This circa 1870 Wilbeth Cottage in Ontario’s Prince Edward County, listed with an asking price of $1.398-million, comes with an antique barn and 1.6 acres of land.Supplied
For visitors to Ontario’s pastoral Prince Edward County, July can be a haze of beach days, dockside drinks, music festivals and summer theatre.
This year, aspiring real estate buyers have more than 400 properties to choose from in the area about two hours east of Toronto, which sits on a peninsula surrounded by the waters of Lake Ontario.
Sales picked up in the late spring of 2026 compared with the same period in 2025, but many house hunters feel little urgency in the midst of so much supply, agents say.
Properties currently for sale range from Victorian farmhouses to newly built townhouses and luxury waterfront residences, with asking prices ranging from less than $400,000 for a modest bungalow to more than $6.25-million for a five-bedroom contemporary house with an infinity pool, 43 acres of land and 400 feet of waterfront.
The area’s sand dunes, wineries, rolling farmland and historic small towns attract retirees, cottagers and entrepreneurs. Often, buyers come from Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal, but professionals from nearby Belleville and Trenton also settle in Prince Edward County (PEC).
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As a result, activity in PEC often mirrors the market in the Greater Toronto Area and other cities, says Gail Forcht, broker with Chestnut Park Real Estate in Picton, Ont.
Today’s buyers are often adding conditions, such as making the purchase contingent on the successful sale of their existing property in the city. “Every deal has got its challenges,” says Ms. Forcht.
Sales in PEC rose to 47 in June from 37 in the same month last year, according to the Central Lakes Association of Realtors. For the year to the end of June, 165 homes changed hands compared with 166 in the same period in 2025.
Ms. Forcht notes that new listings jumped 23.6 per cent in June compared with June of last year.
At the current pace of sales, Prince Edward County has about one year’s worth of inventory, estimates Ms. Forcht.
Some of the active listings are “recycled” properties that failed to sell at higher prices last year, she says. Many homeowners have not updated in many years, she adds.
“The ‘recycles’ distort the market,” she says.
Some sellers want to test the market with an aspirational price, she says, but they wait too long to reduce it, and the property can become stale.
She says sellers need to consider the trade from the point of view of buyers: They typically have a set amount to spend and search for the property that offers the most for their money.
Locked out of the city, some young buyers are heading to cottage country
If a price is unrealistic, the buyer will cut the property from the list. “They don’t even look – they think the seller is unreasonable,” Ms. Forcht says.
By contrast, a century home on the main street of Wellington recently sold very quickly after it was listed around the $2.695-million mark.
The price was “on the money,” Ms. Forcht says, adding that homes with a showstopper kitchen and whitewashed floors are quick to sell.
“If you have that, there’s a buyer.”
Some sellers are downsizers who want to move from a rural property into town, while others are feeling the financial pressure of interest rates that have jumped since the record lows during the COVID-19 pandemic. Some investors are also heading for the exits.
The average price has fallen more than 30 per cent from above the $1-million mark in 2022 to $758,304 in June.
During the early years of the pandemic, values soared as out-of-town buyers fled to the area in search of farmhouses on rural roads and affordable fixer-uppers in town.
“There was this unreal sense of exuberance – especially here,” Ms. Forcht says of the frenzy that drew urban dwellers and investors.
Ms. Forcht expects the market to gain traction when buyers feel more confident.
“Have we hit bottom yet? I don’t think anyone can answer that just yet.”
Panoramic views help Deep Cove home sell for $2.5-million despite sluggish market
Miranda Miller, real estate agent with Harvey Kalles Real Estate, says the pace of sales has picked up among first-time buyers and young families that live in Prince Edward County and the surrounding Bay of Quinte area year-round.
“Overall, it feels like a more active year,” she says, noting that 19 transactions were recorded in the first week of July.
The segment under $750,000 is busy, she says, as well as the bracket between $1.8-million and $2-million for homes on the waterfront.
Ms. Miller says the improved balance between supply and demand has been beneficial to buyers who make their living in the area.
The pandemic run-up sparked a backlash among some residents who felt priced out of the market by frantic bidding contests.
“There was a stint when locals couldn’t compete. Every property was pretty much guaranteed to have multiples.”
She recently worked with one young couple who bought a family home overlooking the harbour in Picton for about $700,000.
At the higher end, many buyers are just waiting, says Ms. Miller. In some cases, they have a specific idea of the type of property they want and they feel no need to rush.
“They’re really taking their time to find the right fit.”
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Tammy Noyes, real estate agent at Century 21 Lanthorn, urges sellers to be realistic in setting an asking price since only one out of 10 properties is finding a buyer in the current market.
Prince Edward County is seeing a wave of properties owned by Baby Boomers who are looking to downsize, she says.
“We’ve had a big dump of listings starting in March.”
Ms. Noyes stresses that even those sellers who are successful at a higher price sometimes run into trouble when the buyer’s lender asks for an appraisal. Sales are so sparse that appraisers may have trouble finding a recent comparable transaction.
“You can ask for a higher price – that doesn’t mean a buyer can finance it at that price,” she says.
At the same time, she is seeing a shift in the buyers circulating in PEC, with many looking for a property that provides space for kids and grandparents too.
Child care is difficult to find in PEC, Ms. Noyes notes, so some young families are searching for a home with an in-law suite.
Another cohort of buyers in their 70s and 80s are purchasing a waterfront home for the first time.
The seniors are buying the house now so their kids and grandkids can visit, then they will pass it on, she says.
“People want waterfront for all the generations.”
What's going on with the housing market?
On Thursday, July 16 at 1 p.m. ET, real estate reporters Rachelle Younglai, Carolyn Ireland and Shane Dingman and mortgage reporter Salmaan Farooqui will be answering your questions about this confusing time in the market. Send us your questions in the box below or at audience@globeandmail.com.