Parry Sound Cottage Market | 2026 Review & 2027 Outlook

What 2026 looked like

Parry Sound had a better year than most of cottage country. 273 waterfront cottages sold from January to September, up 18.7% on last year’s 230. July, with 59 sales, was the busiest month since 2022.

Pull back and the picture changes. Through an eight year lens, which includes the covid-era madness, we’re still running 18.1% below normal, and 20.5% below 2018 and 2019.

So this is a rebound from a very low base, not a return to normal. Still, it’s a different direction from Muskoka, where sales slipped again, and from the province, where they were flat.

About $284 million in cottages changed hands from January to September, up 23% on 2025.

The catch is on the supply side. 847 cottages came to market from January to September, the most of any year since 2018 and up 10.9% on last year. Active listings averaged 249, up 12% and 47% above the 8-year average.

In July we hit 357 cottages for sale, just shy of the 359 in July 2019, the most in any month since 2018.

Months of inventory is 8.2 this year, against a long-term average of about 5. That’s actually a little better than last year’s 8.7, because sales grew faster than listings, but it’s still more than 60% above normal.

The absorption rate puts it plainly. About 11% of the cottages on the market sold each month, roughly 1 in 9. In 2018 and 2019 it was about 16%, or 1 in 6. More buyers came out this year, but sellers outpaced them.

What I see for 2027

The headwinds I described for Muskoka apply here too. The uncertainty tied to the United States is still the biggest weight on the market, and I don’t expect a meaningful change in direction while the current administration is in power. Interest rates are now going the wrong way too: the Bank of Canada raised its rate on October 28.

Parry Sound has one thing going for it: price. At a median around $800K, it sits well below Muskoka, and that’s where this year’s buyers went. Terminations were essentially flat on 2025 (157 against 155), so fewer unsold cottages are coming back than in Muskoka, where they rose 23%.

I expect prices to soften about 5% in 2027, and listing volume to stay well above historical levels.

Prices held up better than the supply numbers would suggest. The median averaged $820K from January to September, up 8.1% on 2025. Over the last 12 months it’s $799K, up 7.7%. That’s still 15% below the 2022 peak.

A word of caution: Parry Sound is a small market, with only 6 to 59 sales a month, so a few large sales can move the median. Over the last three months it slipped from $852,500 in August to $790,000 in September.

Sellers are getting 95.2% of their asking price, about the same as last year, and cottages are selling faster: a median of 34 days, down from 39.

The Market Headwinds Going Into 2027

Here is what I’m watching.

The U.S. trade dispute. Still the biggest weight on the market. Canadian consumer confidence was 47.3 in September, below its 2010 to 2026 average of 51.4, and foreign buyers still face the 25% NRST that has applied across Ontario since October 2022.

Buyer interest. Canadian Google searches for “parry sound cottages for sale” over the past five years are 70% below the five years before, according to Google Trends. That earlier period includes the pandemic rush, but interest has not come back.

Supply. New listings are the highest since 2018 and active listings are 47% above normal. Even with sales up, it will take time for buyers to work through this much inventory.

Rates, prices and jobs. The Bank of Canada raised its rate to 2.5% on October 28, its first increase since 2023, and warned that more hikes could follow. Its next decision is December 9. The hike pushes variable mortgage rates up right away. The 5-year bond yield, which sets fixed mortgage pricing, was 3.60% on October 2, close to its 52-week high of 3.71%. Inflation was 3.1% in September (2.2% excluding gasoline), driven by a 27.8% jump in gas prices, and Canada lost 68,000 jobs in September, with unemployment up to 6.5%.

Sources: Bank of Canada, Statistics Canada (CPI and Labour Force Survey), Ipsos consumer confidence, Google Trends (Canada) and Habistat. Rates and yields as of the dates shown.