Maclean’s feature: COTTAGE INDUSTRY

COTTAGE INDUSTRY
Surging prices, bidding wars, blind offers—the search for seasonal real estate has become a battlefield. Tales from 10 of Canada’s hottest vacation towns.

BY ALEX CYR, NICHOLE JANKOWSKI, JACOB RUTKA, KATIE UNDERWOOD, ANDREA YU AND DAVE ZARUM

Canadians call their vacation homes by many different names—cottages, chalets, cabins, camps. But they all share one thing, and that’s the promise of escape. In the last few years, however, the silent grandeur of dockside mornings and sunsets—once only interrupted by the odd speedboat or loon—has been drowned out by sights more common in the world of residential real estate: packed offer days; frantic realtors engrossed in FaceTime tours; tiny towns overtaken by firepit-crazed interlopers. For buyers, the message is quite clear: vacation’s over.
According to Royal LePage’s 2022 recreational property price report, Canadians are staring down a 13 per cent jump in vacation-property prices from 2021—a slight cooling from the year before but still compounded by the massive increases since the pandemic. The national average for a single-family cottage is now $640,710, and there’s even more variability at the local level. Chronic low supply and insatiable demand mean buyers have been shelling out in excess of $1 million to simply enter some Ontario markets. In Invermere, British Columbia, prices nearly doubled between 2020 and 2021.
A mix of factors have drawn up to 1.8 million Canadians into the vacation-property market in the last five years: the rise of remote work (and better Wi-Fi), aging millennials (now with savings), an army of retiring boomers and a pre-existing migration to the rural “exurbs” and areas with affordable housing, which was supercharged by the pandemic. In the second quarter of 2020, according to Statistics Canada, Canadians saved a record 28 per cent of their income. With nowhere to eat, drink or travel to, lots of us amassed down payments—and a significant portion of them went toward cottages.
Not all Canadian markets are created equal, though. The following 10 locations, some established and others emerging, have seen particularly dramatic year-over-year price spikes. Here, recent buyers divulge what they had to do to acquire the cottages of their dreams: pool family money, send relatives for viewings, hop on the first flight to Atlantic Canada post-bubble, or buy sight unseen, sometimes from thousands of kilometres away.
1 ANNAPOLIS VALLEY
The Eastern Attraction
AVERAGE RECREATIONAL PROPERTY PRICE (2021)
$313,500
The Market: Nova Scotia’s Annapolis Valley—chockablock with Acadian culture, wineries, whale sightings and more wineries—has long been a great place to visit. What’s new is how many out-of-province buyers are making their summer stays permanent. The price of waterfront recreational properties increased by 70 per cent between 2020 and 2021, no doubt a spillover from intense competition in the province’s coveted residential market. Demand for this idyllic area now far outweighs supply: in April, the Nova Scotia Association of Realtors reported the province’s number of active listings had reached a three-decade low. On the cottage side, buyers are more willing than ever to pay a premium for the few properties that crop up.
Dave: Kelly and I have lived on Tupper Lake, near Wolfville, Nova Scotia, for 22 years. Once I retired, we started looking for a cottage property around the Minas Basin, which is about 30 minutes northeast of us. We wanted a place that was close to the salt water and had tons of room where our grandkids could play.
The Buyers: Dave Sheehan, a 60-year-old video producer, and his wife, Kelly, a 60-year-old educator for children with special needs
We spent months shopping around the province until our dream cottage came on the market in April of 2022. It had three bedrooms, plenty of outdoor space with beach access and was close to our extended family, all for an asking price of $200,000. It was listed on a Thursday, and people had four days to place offers. The new approach to real estate here seems to be “quick to market, no counter-offers.” Given the scarcity of inventory around here, the sellers probably figured that if someone wanted the cottage, they were going to place their best bid at the start.
We saw the property that Saturday. We asked the realtor whether $237,000 would do it, or even $246,000. He said, “If you have $250,000, put it down.” That sounded like a lot for a cottage, but we listened. On Sunday, we bid $250,000, 25 per cent over asking, and on Monday, we became cottage owners.
Looking back, I’m glad we put in a strong offer right away because we didn’t cross the finish line by a huge margin. There were eight other bidders, including two that came in at $245,000. If this cottage had been on the market five years ago, it probably would have gone for $130,000, and people would have bid under asking, but that doesn’t happen anymore.
The value of cottages out here will just keep rising. I moved from Halifax to the valley before high school, and tourism is booming here like never before. It’s the stark opposite of what we’ve seen for the last 50 years, when people would leave the Maritimes for bigger cities. The old saying went, “Head off down the road to make your living.” Now people are cashing in their $1.5-million homes in Ontario to build or buy in Nova Scotia for a fraction of the price—and pocketing the leftovers. The influx is creating traffic issues around the valley, mostly in the area between Wolfville and Kentville. I saw it all coming when COVID happened.
We could probably get $340,000 for this cottage in a year’s time, but I don’t think we’ll sell. I hope it’s a legacy property for our family. We like it so much we’re moving in for part of the summer. If you look out the front window when the tide comes in, you feel like you’re on a boat.

GOOD FOR BUSINESS
JOE’S FOOD EMPORIUM
This Wolfville mainstay prides itself on serving something for everyone—and lately, that’s included a whole lot more cottagers
AS A CHILD, Hussein Rafih watched as his father, Joe, tried to create the perfect community restaurant, constantly reinventing his menu and aesthetic for the widest appeal. First, there was Elmer’s, his sub and pizza shop, then Casablanca, a fine-dining restaurant inspired by the classic 1942 film.
In the early 1990s, the elder Rafih opened Joe’s Food Emporium, a family-style joint serving a broad selection of pizza, pasta, steaks, local brews, Lebanese fare and potato skins roasted in a top-secret family spice mix. “My dad would say, ‘Have something for as many different customers as you can,’ ” says Rafih. “What worked was to be versatile.”
In 2019, Hussein teamed up with a group of Halifax investors and bought Joe’s from his father. But then came the pandemic, and he began to seriously doubt his decision. Rafih was forced to slash the restaurant’s 270-person capacity by half, lay off most of his 60-person staff and, at times, close the place altogether. In 2021, however, Joe’s bounced back faster than Rafih could have predicted, due in part to a massive influx of new cottage owners. Lines for seating are now longer than ever, and the restaurant’s extension—which Rafih built five years before COVID—now routinely reaches capacity.
“Cottages around here are staying on the market for a week and then they’re gone,” Rafih says. “But I’m not surprised people are coming here. Between the patios, wineries, theatres, scenery and restaurants, Wolfville has a lot to love.”
In the past year, Rafih has served diners from the West Coast, the United States and even Greece. His father’s wisdom about creating an eclectic menu has come in handy more than he expected it would. Last summer, Joe’s set a new record for seasonal sales, and Rafih was able to rehire every staff member. With the resurgence of cruises, new community events and ever more buyers, Rafih expects another record-breaking year. “Joe’s represents the growing intercultural community here. I think it’s helping us,” he says. “And the 2022 cottage season will be even busier.”
2 MUSKOKA
The Old Faithful
AVERAGE RECREATIONAL PROPERTY PRICE (2021)
$842,000
The Market: Known to some as the “Hamptons of the north,” Muskoka has been a go-to for affluent vacationers—including the Weston and Rogers families—for decades. (A new twice-weekly flight service from Toronto allows jet-setters to skip the Friday rush-hour crush.) But Muskoka’s exclusivity isn’t all hype: even before the pandemic, the area’s inventory of rustic cabins, post-and-beam models and glass-and-steel getaways was slim, making the recent demand for cottages all the more frenzied. Case in point: prices for landlocked properties jumped 49 per cent from 2020 to 2021, while the average waterfront spot can fetch just over a million bucks.
Andrew: I grew up in Oshawa, Ontario. The family next door spent summers at their cottage on Lake of Bays, and they would sometimes invite me to come along.
The Buyers: Andrew Ratchford, a 39-year-old tech sales executive, and his wife, Emily, a 37-year-old retail buyer
I remember being so eager to get up there and enjoy the water. When I got older, I continued to visit the Lake of Bays Sailing Club. During university, I got a summer job at the golf course on nearby Bigwin Island. I promised myself I’d have my own cottage on that lake someday.
By 2019, Emily and I had three kids under nine and a home in Mississauga. We were finally in a position to afford a cottage. We imagined a waterfront property with two or three bedrooms for under $1 million—on Lake of Bays, of course. We saw 10 properties during the summer of 2020, but the uncertainty of the pandemic stopped us from making any offers. We went into 2021 with our down payment ready to go. The market was crazy, and it didn’t seem like it would get any better.
In March of 2021, we saw a teardown property on Seabreeze Road, along the east side of Lake of Bays, listed for $950,000. We offered $1,050,000, but we lost to a bid of $1,200,000. Our real estate agent—the same next-door neighbour whose cottage I summered at—convinced me to expand our search. A week later, we saw a place on nearby Dickie Lake, but we lost that one, too. The sellers received 30 offers.
In a twist of fate, our agent got word of a cottage listed at $975,000, just 10 houses down from the first place we saw. Emily visited while I was working, and she said it was “the one”: four bedrooms and a bathroom, cottagey wood walls, a firepit and a screened-in porch overlooking the lake. The listing agent was holding back offers for a week, but we registered an offer of $1,255,000 as soon as we could, hoping to scare off our competition. It worked—we won.
We took possession in June of 2021. On weekends, we boated, barbecued and sat by the campfire at night. It was exactly what I had envisioned when I dreamed of buying on Lake of Bays as a kid. We even sporadically rented out the property through word of mouth for $4,500 a week to help offset the cost of our mortgage. (Our family stayed in the bunkie.) We’re planning on doing the same this year, but we’re upgrading the appliances first.
Our experience taught me that when the market’s heated, you have to be ready to buy at a moment’s notice. In Muskoka, there’s not a lot of space for hesitation when you’re trying to buy “the one.”
REALTOR REPORT
ROSS HALLORAN, PORT CARLING
This veteran agent was preparing for the pandemic to pummel the Muskoka market. Instead, it exploded.
What was the state of the Muskoka market in early 2020?
Prices were increasing by about 15 per cent a year, and multiple offers were an anomaly. My brokerage was getting ready for the Spring Cottage Life Show—which is like the Super Bowl of cottage-country real estate—before it was cancelled in mid-March. I joked to my team that we might have to host the odd bake sale to make it through the year. Then the exact opposite happened.
How so?
Once the provincial ban on short-term rentals lifted in June of 2020, our vacation-property company, Muskoka District Rentals, had a huge uptick in business. We sold all of our summer inventory—110 properties—in three weeks. It usually takes us six months to do that. We also saw a huge increase in sales of boat-access-only cottages, plus properties that needed work or had topography challenges. In any other market, those places would have sold at 90 per cent of their list prices; ours were going for $200,000 over. By the fall, agents were holding back offers until a week after listing dates to see what the competition would do. We hadn’t seen that before.
How is the market looking now?
The starter-cottage market—properties priced between $800,000 and $1.7 million—is still competitive, and there’s demand for very high-end properties over $8 million. We’re seeing a bit of cooling in the $2 million to $8 million window; those buyers are mostly affluent families from the Greater Toronto Area. With the war in Ukraine, inflation and rising interest rates, they’re taking a pause.
What about younger buyers?
We’re seeing more people in their 30s and 40s and young families, especially for cottages priced at $1 million or less. Millennials are getting support from the bank of mom and dad to buy cottages, and some are living there full time and working remotely, which used to just be the case for empty-nesters. Full-timers are usually looking to be within 30 minutes of town, and they want good access to roads, not having to hike through kilometres of bush.
What would you tell buyers who are looking to enter the Muskoka market now?
In 2020, I would have told them to act quickly; now, I encourage due diligence. Don’t jump the gun just to beat the competition.
3 INVERMERE
The Best-Kept Secret
AVERAGE RECREATIONAL PROPERTY PRICE (2021)
$666,000
The Market: In-the-know Calgarians have long braved the mountainous three-hour trek to holiday in Invermere, British Columbia, a town of 4,000 people that borders the Rockies. Its charming downtown strip, skiing and golfing amenities, and proximity to the warm-bodied Lake Windermere have made it a favourite among young families. Recently, Invermere has absorbed new vacation-property owners as part of a broader trend of baby boomers retiring into the Columbia Valley. Invermere’s inventory was once considered affordable by B.C. standards, but the whopping 88 per cent spike in prices from 2020 to 2021 has been anything but relaxing for prospective buyers.
Dena: Brad and I have been lucky to own several vacation homes. We used to winter in Scottsdale in Arizona and owned a place on Canmore’s Silvertip Resort golf course until 2014. Eight years ago, we experienced a family tragedy, and we sold the Canmore property. We had too many memories there.
The Buyers: Brad Flock, a 65-year-old marketing professional, and his wife, Dena, a 65-year-old retired design entrepreneur
After a few years, we thought about getting another place, and we kept coming back to Invermere. It had a lot going for it: the water, the mountains and the fact that it was only a three-hour drive from our home in Calgary. We started checking out places in 2016. Homes, condos, cabins—there was a lot of inventory available back then. After looking at about 20 places, we bought a 3,000-square-foot half-duplex that overlooked the lake and was listed in the high $500,000s; we got it for well under that. Nothing was selling quickly then.
In 2020, we sold our place in Scottsdale—the snowbird thing wasn’t for us, and we wanted a bigger place in Invermere, where our extended family could stay. Our realtor and friend, DK Rice, told us that the market was heating up. Small towns in B.C. were just taking off.
There was one house in the Taynton Bay neighbourhood that had been on the market for a while. It was quite dated, but it had everything we wanted: space, a great yard and lake access for our pontoon. We got it for about five per cent under asking. This was in 2021, right before the pandemic pushed Invermere’s prices into really crazy territory. Our old half-duplex sold for more than $800,000.
When we bought, there were just two houses and a bunch of empty lots in the area. But in the last 12 months, eight houses have sprung up, and many vacation homes are going for 20 per cent over list price. The waterfront is being developed, and you can’t go to certain restaurants without a reservation anymore—even in the off-season.
That said, I love coming out here. Even our dachshund, Henry, is excited when we get in the car. Our nieces and nephews—and their kids—are able to enjoy the lake, waterski, wake-surf, tube or just go for hikes. It’s been very healing for all of us.
4 SOUTH SHORE
The Seaside Buy
AVERAGE RECREATIONAL PROPERTY PRICE (2021)
$313,000
Jordan: I live in Warsaw, Ontario, but I consider myself an honorary Atlantic Canadian. My brother went to school at Dalhousie, and visiting him was my first real exposure to the East Coast. He met his wife there and ended up staying. And my ties go beyond family: I’m a mortgage broker and real estate investor, and my business is primarily in New Brunswick.
For a long time, Tanya and I had a goal of owning a cottage—somewhere close to the ocean but not on the ocean itself. We wanted a lake so we could swim, boat and kayak. The Kawarthas are amazing, but they were financially out of our reach. We love Mahone Bay, Lunenburg and Bridgewater, so we decided South Shore would be our number-one area.
I’ve developed a system for buying from
The Buyers: Jordan Perry, a 30-year-old mortgage agent, and his wife, Tanya, a 27-year-old parts-and-warranty administrator
The Market: Nova Scotia’s southern coast is synonymous with maritime charm: it’s home to the iconic lighthouse of Peggy’s Cove, the Bluenose II, oceanfront beaches and seemingly endless reserves of seafood. Funny, then, that the biggest increase in recreational-property costs in South Shore was in the non-waterfront category. Between 2020 and 2021, prices for inland cottages spiked by 29 per cent. This kept pace with the area’s ballooning residential prices, courtesy of new waves of out-of-province buyers—particularly from Ontario and B.C.—hoping to get more bang for their real-estate buck. All eyes are on the east, and its vacation market has soared as a result. a distance: I start by looking for places that have been on the market for a while—ones that have been overlooked. Earlier this year, I stumbled upon a 2,200-square-foot A-frame log cabin with a stunning red roof on Big Mushamush Lake. It had been on the market for 200 days, and it needed some maintenance: there were holes in the drywall, bright-orange walls, the deck was attached at the wrong place and the roof overhang wasn’t wide enough to protect the cottage’s face from rainwater.
I had my brother check out the property in person. He didn’t raise any huge red flags, so Tanya and I put in an offer of $500,000. The owners countered with $550,000. Once we got the inspection report, we negotiated our final offer back down to $500,000. I wrote an apology letter to the owners for the low bid, but ultimately, that’s what I thought the property was worth. We bought sight unseen and closed in April, a month after our second son was born.
For years, I was mystified as to why people weren’t as taken with Nova Scotia as I was. Now, it seems like everyone’s caught on. South Shore never used to be a market for multiple offers and bidding wars, but it is now.
I see investment properties as assets, but I made the decision early on to put this specific property in the liability column. This cabin is certainly rustic, but for us, this is a big dream realized.
5 SAINT ANDREWS
The Historic Holiday
AVERAGE RECREATIONAL PROPERTY PRICE (2021)
$546,275
Deirdre: Early on in the pandemic, I read about a young Toronto couple who had bought a beautiful home in New Brunswick for $250,000. It sounded affordable, so we started looking for a cottage for ourselves.
Tom: I had been out to the East Coast to visit my son, who’s since passed away. I particularly liked Saint Andrews for its laid-back pace, but Deirdre hadn’t seen any of it. I told her if we were to buy a place, we weren’t going to buy it online: we’d have to see it in person. The problem was we had to wait for the Atlantic bubble to open.
Deirdre: We had our eye on the listing for a historic B&B named Cory Cottage: the architecture was beautiful, its back veranda had views of the water and it was close to the Pansy Patch, another historical house that was once the home of Kate Reed, Canada’s first interior designer. The cottage’s asking price climbed quickly; it went from $750,000 to $845,000, then up to $949,000. I felt like I was having a heart attack.
The Buyers: Tom White, a 64-year-old lawyer, and his partner, Deirdre O’Leary, a 60-year-old project manager
The Market: This quaint, 1,800-person town on New Brunswick’s southwestern tip has been a reliable summer escape since the turn of the 20th century. But the area’s resort industry now has stiff holiday competition in its cottage scene: waterfront prices have jumped by 132 per cent since 2019, and non-waterfront properties by an equally staggering 122 per cent. The blockhouses and town square remain stunningly historic, but the reasons for the Saint Andrews boom—remote work and sky-high cottage prices elsewhere—are as modern as they get.
Tom: We booked a flight to Saint Andrews to see the cottage as soon as the Atlantic provinces opened to outsiders, in late June of 2021. We were on the first commercial flight that had come into Saint John Airport since January. As we touched down, fire engines were shooting water in an arc, and local MPs were on the tarmac to welcome us. I knew it was important to see the cottage as fast as we could. Couples from Ontario were flying in all week. We placed a lower offer than some others—$725,000—but we got there first. The owner liked that our bid was firm. We signed our purchase agreement in early July. I imagine the property may have increased in value since then. I think we won the race to the East Coast.
Deirdre: I don’t know that we were particularly surprised by the pace of the market in New Brunswick, having watched it from a distance. But we know we got in at the right time: the couple I read about who bought their place for $250,000 recently listed it for $639,000.
Tom: No matter how much this place goes up in value, we’re not looking to sell. We’d be more likely to sell our place in Toronto than the cottage.
6 KAWARTHA LAKES
The New Muskoka
AVERAGE RECREATIONAL PROPERTY PRICE (2021)
$798,000
The Market: On a good traffic day, residents of the Greater Toronto Area can make it to tree-studded Kawartha Lakes in under two hours. Its proximity to urban centres and abundance of waterfront views have made the 3,000-square-kilometre region an especially good bet for young workers keen to clack away on their laptops dockside—and visit the city on summer weekends. From 2020 to 2021, average cottage prices for landlocked properties soared by 48 per cent, while waterfront properties have pulled in just under $900,000. According to realtors, these days, buyers are asking fewer questions about the fishing—and more about the Wi-Fi.
The Buyers: Scott Clayton, a 54-year-old tax consultant, and his wife, Angela, a 55-year-old retired nurse
Angela: I live in Houston, Texas, but I’ve remained close with my college girlfriends, many of whom are still in Ontario. Every summer, my family used to rent a cottage in Muskoka near my former roommate. She was always saying, “There’s a place for sale near me, and you need to get it!” During lockdown, she fell ill, and she passed away in June of last year. I decided I couldn’t miss out on seeing my friends anymore.
In July of 2021, Canada removed the quarantine requirement for visiting vaccinated Canadians; I was in the Kawarthas looking at cottages within 24 hours. Scott is American and can’t work here, so we wanted to find a place close enough to the airport so he could come for short stays. It also had to be big enough to host a bunch of friends, so we needed a minimum of three bedrooms. I also wanted good swimming water; no weeds or muck. I quickly learned that any property I liked, everybody liked.
Our realtor told us that winning bids in the area tended to be unconditional offers, made in cash and well over asking—sometimes by hundreds of thousands of dollars. We found one place that had five bedrooms, two-and-a-half bathrooms and trees all over its property. It was perfect. I flew back home to Houston, and the next day, we received a phone call that there had been eight offers. The winning one was $200,000 higher than ours. I thought, Is this going to happen every time?
After that, I didn’t visit any more cottages in person; we bought ours sight unseen about a month later. The property needed a lot of work, but the bones were there. It had three bathrooms, three bedrooms, no weeds and a basement where people could stay up late making noise. It was the same thing again: six offers, all cash, no conditions. Our winning bid was 30 per cent over asking. Despite how many upgrades it needed, Scott and I made up our minds: we were going to get a cottage up here, even if we had to renovate. Our friends can come visit now, as can their kids. Buying here was like getting a piece of home back.
7 CANMORE
The Mountain Town
AVERAGE RECREATIONAL PROPERTY PRICE (2021)
$1,360,000
The Market: In the shadow of the picturesque Rocky Mountains, Canmore is regularly overrun by seasonal tourists looking to get their thrills from hiking and choppering around the Bow Valley’s craggy cliffs. Those who dare to enter Canmore’s current recreational real estate market also require an adventurous spirit. The area’s selection of row houses and standalone vacation homes are highly sought-after, so much so that prices jumped 33 per cent between 2020 and 2021. Recent attention from out-of-province buyers—and Alberta locals with a new appreciation for the area—has pushed Canmore’s once-rugged inventory into luxury-price territory.
Alice: I talked to some girlfriends about their retirement plans, and they made me reconsider my own. Desmond and I had mulled over a few destinations—Costa Rica, Italy and London—but we never felt at home unless we were in Canada. My mom lived in Canmore in the mid-’90s, and I loved how close it was to the mountains. It seemed to be the best fit.
The Buyers: Alice Abbott, a 58-year-old cryptocurrency executive, and her husband, Desmond Brown, a 63-year-old real estate agent
I took a trip out west last year with our youngest son, Felix, and spent a half-day with a Canmore real estate agent looking at vacation properties. When we got back to Ontario, I had another agent set me up to receive email listings tailored to our parameters. We wanted a place with three bedrooms that allowed short-term rentals and was walking distance from coffee, groceries and the restaurants of Canmore’s downtown strip. Properties facing Banff National Park can go for a premium, but paying a bit more for a view of Three Sisters and Ha Ling Peak was worth it to us.
At first, I couldn’t imagine buying real estate from a video walk-through, but it’s a big expense to fly across the country to see places that might sell before you can get out there. Canmore’s prices go up so quickly that a property’s value is determined by what comparable places sold for the day before. We bid on a three-bedroom condo in late January, which was listed at $749,700. We offered $853,000, knowing there were multiple bids. My realtor told me to sit down before she told me the winning amount. I said, “Well, if I’m going to lose, I better lose by a lot.” It sold for $981,900. Des and I realized we needed to increase our budget.
In April, we found a unit in a self-managed fourplex that was very modest—not all modern slate finishes. I had passed over it several times, but without more inventory coming onto the market, we decided to ask our agent about a showing. It sold before we could see it, but a week later, another unit in the same fourplex hit the market. It ticked our boxes right away: it faced the mountains, the light and layout were good and it had ample storage. It was listed at $928,800, but I wanted to offer a little bit extra to secure it. We did a video tour on the 28th, and the next day, we offered $1,018,000—$13,000 above what the previous unit went for. The sellers accepted.
Maybe they would have jumped at less, but we didn’t want to lose out again. Plus, it won’t matter in a couple of years—we’ll just be happy we have this place. I can’t wait to see it in person. It closes at the end of June, and we have one buyer visit before then.
GOOD FOR BUSINESS
SHEEPDOG BREWING, CANMORE
Adventurous tourists are always blowing through this Rocky Mountain town. Sheepdog has found success serving those who stay.
AFTER A LONG, hard day of hiking or spelunking through the mountains, many travellers like to enjoy a deliciously cold ice bath—or beer. Josh Forster, co-owner of Canmore’s Sheepdog Brewing, has banked on the latter. Instead of rotating its 16 taps to cater to the ebbs and flows of seasonal tourists, the taproom tailors its small-batch offerings to local tastes. That includes the area’s cabin and recreational condo owners who put down roots for at least part of the year. “We’re a community hub,” Forster explains. “That’s actually what it says on our licence.”
The local connection runs deep for Forster and his two co-owners—David Gauvreau and Allen Russel—all of whom work as firefighters in the Bow Valley. They opened Sheepdog in June of 2019. Forster says the pandemic was a huge speed bump for the new operation, resulting in on-and-off closures over the next two years. Still, in that time, he noticed a shift in his burgeoning clientele. “Whether they get an apartment or townhouse,” Forster says, “the people coming to the mountains in the last couple of years have been from Alberta. In the past, people buying second homes here weren’t from here.”
The seasonal tourism industry generates around $345 million a year in Canmore, and more than a third of its population are secondary residents. Often, the town’s bartenders end up playing the role of part-time tour guide, Forster says. “People ask us to recommend something cool to do, like, ‘What’s the hiking scene like?’ But you don’t necessarily always want to go to the super touristy places.” Sheepdog, fittingly located off of Canmore’s main drag, has instead found success in doubling down on community-based events, like avalanche-awareness seminars and the odd games night for customers and cottagers who stay, even in the rough shoulder seasons.
This year, Forster says Sheepdog has been brewing at full capacity and is planning on its first full summer being a busy one. “We’ve already seen the town get overrun with tourists, but we rely on that nice, steady stream,” he says. “People have said we’re kind of like Cheers. When you come in, you’re going to see half a dozen people you know.”
8 BAIE-SAINT-PAUL
The Nouveau Locale
AVERAGE RECREATIONAL PROPERTY PRICE (2021)
$289,000
The Market: There’s no better evidence of Baie-Saint-Paul’s tourist clout than the opening of Club Med’s first North American mountain resort 20 minutes south of the town last December. The tiny Charlevoix destination, situated along the St. Lawrence River, is an established favourite of European cyclists, hikers and gallery-hoppers. And now Canadians are also taking notice of its affordable vacation properties. Recently, newer luxury builds have started sidling up to the area’s existing inventory, creating fierce competition for the already limited number of empty lots. As a result, the going prices for local chalets have increased by 45 per cent.
The Buyer: Fabio Mascarin, a 59-year-old executive
Fabio: Nine years ago, I took a ski trip through the Charlevoix region with three friends, and we rented this very chalet. It’s in Les Éboulements, which is 15 minutes up the mountain from Baie-Saint-Paul. When I first walked upstairs, I saw the panoramic view of the St. Lawrence River, which was the route my mother took into Canada when she emigrated from France by boat. I thought, Oh my god, I’m going to buy this place one day.
I live in Gananoque, Ontario, and last May, I saw that this property had finally gone up for sale. I freaked out and called Eric, the realtor, right away. He told me they were just waiting on the mortgage to clear on an offer from an American buyer. The deal ended up falling through because of COVID, and I immediately requested a video walk-through. I later drove up to Quebec and did one showing. I bought it for a phenomenal price considering all the furniture and appliances were included. Properties like this would go for three times as much in Muskoka.
The cost of vacation properties is a lot cheaper here—at least for the time being. This place doesn’t fit everyone’s definition of a cottage: it has a steep driveway, just like in Europe; cement floors with radiant heat at the entrance; a spa; and 12-foot windows. The roof is metal, so the snow melts when the sun hits it.
Prior to COVID, a lot of people from England, France and even Sweden came here in the summer to hike, bike and hit the cafés and art festivals. There’s a real sense of “I’m in Canada, but I’m not.” A lot of locals are investing money in their cottages now, and I think there are just three lots left at the base of the mountain. I would love to stay here more, but right now, I’m aiming for four weeks a year. The rest of the time, the chalet is available as a short-term rental. Visitors often say, “We didn’t even know this place existed.” I used to feel the same way. According to François, the property manager, we’re getting a lot of repeat renters.
9 INTERLAKE
The Fisherman’s Friend
AVERAGE RECREATIONAL PROPERTY PRICE (2021)
$274,000
Karen: I bought my first seasonal cottage in 2012. At the time, I was looking at properties for a client in the village of Dunnottar, on the shores of Lake Winnipeg. The place I bought was a mid-century build, and everything was original, right down to the double-hung windows—the kind you have to prop open. The kitchen had orange Formica countertops, and it was heated by a wood stove. I paid top dollar for it, which at the time was in the low $100,000s.
In late 2019, I learned about Airbnb and wanted to try hosting. I found a three-bedroom place in neighbouring Matlock with a lake view and bought it for around $150,000. It was the off-season, so I was able to negotiate. Many of the vacation properties are on wells, including mine, so if renters arrive any earlier than mid-May,
The Buyer: Karen Machut, a 52-year-old real estate agent
The Market: A straight shot north of Winnipeg, Interlake is the region between two of Manitoba’s largest bodies of water: Lake Winnipeg to the east and Lake Manitoba to the west. Vacation properties here are some of the most affordable in the country. Recently, an increase in ice-fishing tourism, driven by younger and returning international anglers, created a huge demand for all-season rentals. Buyers are keen to winterize local cabins for Airbnb, and they’re not above starting bidding wars. Even the non-waterfront properties crossed the $200,000 mark last year. the water’s still frozen. But Interlake is also a destination for ice fishing, so tourism is a year-round thing. That’s why I wanted my second cottage to be winterized.
I listed the Matlock property on Airbnb for a couple of months before the pandemic started, and the fishermen loved it. It’s about 1,400 square feet with a long driveway, so there’s room for trailers, Bombardier B12 ice buses and all the gear they travel with from the U.S. When the borders closed, I rented the cottage out to a family. The market really started heating up in 2021, though. Cottages were in short supply, and demand in Interlake was only growing. Places that were once considered undesirable were all of a sudden gems. People wanted an escape.
Last year, my best friend told me she and her husband were looking for a seasonal property. I showed her around Siglavik, which is an 85-property subdivision built on man-made canals. Just as she closed her own sale following a bidding war, a property I’d dreamt of buying years earlier came onto the market. I snapped it up after winning my own bidding war. Our places are a five-minute walk from each other, and the stars of Ice Vikings—a show about commercial ice fishing—live up the street. I always wanted to own multiple properties, but I never really thought I would.
10 OKANAGAN
The Million-Dollar Market
AVERAGE RECREATIONAL PROPERTY PRICE (2021)
$1,302,750
The Market: Thanks to its sunny climate, ferry-free access and plethora of golf courses, British Columbia’s expansive Okanagan Valley is a tourist’s (and retiree’s) dream. A recent wave of tech firms setting up shop in Kelowna has also attracted a slew of young professionals, and with them comes a desire to snap up the valley’s coveted vacation real estate. Between these two cohorts, competition for cottages and cabins is tight. In 2021, prices for waterfront properties in the central valley averaged $2.3 million; further north, they raked in upwards of $1.3 million each. Buyers are now hard-pressed to find lakeside inventory listed below the million-dollar mark—but every so often, they get lucky.
The Buyers: Ted Swan, a 37-year-old garlic farmer and lighting entrepreneur, and his wife, Laurel, a 37-year-old human resources adviser
Laurel: My paternal grandparents, Jean and Heimo, emigrated from Finland to Vancouver in 1924. Every year, they’d ski at Silver-Star Mountain Resort, which is 30 minutes northeast of Vernon. I went there with my parents and my younger sister, Lisa, as a kid.
Ted and I now live in Vernon with our four-year-old daughter, James. We used to visit SilverStar almost every weekend, and in the winter, we’d rent an old A-frame cabin on the grounds. At the start of the pandemic, Ted and I thought about buying a vacation property. I knew that Lisa and her husband, Eric, who live in Toronto, were interested in buying a cottage in Ontario as an investment. I asked if they’d be interested in buying a cabin at SilverStar with us instead. They loved the idea.
We wanted a place with at least two bedrooms and planned to spend between $500,000 and $850,000. In February, a 1960s A-frame went up for sale, which was rare. The same family had owned it for 32 years. It had three bedrooms, a porch, an open-concept kitchen with wood-panelled walls and a fireplace, all for $669,000. It was also right at the foot of a chairlift, so it was a ski-in, ski-out property. We viewed the cabin at 10 a.m. on the day it was listed and FaceTimed with Lisa and Eric while there. It already felt like home.
We noticed business cards from four other real estate agents on the table, which meant four other showings had happened just that morning. On the offer collection date a week later, we bid $750,000. There were seven other offers, and I was surprised there weren’t more. One buyer included a condition that he would pay $5,000 above the top bid, but the owners turned him down because he wanted to make the cabin a full-time rental. We planned to put it on Airbnb, but we wanted to use it, too. They chose our offer. I think our family connection to the resort helped us win.
We took possession in March, and Eric and Lisa flew in to help us with renovations. We posted the cabin on Airbnb soon after, naming it “Heimo Haus,” after our grandfather. Reservations were slow at first, but once we had a few reviews, the cabin booked up for the remainder of the ski season, which ended on April 1. We’re planning to add outdoor storage for bikes and skis, and to install a second upstairs bathroom and a hot tub in the near future. Ted, James and I spent about nine days there this spring, just skiing, skating, sledding, enjoying dinners in town and playing board games by the fireplace. We always leave SilverStar with full hearts.
REALTOR REPORT
JOANNA WANG AND JP LETNICK, KELOWNA
Wild demand for vacation properties across the Okanagan kicked this husband-and-wife team into high gear
How did the pandemic impact your business?
Joanna: It completely stopped in March of 2020. We stayed at home with our children, who are two and six, and considered getting our mortgage-broker licences. Then, around May, the market went crazy.
JP: The majority of our business was in residential homes—with some commercial properties—but we started getting a lot more inquiries from our clients about vacation homes. They were mostly located in Kelowna and were interested in buying cabins and lakefront properties in the Sicamous and Shuswap areas. Normally, they would take holidays out of the country with their families, but because their trips were cancelled, they had some extra cash.
How did the pandemic impact the Okanagan market?
JP: Before COVID, cabins would sit on the market, and some were relisted year after year. Prices were usually pretty stagnant, then they went up by 30 to 40 per cent. One agent down in the Sicamous area was saying she had never seen so many luxury vacation properties sell so quickly. We even had one client who bought a cabin above asking: a foreclosure near the highway that had previously been used as a grow-op. It received multiple offers.
Did your jobs change?
Joanna: Usually we would submit an offer with conditions, so we had time to do our due diligence—title searches, property disclosures and water rights. We started encouraging our clients to submit with no conditions, so they’d have a better chance at a winning bid. That tripled our workload, because they sometimes put in two or three offers before getting a place.
Where are things at now?
JP: It seems like buyers are more uncertain lately. Places that would have gotten multiple offers before aren’t getting any on collection day. But once the uncertainty disappears, we think buyers are going to jump back in again. I don’t suspect there’s going to be a drastic correction in pricing—probably just five or 10 per cent.
So you’re confident that buyer concern will probably dissipate soon?
JP: Right now, buyers are watching and waiting. Once they feel the market has cooled off enough, and they start seeing other people getting back into it, the mob mentality will switch on again.
Cottage by Riley Smith; Cottage by Grady Mitchell; Cottage by Allison Seto; Cottage by Riley Smith, owners by Sarah Hiltz Photography; Forster courtesy of Sheepdog Brewing, Cottage by René Bouchard, Cottage by Matthew Sawatzky; Cottage by Melissa Renwick