Central (Oshawa)

Around the Neighbourhood

Cultural landmarks: the Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Ontario’s largest gallery east of Toronto; the Canadian Automotive Museum on Simcoe Street; the restored 1919 Regent Theatre; the Tribute Communities Centre, home of the OHL’s Oshawa Generals; and Memorial Park with its cenotaph.

Parks & green space: Memorial Park in the core, the Oshawa Creek valley and trail just to the west, and the Michael Starr Trail linking the downtown to the wider path network.

Your Typical Neighbour

Central is the youngest and most transient of Oshawa’s older communities: students tied to the downtown campuses, renters, and first-time buyers drawn by the entry prices. Community-level census figures aren’t broken out cleanly, so we’re using municipal numbers: Oshawa’s population reached 175,383 in 2021, up 10 percent from 2016, with a median age around 39 and a median household income near $86,000. Expect the downtown itself to run younger and lower-income than the city median given the rental and condo mix.

Source: Statistics Canada, 2021 Census Profile, Oshawa (City)

What We Don't Like

For the money, nothing else in Durham gives you this. Central is genuinely walkable, with a gallery, a museum, a live theatre and a major-junior arena inside a few blocks, plus the region’s best transit if you’d rather not drive. It’s the one Durham community where a first-time buyer can get into a condo close to everything, and where the ongoing downtown reinvestment gives the area a real upside over the next decade.

What We Don't Love

It’s a downtown, so it comes with a downtown’s problems: some blocks feel rough, storefront vacancy comes and goes, and the revitalization is real but uneven. The housing stock is old and the condo quality varies wildly, so due diligence matters more here than in a cookie-cutter subdivision. It’s also not where you go for a quiet family street or a big backyard. And while transit is strong, the drive downtown to Toronto is still over an hour in traffic.

Real Estate

Central is the most mixed market in the region: older detached and semi-detached houses, converted multiplexes, walk-up apartments and a growing crop of condos and mid-rise. That mix is why it’s the cheapest entry point on our list, and why the average price sits below the median. It rewards buyers who know what they’re looking at. New to the market? Start with our First-Time Buyer guide.

(Current prices and days on market appear in the live statistics block below, updated quarterly.)

Transit

This is the strong suit. Central is the hub of the Durham Region Transit network, with the most frequent local service in the region, and a downtown GO station has long been planned for the core. For now, Oshawa GO on the Lakeshore East line is a short drive south, running roughly 65 to 70 minutes to Union, with Highway 401 minutes away and the 407 to the north.

Schools

Central is served by the Durham District School Board and the Durham Catholic District School Board, with options like Dr. S.J. Phillips Public School and O’Neill Collegiate and Vocational Institute nearby, plus Durham Catholic schools including Monsignor Paul Dwyer Catholic High School. Confirm exact catchments before you count on a specific school. For school rankings and Fraser Institute scores, see our interactive Durham Region School Map.