MoneySense, a personal finance website and magazine, has dropped Ottawa from first to sixth spot in its annual best places to live in Canada rankings, but a local real estate agent says Centretown has little to do with the change.
Ottawa, which had won the title three years in a row, lost out to Calgary, which jumped from 14th place last year to first this year.
The rankings were based on criteria such as the number of new cars bought, employment, house prices, the percentage of residents that cycle to work, and even the unpredictable weather.
MoneySense divided the ranking into the top large, mid-sized, and small cities. Ottawa took silver among the large cities.
Ottawa Tourism spokeswoman Jantine Van Kregten says she’s hopeful that tourists will still be attracted by the city’s rankings from previous years.
“I’m less worried about people saying they are not going to come to Centretown because we dropped a couple places on the rankings,” she says. “But I think it’s more impressive that we’ve been so high in the rankings for such a consistent period of time.”
Van Kregten notes that Calgary’s high ranking can be attributed to its flourishing economy thanks to the oil sands boom.
“Calgary, for instance, boomed to the top of the list because the economy is just going crazy out there,” she says.“Ottawa’s economy and vibe tends to be a little bit more consistent with fewer highs but also fewer lows.”
Van Kregten is positive the city can improve on its ranking next year.
Ottawa's high ranking for affordable housing helped it take the top spot in previous years, but this year that ranking slipped.
Centretown real estate agent Ray Smiley says affordable housing is still accessible in the city.
“My take from being out there is that I don’t think anything in the housing market is any different in Centretown than last year,” he says. “The other cities have gone the extra mile to try and catch up and improve their standards and we have just remained status quo which I guess is why we slipped on the list.”
MoneySense included 200 cities in its list of the best places to live in Canada.