Why Ottawa residents are moving to Calgary

Closing costs shift in your favour

Ontario land transfer tax is a real line on an Ottawa purchase. Alberta replaces it with Land Titles registration fees on the transfer and the mortgage, and adds no provincial sales tax on services. The rest — lawyer, appraisal, adjustments — looks familiar.

Housing and neighbourhood feel

Ottawa's mix of established suburbs and infill redevelopment maps reasonably well onto Calgary's inner-city versus outer-quadrant divide. What is different is scale: Calgary's newer communities are large, master-planned and still building out, so amenities sometimes arrive after the homes do.

Commute and getting around

Calgary is car-first outside the core, with the CTrain serving north-south and northeast-west corridors and Stoney Trail ringing the city. Ottawa buyers used to bridge and Queensway bottlenecks usually find the cross-city drive shorter and more predictable.

Coordinating the Ontario sale

Both provinces use binding written contracts with condition periods, so the mechanics are recognisable. Neville Thompson Jr. is licensed as a real estate broker in Alberta and Ontario, so the Ottawa sale and the Calgary purchase can be planned as one timeline.

• Decide early whether you sell first or buy with a sale-of-home condition
• Get an Alberta pre-approval before the scouting trip
• Line up an Alberta real estate lawyer for the purchase side
• Shortlist quadrants before booking showings