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Summary

This Canadian City Was Named One Of The Most Expensive Places In The World To Rent An Airbnb

It's probably not your first guess.

The sunset over downtown Ottawa.

The sunset over downtown Ottawa.

Aqnus Febriyant | Dreamstime
Editor

A new ranking of Airbnb vacation destinations has landed a Canadian city among the top 10 of the most expensive places to visit in the world. And no, it's not Toronto or Vancouver.

The unsuspected winner was the nation's capital — Ottawa, Ontario.

A new report by CIA Landlords conducted its worldwide study based on several factors, including not only the cost of a 1-week stay at an Airbnb in each city but also the average cost of living in these cities, with a particular focus on how much it would cost to go grocery shopping during your stay in each of these locations.

If you're still wondering exactly how Ottawa found its way onto this list, it's because the study only looked at the capitals of the world's 38 OECD countries. Still, there is lots of valuable information to pull from the study about how the cost of living in Canada compares to other major cities around the world.

According to the study, the average cost of an Airbnb in Ottawa for a 1-week stay is $1,209.13.

As for the groceries, the study calculated an average grocery shop in each of these cities based on the following grocery list:

  • 500g of fresh white bread
  • 1 litre of regular milk
  • A dozen eggs
  • 1kg of local cheese
  • 1 mid-range bottle of wine
  • 1kg of potatoes
In total, that put the average cost of a grocery shop in Ottawa at $48.07.
Notably, the study found that the cost of groceries in Ottawa is among the 10 highest capital cities in the world, which, given the talk about the cost of groceries in Canada lately, probably comes as a surprise to no one.
So, here's how Ottawa stacked up overall on this ranking of the most expensive cities for a 1-week Airbnb stay:
  1. Bern, Switzerland (avg. Airbnb CA$1,468.24, avg. grocery shop CA$71)
  2. Reykjavik, Iceland (avg. Airbnb CA$1,987.26, avg. grocery shop CA$64.31)
  3. Washington D.C., United States (avg. Airbnb CA$1,784.91, avg. grocery shop CA$54.46)
  4. Seoul, South Korea (avg. Airbnb CA$729.31, avg. grocery shop CA$54.24)
  5. Paris, France (avg. Airbnb CA$1,650.57, avg. grocery shop CA$52.11)
  6. Luxembourg, Luxembourg (avg. Airbnb CA$1,439.45, avg. grocery shop CA$49.68)
  7. Oslo, Norway (avg. Airbnb CA$1,343.49, avg. grocery shop CA$49.41)
  8. Canberra, Australia (avg. Airbnb CA$1,429.86, avg. grocery shop CA$48.39)
  9. Ottawa, Canada (avg. Airbnb CA$1,209.13, avg. grocery shop CA$48.07)
  10. Brussels, Belgium (avg. Airbnb CA$1,017.21, avg. grocery shop CA$44.05)

While it may have been ranked on this top 10 list, the average cost of an Airbnb in Ottawa is nowhere near the cost in cities like Washington and Reykjavik.

The cost of groceries in Ottawa is also among the lowest of these 10 capital cities.

This article's cover image was used for illustrative purposes only.

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    • Stuart McGinn

      Editor

      Stuart McGinn (he/him) was an Editor at Narcity Media. He spent nearly a decade working in radio broadcast journalism before joining the team, covering everything from breaking news to financial markets and sports. Since starting his career in his hometown of Ottawa after attending Algonquin College, Stuart has spent time working in our nation's capital, in Kitchener-Waterloo and in Toronto. If he's not out walking his dog Walter, there's a good chance he's running to train for his next marathon.

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