Prince Edward County is emerging as a very distinct  real estate market.

While prices in prestige cottage locations like Muskoka are flat or falling, in the County waterfront property values are up — steeply.

ReMax’s 2025 Cottage and Cabin Trends Report shows the County has cottage country cachet — because its high-end housing stock, full of heritage homes of brick and stone as well as wood, features primary residences, not traditional cottages.

That means the post-pandemic crash in Ontario’s cottage country real estate, where, in general, prices sit about 15 to 20 percent below the 2022 peak in the market, has skipped the County.

While the average price in cottaging locales is sinking — Haliburton is down 3.5 percent, Peterborough County 2 percent, Orillia 16 percent, and Grand Bend, on Lake Huron, is down 20 percent — in Prince Edward County prices are moving in the opposite direction.

This is not just a cottage location, explains one agent. People buy a second home here with the idea they are going to live here.

Sales in the first quarter of 2025 were up 22 percent over the same period last year, and the average waterfront house price increased 20 percent. ReMax estimates prices will rise a further 5 percent over 2025.

That means the average waterfront home in Prince Edward County is already $1.2 million and is projected to reach $1.26 million by the end of the year.

Meanwhile, in the County’s regular real estate offerings, a generally depressed market since the pandemic is emerging from its long slumber.

Still, Century21’s Ned Burgess says, “I’m not seeing anything like those [waterfront] prices in the regular freehold real estate market in PEC.”

The average home or condominium residence sales price hovers around $750,000 to $800,000. Mr. Burgess is seeing a bump in prices in the early spring market though.

“The average sale price for March and April is moving past the $800,000 mark to $850,000,” he says. “Prices are generally stable, which is good for everyone, but you see the prices come up a little bit every spring, and this spring I’m seeing quite a bump.”

One place where there is new interest is Americans calling to discuss a second home purchase here. 

“Something I didn’t have before is American buyer interest.” Mr. Burgess is fielding calls from well-heeled Americans who can afford Canada’s 25 percent non-resident speculation tax, imposed on non-citizens buying property in Canada.

“Those buyers are looking in the $1.7 to  $2.5 million range. They can afford the 25 percent surcharge. The higher American dollar makes that more navigable anyway,” he notes. Such buyers also must navigate the CMHC ban on foreign buyers in major city centres. PEC, however, is still fair game.  

Ed Note: This article has been corrected to show its statistics come from the ReMax 2025 Canadian Cabin and Cottage Trends Report.