Older housing through the centre and south, postwar and later subdivisions through the north, and a large stock of properties with existing basement apartments.
- First-time buyers
- Buyers priced out of the rest of the GTA
- Investors
- Students and university-adjacent renters
Oshawa is the most affordable municipality in the TRREB reporting area, and not by a small margin — the average sale price here is well below every other area on this site. For a great many households it is the difference between owning and not.
The trade is the commute. Oshawa is the far end of the Lakeshore East GO line and a long drive from the core. People who buy here are making that trade deliberately, and increasingly they are making it because remote and hybrid work has made it survivable.
Ontario Tech and Durham College sit at the north end of the city, which supports a genuine student rental market, and much of the older housing stock already contains a second unit.
The Oshawa market — August 2026
All 24 monthly reports →3.6 months of supply — a balanced market. Figures from the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board.
Financing a home in Oshawa
This is the strongest rental-income market on the site, and the place where using it well matters most. Confirm whether an existing suite is legal and registered — it changes which lenders will use the income and how much of it. If you are buying as an investor rather than to occupy, expect a 20% minimum down payment: rental properties you do not live in cannot be insured. If you will live in one unit of a two-unit property, you can put down as little as 5%, which is a completely different proposition and one a lot of buyers here do not realise is available.
Ask me about OshawaQuestions about Oshawa
What kind of homes are in Oshawa?
Older housing through the centre and south, postwar and later subdivisions through the north, and a large stock of properties with existing basement apartments.
Who does Oshawa suit?
Oshawa tends to suit first-time buyers, buyers priced out of the rest of the gta, investors, students and university-adjacent renters. The eastern end of the GTA and by a wide margin its most affordable municipality — the clearest expression of the commute-for-price trade.
Is there anything unusual about getting a mortgage in Oshawa?
This is the strongest rental-income market on the site, and the place where using it well matters most. Confirm whether an existing suite is legal and registered — it changes which lenders will use the income and how much of it. If you are buying as an investor rather than to occupy, expect a 20% minimum down payment: rental properties you do not live in cannot be insured. If you will live in one unit of a two-unit property, you can put down as little as 5%, which is a completely different proposition and one a lot of buyers here do not realise is available.