What I tell buyers about Lake of Bays real estate
Lake of Bays is the second largest lake in Muskoka and it does not behave like one market. Baysville at the south end is a working village with a general store and a river running through it. Dwight at the north end sits at the doorstep of Algonquin Park. Port Cunnington and the long finger bays in between are quieter again, and Bigwin Island is its own world entirely. Which arm of the lake you land on changes the cottage, the drive, and the price.
I have sold a lot of cottages on this lake over the years, in most of those areas, and the thing I would tell anyone starting out is that the differences are bigger than they look on a map. A twenty-minute change in where you buy can mean a different exposure, a different depth at the dock, and a meaningfully different number.
There is a real water access market here too. Bigwin Island, Haystack Bay and Rabbit Bay all have properties you reach by boat. That suits some people enormously and suits others not at all, and it is worth talking through honestly before you fall for a listing photo.
The other thing worth knowing is what the sold record says rather than what anyone tells you. I publish every waterfront sale I track on this lake further down the page: how many changed hands each year, what they actually sold for, and how close that was to asking. Some of it is not flattering. It is published anyway.
Current listings are below, covering waterfront cottages, year-round homes and the occasional vacant lot. If nothing is quite right, tell me what you are picturing and I will set up alerts tuned to it. If you want the backstory first, start with the history of Lake of Bays. Comparing lakes? See all Muskoka cottages for sale.
Every waterfront sale I track on Lake of Bays is published further down this page: volume, median and average price, and how close sellers came to asking.
MLS®, REALTOR® and the associated logos are trademarks of The Canadian Real Estate Association. MLS® listing data is supplied through the Canadian Real Estate Association and provided by participating brokers.
Latest Lake of Bays Cottage Listings
Most market reports look backward. Ours looks forward.
The sold record on this page tells you where Lake of Bays has been. The Cottage Forecaster™ is the other half: built on sixteen years of transaction data going back to 2010, read against current economic conditions, to project where the Muskoka market is heading. The current signal and the reasoning behind it are published there and refreshed quarterly.
See the Current Signal →What Lake of Bays cottages actually sell for
Every waterfront sale I track on Lake of Bays, from Dwight and Baysville through Port Cunnington, Bigwin and the South Portage shore. Not asking prices, actual sold prices, published in full so you can check them rather than take my word for it.
Read the volume column first. In 2020, sixty-nine cottages changed hands here. In 2025, twenty-one did. That is the clearest thing in this dataset, and it matters more than any single year's median.
| Year | Sales | Median Price | Average Price | Lowest | Highest | Sale-to-List | Over Asking |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 69 | $1,600,000 | $1,677,083 | $495,000 | $3,750,000 | 97.2% | 15 |
| 2021 | 47 | $1,700,000 | $2,121,518 | $375,000 | $7,117,093 | 104.7% | 21 |
| 2022 | 30 | $1,513,011 | $2,163,167 | $700,000 | $8,700,000 | 94.5% | 6 |
| 2023 | 29 | $2,650,000 | $2,843,824 | $395,000 | $6,553,000 | 94.7% | 2 |
| 2024 | 37 | $2,035,000 | $2,436,214 | $715,000 | $6,650,000 | 93.3% | 3 |
| 2025 | 21 | $1,507,000 | $2,147,429 | $449,000 | $5,375,000 | 94.0% | 3 |
| 2026 (partial year) | 16 | $1,665,000 | $2,181,938 | $507,000 | $4,500,000 | 94.6% | 3 |
2026 is a partial year and runs through August.
Why the price line jumps around
The median swings between $1.5M and $2.65M across these years, and almost none of that is the market repricing. It is mix. Lake of Bays spans everything from a modest Baysville cottage to an eight-figure estate, and in a year with thirty sales a handful of big ones drags the middle. The 2023 median of $2,650,000 sits above every year around it on twenty-nine sales; the 2022 average of $2,163,167 sits well above its median of $1,513,011, partly because one property sold for $8,700,000.
The columns that behave are volume and sale-to-list. Sales have fallen in four of the five full-year comparisons since 2020; the exception was 2024. Sale-to-list peaked at 104.7% in 2021, when twenty-one of forty-seven cottages sold over asking, and has sat between 93% and 95% ever since, with only two to six a year going above list. Fewer buyers, less competition, and sellers taking a few points under asking. That is a consistent picture across four years.
Figures are compiled from MLS® sold records for waterfront properties on Lake of Bays across the Lake of Bays and Huntsville (Brunel) townships, deduplicated to remove properties listed on more than one board. Sale-to-list is the average across that year's sales. Timeshare and fractional interests are excluded. Records before 2020 are too sparse in the source to publish honestly, so the series starts there.
These figures reflect MLS®-listed sales only. Private and exclusive listings never enter the MLS® system and are not captured here. Neither is uncommon in the upper price tiers, where sales are sometimes arranged quietly between the parties. The real number of transactions on this lake is therefore somewhat higher than shown, and the effect is likely to be greatest at the top of the market. That is a genuine limitation of any sold-data analysis, including this one.
For the wider region, see the Muskoka quarterly dataset back to 2010, or the Ontario Cottage Market Forecaster™ for the current directional read.
Lake of Bays Real Estate FAQ
How much does a cottage on Lake of Bays cost?
Across the full years from 2020 to 2025, the annual median sold price for a Lake of Bays waterfront cottage ranged from $1.5 million to $2.65 million, based on the transactions I track. Individual sales ran from $375,000 to $8.7 million. The 2025 median was $1,507,000 on 21 sales. Medians here move with the mix of properties sold more than with the market, so read them next to the sales count.
How many cottages sell on Lake of Bays each year?
Fewer than they used to. Sixty-nine cottages sold in 2020 and twenty-one in 2025, and sales fell in four of the five full-year comparisons since 2020. The exception was 2024, at 37. Every year's count is published in the sold-data table on this page.
Is now a good time to buy on Lake of Bays?
Buyers have more room to negotiate than they did in 2021, when the average sale-to-list peaked at 104.7% and 21 of 47 cottages sold over asking. Since 2022 the yearly average has stayed between 93% and 95% of asking, with only two to six cottages a year selling over list. That leans toward buyers, but this is a lake of several different markets, so the right answer depends on which part of it you want.
What's the difference between Baysville, Dwight and Port Cunnington?
Lake of Bays does not behave like one market. Baysville at the south end is a working village with a general store and a river running through it. Dwight at the north end sits at the doorstep of Algonquin Park. Port Cunnington and the long finger bays in between are quieter again, and Bigwin Island is its own world entirely. Which arm of the lake you land on changes the cottage, the drive and the price.
Are there water access cottages on Lake of Bays?
Yes. Bigwin Island, Haystack Bay and Rabbit Bay all have properties you reach by boat. That suits some people enormously and others not at all, so it is worth talking through honestly before you fall for a listing photo.
What should I check before buying a Lake of Bays cottage to renovate or rebuild?
Start with road or water access, shoreline and setback rules, septic capacity, zoning and permitted uses, and any limits on rebuilding the existing footprint. Many rebuilds happen on an existing cottage's footprint, subject to municipal rules and approvals, so confirm what can be rebuilt before you write an offer.
Do these listings include everything for sale on Lake of Bays?
The listings on this page come through the MLS® system from participating brokers. They do not include private or exclusive listings, or properties marketed outside MLS®. If you want something specific, tell me what you are looking for and I will set up alerts.
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