Looking to buy a cottage this summer? Here’s where prices are dropping
As the weather heats up in Canada, cottages prices are cooling down, but sticky inflation and soaring interest rates are dampening plans for prospective first-time buyers, real estate experts say.
With the Bank of Canada increasing its key interest rate again this week, and future hikes not off the table, should you consider jumping into the cottage market this summer?
Even though the demand is still there, first-time cottage buyers have “stepped to the sidelines” as owners try to keep their vacation homes in the family, said Christopher Alexander, president of ReMax Canada.
“(In) the current interest rate environment, affordability has really changed for a lot of people,” he said in an interview with Global News.
“However, we’re still seeing multiple offers in a lot of parts of Ontario and even in western Canada on properties that are priced really well.”
A recent survey by ReMax looking at the cottage trends across the country found that 69 per cent of Canadians were hesitant to invest in a cottage due to economic uncertainty.
This is despite the fact that prices have already dipped and are expected to continue going south in many parts of Canada.
Royal LePage expects the aggregate price of a single-family home in Canada’s recreational regions to see a “modest” decrease of 4.5 per cent this year to $592,005.
Prices are forecast to drop in every province, except for Alberta, which was the only market expected to see a bump in aggregate price this year, Royal LePage said in its spring forecast from March.
Quebec is forecast to see the biggest decline of eight per cent compared to 2022, with the aggregate price of a recreational single-family home estimated at $343,528.
In Ontario, the aggregate price of a recreational
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