal: it is the market for an owner who can hold rate through the shoulder season rather than discounting to fill the calendar. It is the contrarian side: buying it means buying a market that has cooled. Every figure above comes from the same Inside Airbnb snapshot pipeline on both sides, dated 2026-09, filtered to listings with at least one booking in the last twelve months. Occupancy medians are drawn from 1,796 active Ottawa listings and 1,999 in Quebec City.

Frequently asked questions

Is Ottawa or Quebec City better for Airbnb investment?

Neither pulls clearly ahead. Ottawa runs 34.5% occupancy and £78 a night; Quebec City runs 34.5% occupancy and £151 a night. Once occupancy, revenue per available night and regulation risk are weighted together the two finish within a couple of points of each other, so the decision turns on purchase price, how far you are willing to travel, and which rulebook you would rather work under.

Which has higher occupancy, Ottawa or Quebec City?

Effectively neither — they are level. Ottawa sits at 34.5% and Quebec City at 34.5%, a 0-point difference that is inside the noise of a median drawn from a listings snapshot. Over the last twelve months Ottawa was flat and Quebec City shed 9.9 points, so the gap is widening.

Which has higher nightly rates, Ottawa or Quebec City?

Quebec City, at £151 a night against £78 in Ottawa — roughly 92.8% more. Revenue per available night agrees rather than contradicts: £44 in Quebec City against £29, so the rate premium survives contact with the occupancy figures.

Which has stronger year-over-year growth, Ottawa or Quebec City?

Ottawa, on occupancy: +0 points over the last twelve months against −9.9 points in Quebec City. Nightly rates rose 22.5% in Ottawa and rose 61.3% in Quebec City over the same window. One year of movement is a direction, not a trend — weigh it against the regulation picture before treating it as momentum.

Which is the bigger Airbnb market, Ottawa or Quebec City?

Quebec City, with 1,999 active listings against 1,796 in Ottawa. Size cuts both ways: a deep market gives you comparables, contractors and an exit, while a thinner one means fewer near-identical rivals competing for the same search results.

How much can you earn from an Airbnb in Ottawa vs Quebec City?

Quebec City earns more: roughly £16,021 a year for a median listing against £10,656 in Ottawa. Those are gross booking revenues before cleaning, management, platform fees, furnishing amortisation and tax — budget for a meaningful share of them, and note that a median listing is a median operator, not a good one.

Go deeper on each city

Market guide

Airbnb in Ottawa →

Occupancy, ADR, neighborhoods, regulation

Market guide

Airbnb in Quebec City →

Occupancy, ADR, neighborhoods, regulation

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