For many Canadians, a cottage or cabin is the ultimate escape from the noise of everyday life. The recreational property market, however, is making some of its own heading into the spring.

The reality, according to Royal LePage’s 2026 Spring Recreational Property Report released Thursday, is the market is being pulled in competing directions. Buyer caution is meeting constrained supply. Demand is steady, but listings are sticking around longer. Recreational condo prices are up, while waterfront homes are down.

The result is that prices are still expected to climb nationally in 2026, even as activity softens in some of the country’s most expensive regions.

Royal LePage CEO Phil Soper said the recreational market is snapshot of Canada’s complicated outlook overall.

“The recreational market is reflecting the emotional and economic structural reality of Canada right now,” Soper told Real Estate Magazine.

Royal LePage is forecasting that the median price of a single-family recreational home will rise four per cent year over year in 2026 to $604,552, with the company citing constrained supply relative to buyer demand expected to put “modest upward pressure” on prices. Prices were up 4.3% in 2025, reads the report.

The weighted median price of a single-family waterfront property fell 5.2% year-over-year in 2025 to $717,600, while condominium prices rose 2.1% to $418,600.

Soper pointed to the country’s priciest urban markets as a key driver of that divergence.

“Regions in the country that are the most expensive, the Golden Horseshoe that stretches from Hamilton around through the GTA in Ontario, and the Lower Mainland of British Columbia, that’s where the urban market is the slowest,” he said. “We’re seeing a direct reflection of that in waterfront properties in BC and Ontario, and that’s pulling down the overall performance of the waterfront single-family home sector relative to non-waterfront.”

Atlantic Canada, Prairies are Hot

Atlantic Canada recorded the highest year-over-year price appreciation for single-family recreational homes in 2025, at 11.8%, while Manitoba and Saskatchewan are forecast to lead the country in 2026 with projected price growth of 5.5%.

Soper said the relative economic conditions in resource-based provinces are a driving factor behind the confidence in those markets.

“We call out Saskatchewan and Manitoba, but you could easily include Alberta in that equation,” he said. “Those resource-based regions, with things like potash or oil and gas, are actually feeling better economically and less concerned about future trade negotiations than the exporting heartlands of Ontario, Quebec, or BC.”

Soper said each market has its own story. He cautioned against glossing over the national numbers as a single, unified market.

“Like the urban residential market, it’s important not to paint the recreational housing sector with a broad brush,” he said. “While there has been some softening of buying activity in recreational property markets, conditions vary from coast to coast.”

The report, which is based on a recent online survey of 130 Royal LePage brokers and sales reps, found that 52% reported similar buyer demand compared to the same time last year, while 26% reported less demand. Meanwhile, 61% said the average days on market has increased in their region over the past year, a sign that buyers are taking their time.

Inventory remains relatively stable, with 48% of respondents reporting similar supply levels and 28% reporting lower supply. That constrained inventory relative to demand is a key reason prices continue to rise nationally despite the cautious mood.

The City Calls

35% of respondents reported an increase in the number of full-time residents moving back to urban centres over the past year, suggesting an unwinding of the pandemic-era migration to cottage country as workers are called back to the office.

“As the unemployment situation gets a little more dicey, the weight of the negotiation shifts from employee to employer. And employers are focused on improving collaboration, getting people back in the office,” said Soper.

He said those who have been enjoying life in the countryside may now be facing four hours of commuting a day, which may have been tolerable for one or two days a week – not five.

“That becomes untenable pretty quickly, so they decide to put their properties on the market and move back to Toronto,” he said.

There could be potential spin-off effects to the upside, said Soper, including a rise in demand for urban condos among those moving back.

“We are starting to see some life in the condominium market in the city,” he said.

A “Marathon, Not A Sprint” for Many Buyers

Pauline Aunger, broker of record at Royal LePage Advantage Real Estate in Rideau Lakes, Ont., says recreational properties in her corridor between Ottawa and Kingston are sitting on the market a little longer than in recent years.

She points to the fading of pandemic-era “frenzy” as a key factor. “People have slowed down as they’re making more thoughtful decisions,” she said.

For waterfront buyers in particular, a deliberate pace is part of the game. “Buying a waterfront for many is a marathon, not a sprint,” Aunger said.

She said a combination of factors, from the topography of the land to the home itself, all come into play.

You’re looking for the perfect match. Sometimes properties stay a little longer as people take their time to digest the information.”

Canada’s Cottage Market is Thriving, Softening and Complicated, All at Once by Courtney Zwicker | REM Real Estate Magazine