While Ontario’s cottage country offers a refuge from the ups and downs of urban life, few places in Canada are as susceptible to the ups and downs of home prices. 

According to Royal LePage’s 2024 Spring Recreational Property Report, the median price of a single-family home in Canada’s recreational regions is forecasted to increase by five per cent year-over-year in 2024, with Ontario projected to see the highest level of appreciation at eight per cent. This follows two consecutive years of declines — one per cent in 2023 and 11.7 per cent in 2022 — in the wake of unprecedented pandemic-fuelled demand that saw aggregate 2021 prices in Ontario spike by 34.6 per cent in the highest increase ever recorded. Indeed, despite more recent dips, the national weighted median single-family home price in Canada’s recreational market remains 59 per cent above 2019 levels.