Century 21 Canada held its annual national conference in Ottawa last week, affording me the opportunity to chat with Don Lawby, the company's president, on the state of Ottawa's housing market.

Overall, Mr. Lawby was fairly upbeat about the Canadian and local residential markets. And why not? After all, Canadian residential building permits were up last month by more than two per cent. But it was in what he said about Ottawa's development charge regime – or lack thereof, when it comes to the downtown core – that really piqued my interest.

Far be it from me to include Mr. Lawby in Ottawa's underbelly of municipal politics, by the way. I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy. Regardless, he put it best when he said: "Removing development charges encourages development, and encourages development in the downtown core."

If you haven't heard, city officials have recently considered reapplying development charges (DCs) to downtown building projects.

Currently applied only to projects outside the downtown core, DCs help pay for vital city infrastructure such as roads, bridges and sidewalks.

But since the downtown exemption came into effect more than a decade ago, the city centre has boomed like never before. When paired with the recent re-sexifying of downtown living amongst younger homebuyers, it's no wonder a brief glance across the Ottawa skyline reveals a pincushion of building cranes jutting upwards.

"I think there's a move in the bigger cities towards condos and townhouses downtown, with smaller footprints," said Mr. Lawby of the overall trend towards downtown living. "That gets (first-time buyers) into the marketplace.

"But in every city, you get people who want a downtown lifestyle. Also, you're seeing more and more single people buying downtown real estate," he continued. "They want to be close to entertainment and restaurants."

Denser development upon higher-valued properties – such as those downtown – will lead to more revenue for the city in the long term, as well. It's fair to say that most cities, perhaps even Ottawa, would rather collect taxes on 100 luxury condos as opposed to an aging, listless brownfield property.

As for Canada's overall housing market, Mr. Lawby remained upbeat despite a recent countrywide increase in listing inventory. "(And) that's from people reacting to what they perceive is the peak of the market," he said.

"I look across the country, see the unemployment rate, and I realize there are a hell of a lot of people who are employed," he continued. "And interest rates have been very stable.

"So I think we'll get back to a more balanced environment."