Ontario’s cottage market went from lagging to booming in a month

Like all good real estate studies, the latest report on cottage sales in Canada contradicts the one that came before it. Last month, the Toronto Star ran a story on how Ontario’s recreational property market had plateaued, based on a report by Royal LePage; yesterday, the paper’s Moneyville blog wrote about a Re/Max report that says Canadians are buying cottages in the biggest numbers since 2008. Apparently, sales are up in 70 per cent of Canadian markets, including Muskoka, Grand Bend and Lake of Bays, thanks to renewed consumer confidence, low interest rates and lower prices. Which sounds great, except that those soft prices are due to the fact that people don’t want to shell out more than $400,000 for a lakeside cabin. Not to worry if you’re feeling a little confused—a month from now, someone will release another report saying something completely different. [Moneyville]