102 detached waterfront cottages sold across all boards in Q2 2026. That is up 17.2 percent from 87 in Q2 2025. The direction is right. But 498 active listings at the end of June tells you the supply side is still running well ahead of what buyers can absorb at current prices.

Those two numbers together are the Q2 story for Parry Sound. Sales improved meaningfully from last year. Inventory built to a level that puts real pressure on any seller who is not priced to where buyers are. One of those trends benefits buyers. The other benefits sellers who price correctly from day one and hurts everyone who does not.

The Quarter

Q2 sales were up 17 percent. Inventory ended the quarter near record levels.

April came in at 19 sales. May followed with 39. June added 44, closing Q2 at 102 transactions. Year to date through July 6, 126 detached waterfront cottages have sold across multiple real estate boards.

The year-over-year improvement is real. Q2 2025 logged 87 sales. This year's 102 is up 17.2 percent. Against the 8-year Q2 average of 132, we are still 23 percent below the historical pace. Both comparisons are accurate. The Q1-to-Q2 seasonal jump of 325 percent reflects how quiet Q1 was at 24 sales, not how strong Q2 is.

The five-year Q2 comparison shows where 2026 fits in the post-pandemic picture.

2022 and 2023 each ran at 109 sales. 2024 reached 124, the strongest post-correction Q2 on record. Then 2025 dropped to 87 as inventory and pricing friction hit the market hard. This year's 102 is a meaningful recovery from that low. It is not back to the pre-correction pace, but the direction is clear.

Eight Years Out

Eight years of context: where 2026 actually sits

A single quarter needs a longer frame. Here are annual cottage sales since 2018, the earliest year with complete multi-board coverage for Parry Sound.

2018 and 2019 were the pre-pandemic baseline, running around 420 sales annually. 2020 and 2021 were the pandemic surge. Since 2022, sales have corrected and stabilised in a range of 257 to 323. The 4-year post-correction average is 289 annually. Our trailing twelve months at 286 sits right in that band.

Against the 8-year average of 402 the market is down about 29 percent. Against the post-correction range it is flat. The correction happened. The market seems to have found a floor.

The Supply Story

498 listings at end of June. That is the number to understand.

102 sales in Q2 is good news. 498 active listings at the end of June is the other side of that story. The 8-year Q2 average for active listings in Parry Sound is 185. At 498 the market is carrying nearly three times the normal inventory. Every seller is competing with roughly four others for each available buyer.

183 cottage listings were terminated in Parry Sound in all of 2025. That is more than six times the 2024 total of 28, and well above anything recorded before 2024. Through the first half of 2026 we are at 38 terminated listings, and June terminations from the board are still pending. The 12-month rolling average currently sits at 15.1 terminated listings per month.

There is a notable difference from Muskoka here. Q2 2026 terminations in Parry Sound are down 54 percent from Q2 2025. That is a real improvement. Fewer sellers are giving up mid-listing compared to a year ago. The market is still elevated relative to historical norms, but the direction has changed.

The SNLR improving from 21.3 to 24.1 percent year over year is worth noting. More listings are converting to sales than a year ago. That is a quiet positive. It does not offset 498 active listings at month end, but it confirms buyers are active and engaging when the price is right.

On Price

Average price and median price: why the gap matters here too

The Q2 average sale price in Parry Sound was approximately $1.08 million. The Q2 median was approximately $760,000. That gap of more than $300,000 reflects the same dynamic as any market with a few high-value transactions pulling the average above where most deals are happening. The median is the more useful number for most buyers and sellers in this region.

June's median came in at $931,500, notably higher than the Q2 average. That reflects the mix of what was selling in June specifically: 44 transactions including 3 above $2 million. When the luxury end is active in a given month, the median moves up even if the average stays contained.

Both the rolling average and rolling median rose through the pandemic years and have moderated since. The rolling average currently sits at $0.98 million. The rolling median is $0.76 million. These price points are meaningfully lower than Muskoka, reflecting a different buyer pool and a different set of lakes. For buyers priced out of Muskoka's core market, Parry Sound represents genuine value at a fraction of the entry cost.

Sale to list ratio in Q2 was 95.5 percent, about 3.6 points below the 8-year Q2 average of 99.1 percent. Buyers have room to negotiate. Properties priced correctly are selling. The ones sitting are the ones that are not.

The Luxury Picture

The over-$2M segment is showing signs of life

In Parry Sound, we track the market at a $2 million threshold rather than $3 million, which better reflects where the price distribution actually splits. Cottages above $2 million represent a genuinely different buyer and a genuinely different set of lakes and properties.

June 2025 produced one sale above $2 million. June 2026 produced three. That is a limited sample, but it is directionally consistent with what we are seeing across the broader Ontario cottage market: the luxury segment is reactivating even as the broader market works through its inventory overhang. For sellers in this range, buyer confidence at the top end appears to be recovering.

We will have more complete Q2 price band data from our transaction records in the coming weeks and will update this report when that is available.

What This Means

What this means right now