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

Bottom line

Vancouver edges ahead of Ottawa on higher occupancy (36.2% vs 34.5%), stronger RevPAR (£55 vs £29).

Head-to-head metrics

	Ottawa	Vancouver
Median occupancy	34.5%	36.2%
Median daily rate	£78	£175
Median RevPAR	£29	£55
Active listings	1,796	4,491
YoY occupancy	+0 pts	-13.1 pts
YoY daily rate	+22.5%	+55.2%
Regulation risk	—	—
Annual night cap	None	None
License required	No	No

Full analysis: Ottawa vs Vancouver

On the money side of this comparison — what a listing actually earns against the nights it has available — Vancouver finishes narrowly ahead of Ottawa. Revenue per available night — rate and occupancy combined, the figure that actually reaches an owner — is 88.5% higher in Vancouver: £55 against £29. Vancouver commands 123.4% more per night, £175 against £78. The margin is thin enough that a single strong year in Ottawa would close it, so treat the ordering as a lean rather than a verdict.

Vancouver takes both halves of the yield equation, which is less common than it sounds. It charges more per night — £175 against £78 — and still fills more of the year, 36.2% against 34.5%. A market that leads on price and utilisation at once is normally one where demand has outrun supply, rather than one where hosts are discounting to keep the calendar busy. RevPAR reflects the double advantage at £55 against £29.

That verdict needs a caveat, because Ottawa is not simply the weaker market of the two. The twelve-month direction favours Ottawa too: occupancy there moved +0 points while Vancouver moved −13.1 points. Ottawa is the less crowded of the two — 1,796 active listings to 4,491 — so a well-run property has fewer near-identical rivals to out-rank. If your model leans on that dimension, the ordering above can reasonably flip.

Neither Ottawa nor Vancouver 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%; Vancouver runs from 66.9% in September down to 40.1% in November. Both swing by a similar amount across the year, so neither offers meaningfully steadier cash flow than the other.

Who each suits, then. Ottawa suits buyers who want a conventional, lightly regulated entry. Vancouver answers to the same regulatory profile, so the split between them is operational rather than legal. 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 4,491 in Vancouver.

Frequently asked questions

Is Ottawa or Vancouver better for Airbnb investment?

Vancouver, on the data we track. It leads on stronger RevPAR (£55 vs £29), a higher nightly rate (£175 vs £78), and faster rate growth (+55.2% vs +22.5% year over year). Ottawa is not the weak side of this pair, though — it wins on the better occupancy trend (+0 points vs −13.1 points year over year).

Which has higher occupancy, Ottawa or Vancouver?

Vancouver, at 36.2% median occupancy against 34.5% in Ottawa — a gap of 1.7 points. That is a real but modest edge; a well-run listing in Ottawa can close most of it. Over the last twelve months Ottawa was flat and Vancouver shed 13.1 points, so the gap is closing.

Which has higher nightly rates, Ottawa or Vancouver?

Vancouver, at £175 a night against £78 in Ottawa — roughly 123.4% more. Revenue per available night agrees rather than contradicts: £55 in Vancouver against £29, so the rate premium survives contact with the occupancy figures.

Which has stronger year-over-year growth, Ottawa or Vancouver?

Ottawa, on occupancy: +0 points over the last twelve months against −13.1 points in Vancouver. Nightly rates rose 22.5% in Ottawa and rose 55.2% in Vancouver 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 Vancouver?

Vancouver, with 4,491 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 Vancouver?

Vancouver earns more: roughly £20,073 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 Vancouver →

Occupancy, ADR, neighborhoods, regulation

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