Season’s Greetings from Cedarville!
It has been a snowy start to the winter, and the winter sports enthusiasts are gearing up for a “throwback” year! Now that the dust has pretty much settled in terms of real estate sales for this year, I thought it would be interesting to see how 2025 compared to the last two years in regard to waterfront sales.
As you can see in the table above, waterfront sales have been trending downward in the last two years. While some might say this points to weakness in the waterfront market, I have a theory that might shed some light on these figures.
The reality is that a lot of the cottages in this community that were built in the ’60s and ’70s have become obsolete because of either outdated design or poor condition. As a result, some buyers have shifted toward vacant land purchases.
While cottage purchases are down, the number of lot sales and building permits issued the last two years are up—proving that waterfront investment has not decreased as much as the figures suggest, but rather that the type of investment has changed.
YouTube Video on Les Cheneaux Cottage Design
I had the pleasure of filming the exterior of several area cottages this past October, as part of a video for my YouTube channel analyzing cottage design in the Les Cheneaux Islands. The places I visited for the video are pictured in the banner of this month’s newsletter!
