I live in Wasaga Beach. I work here. I raise my family here. So when someone from the GTA messages me asking what it’s actually like to move up, I tell them the truth, not the brochure version.

If you’re thinking about a move to Wasaga Beach in 2026, here’s what you need to know before you start booking showings.

A town that’s actually growing

Let’s start with the thing most relocation articles skip. Wasaga isn’t a sleepy beach town that stays the same year to year. It’s one of the fastest-growing municipalities in Ontario. The population went from about 20,675 in 2016 to 24,862 in 2021, a jump of over 20% in five years. That growth is the engine behind everything else in this post: the new schools, the new stores, the price trends. When you buy here, you’re buying into momentum, not a town standing still.

What homes actually cost right now

The market has softened compared to the highs of a few years ago, and that’s good news if you’re a buyer. As of spring 2026, the average sold price across all home types in Wasaga Beach is around $663,000. Detached homes, which make up about 75% of what’s on the market, sell for a median of roughly $800,000. Townhouses come in around $600,000, and the small condo segment lands in the low $400,000s.

Days on market are running about 30 to 45 days, and homes are selling close to 95% of list price. That tells you it’s a balanced market right now, not a frenzy. You have time to think. You can negotiate. You can do a proper inspection without losing the deal to ten other offers.

For GTA buyers, that math is the headline. You can sell a small semi in Mississauga or Vaughan, buy a detached home here with a real yard, and still have cash left over.

What’s coming (and why it matters for buyers)

This is the part I’d pay closest attention to if I were buying. There is over $355 million in public and private investment secured for Wasaga Beach right now.

The big one for everyday life: Costco is officially coming. A $50 million store at 345 Lyons Court, near the casino, with a 24-pump gas station. Construction starts this spring and the doors are expected to open as early as fall 2026. It’s bringing more than 370 jobs and it’s one of the largest private investments in the town’s history. For anyone who’s been making the drive to Barrie for a Costco run, this is a real quality-of-life change.

Beyond that, the town has a provincially funded plan called Destination Wasaga that’s reshaping the waterfront. There’s $10.9 million in provincial money to rebuild Beach Drive, plus over $135 million in private investment from partners like Stonebridge and Sunray, including a new Marriott Hotel and the next phases of The Breakers development.

Here’s why this matters to you as a buyer. Investment like this tends to show up in property values before it shows up in your day-to-day. The buyers who move in before the Costco opens and the waterfront gets rebuilt are the ones who benefit most from the lift.

The neighbourhood vibe

Wasaga isn’t one vibe, it’s four or five depending on where you land.

The west end covers the Beach 1 through 6 stretch. Beach 1 and 2 are the busy, touristy summer core, lots of action and foot traffic in July and August. The further along you go, the calmer it gets. Some people want to be right in the action, some want the quieter end of the strip.

The east end, including Allenwood Beach, is the more upscale side. Bigger lots, waterfront, a more established feel. This is also where you’ll find the dog-friendly beach area, so if you’ve got a water-loving dog, that’s a real selling point most relocation guides never mention.

A newer pocket I really like is River’s Edge, off Sunnidale Road along the Nottawasaga River. It’s a master-planned community by quality builders like Fernbrook and Zancor, a mix of towns, bungalows, and two-storey detached. Prices in the current phase start around the high $700,000s. If you want new construction with a natural setting, trails and river right there, this is one of the first places I’d take you.

Stonebridge and the central neighbourhoods are quieter and more residential, and where a lot of the newer builds are. This is where most of my retiring and second-home clients end up. The streets are wider and the homes are newer.

The Wasaga Sands and central pockets sit in the middle on price, with a good mix of older bungalows and newer infill builds.

The thing nobody talks about enough: in the off-season, Wasaga is quiet. Really quiet. From October to May the town belongs to the locals. You’ll see the same faces at the coffee shop. People wave from their porches. It’s small-town living with a beach attached.

Getting around

Most people in Wasaga drive. You’re going to want a car. Groceries, doctor, hardware store, all spread out.

That said, transit is better than people assume. Wasaga Beach Transit runs two local routes daily from 7am to 9pm. Simcoe County LINX Route 2 connects you to Barrie in about 37 minutes and ties into the Allandale Waterfront GO station, which means you can technically commute to Toronto by transit if you really need to. LINX Route 4 connects you to Collingwood.

For most of my GTA clients, the math is: drive to Barrie GO, train into Union if needed once or twice a month, otherwise work from home. The drive to the GTA is roughly 90 minutes to 2 hours depending on traffic. Wasaga sits about 150 km north of Toronto and 40 km from Barrie.

Schools

Wasaga is served by the Simcoe County District School Board and the Simcoe Muskoka Catholic District School Board. The main elementary schools in town are Birchview Dunes, Worsley, Wasaga Beach Public School, and St. Noel Chabanel Catholic School. For high school, students currently head to Collingwood Collegiate, Stayner Collegiate, Elmvale District High School, or Our Lady of the Bay Catholic.

Here’s the big news for families, and it’s a real one. Wasaga Beach is getting its own high school. The first one opens in September 2027 through a partnership with the Catholic board, backed by $57.7 million from the province. A second public high school is planned for 2029. For years, families here have had to bus their teens out of town. That’s changing, and it’s a major reason I’m telling young families to look hard at Wasaga right now before that gets priced in.

If schools are a priority, message me and I’ll send you current catchment maps. Boundaries shift, so I’d rather get you accurate info than guess.

Parks and the outdoors

This is where Wasaga shines. The big one is Wasaga Beach Provincial Park, which gives you the longest freshwater beach in the world plus 14 km of beachfront. That’s not marketing fluff. That’s the actual stat, and it’s the most visited provincial park in Ontario.

Running right through town is the Nottawasaga River, which flows alongside the beach and out into Georgian Bay. It’s a quiet draw a lot of buyers overlook. Canoeing, kayaking, and paddleboarding straight from the water’s edge, and river-view properties are their own little market here.

For hiking and cross-country skiing, the Wasaga Nordic and Trail Centre off Blueberry Trail maintains over 50 km of trails through the dunes, including a section of the Ganaraska Trail. Blue Mountain is about 25 minutes away for skiing in winter and mountain biking in summer. Collingwood is about 20 minutes for restaurants, the harbour, and shopping.

If you like being outside, you’ll never run out of things to do here.

Who Wasaga suits best

Honestly, three groups:

Retirees looking for a quieter pace and one-level living. Lots of bungalows in town, and property taxes generally run lower than Collingwood or Barrie.

Remote workers who want a bigger home, a yard, and don’t need to be in the city every day. Internet is solid.

Cottage and second-home buyers from the GTA who want something rentable in summer and usable year-round.

It’s a tougher fit if you need to be in a Toronto office five days a week. And while the new high school is a game-changer, families with teens should know it’s still a couple of years out, so factor in the bus commute until 2027.

Let’s talk

If you’re seriously considering a move, the best next step is a free consultation. No pressure, no pitch. We’ll talk about your timeline, your budget, what you actually want, and whether Wasaga is the right move or not. Sometimes it isn’t, and I’ll tell you that too.

You can reach me at 705-998-2048 or [email protected]. Or visit zuccarinirealty.com to see live listings.

Talk soon,

Matthew

If you’ve been watching Collingwood transform over the past 15 years, you know what a town looks like right before property values really move. The Village at Blue Mountain, the boutique hotels, the year-round lifestyle draws. People who bought in early did very well.

I live in Wasaga Beach. I sell real estate here every day. And I’ll tell you this plainly: what I’m seeing on the ground right now reminds me a lot of what Collingwood looked like a decade ago.

Here’s what’s actually happening.

Costco is coming. Construction starts this spring.

Costco Wholesale has been cleared to begin construction at 345 Lyons Court after the Town issued a building permit for its new $50 million location. It’s expected to bring over 370 jobs to the community and is one of the most significant private-sector investments in Wasaga Beach’s history, with doors expected to open as early as fall 2026. 

That’s not a rumour. That’s a building permit.

A Marriott hotel is being built on the beachfront.

Sunray Group is building a premium Marriott Hotel on Beach Drive, along with shops, restaurants, and other amenities, beginning in early 2026. It sits alongside Stonebridge Building Group’s new mixed-use village near Beach Area 1, which includes over 150 residential units and 31 commercial units. 

For context, the Village at Blue Mountain is one of the biggest reasons Collingwood became a year-round destination. Wasaga Beach’s vision for Beach Area 1 was directly inspired by the Village at Blue Mountain model.  That’s not an accident.

The province just invested $355M+ in Wasaga Beach.

Destination Wasaga is supported by nearly $38 million from the Province of Ontario, Sunray Group’s approximately $60 million Marriott hotel investment, and Stonebridge Building Group’s $90 million mixed-use development near Beach Drive.  On top of that, $10.9 million is going toward rebuilding Beach Drive and making it flood and climate-resilient. 

This is not a town that is sitting still.

New high schools are finally being built.

This is a big one for families, and it’s something people relocating here ask me about constantly. Shovels are going in the ground on two long-awaited new high schools in 2026.  Through a partnership with the Simcoe Muskoka Catholic District School Board, Wasaga Beach will open its first high school in September 2027. 

For years, the lack of a local high school was a reason some families chose Collingwood or Barrie instead. That objection is going away.

The town has a 30-year growth plan.

Wasaga Beach adopted a new Official Plan in November 2025 that will guide how the community grows through 2051. The town’s population is anticipated to double over the next 30 years. 

Doubling. Over 30 years. That’s the kind of trajectory that smart buyers get ahead of.

So is Wasaga Beach the next Collingwood?

Not exactly. It’s going to be its own thing. Wasaga has the longest freshwater beach in the world, which Collingwood doesn’t. It has a completely different energy. But the fundamentals that made Collingwood attractive to buyers 10 to 15 years ago, a town with serious infrastructure investment, a shift toward year-round lifestyle, and a government that was actively backing growth, those fundamentals are all present in Wasaga Beach right now.

The buyers I work with who are paying attention are making moves. The ones who are waiting for prices to prove it will pay more later.

If you’re thinking about buying in the Wasaga Beach area and want a straight conversation about what’s available and what the numbers look like, I’m easy to reach.

Matthew Zuccarini

Zuccarini Realty Group | RE/MAX Experts

705-998-2048

How a Realtor Helps Landlords Find Better Tenants and Get Better Listings

If you own a rental property and you’ve been listing it yourself, you’ve probably already learned how much work it actually is. The phone calls. The showings that go nowhere. The applications that look great until you start digging. The listing photos taken on a phone that don’t really do the place justice.

Most landlords I talk to don’t realize that a realtor can handle all of this for them.

Here’s what you actually get when a realtor handles the rental for you.

A listing that looks like it’s worth what you’re asking. Professional photos. Proper measurements. A real description that highlights what makes the place worth renting. The listing goes on the MLS, which means it’s syndicated to Realtor.ca, Zillow, and the rest of the major rental sites automatically. Tenants searching seriously are looking on those sites. A Kijiji ad and a few iPhone photos puts your property in a completely different bucket.

When the listing looks professional, the people who reach out tend to be more serious. The quality of inquiries goes up. That alone changes the experience.

Proper tenant screening

This is the part most landlords undervalue until they’ve had a tenant go sideways. A full screening package includes credit reports, employment letters, pay stubs, references from previous landlords, and a rental application. I review all of it before bringing anyone forward. You only see the qualified candidates.

I’ve seen landlords skip this step and end up dealing with months of unpaid rent and an LTB process that can take a year. The screening is the whole game.

Lease paperwork done right

Ontario has a standard lease form. There are also schedules, addendums, deposit rules, key handover documentation, and rules around what you can and can’t include. Getting any of it wrong creates problems later. I handle the lease, the deposit collection, the move-in inspection paperwork, and make sure both sides have what they need.

Showings handled for you

You don’t take time off work. You don’t drive across town for someone who doesn’t show up. I coordinate the showings, qualify the tenants on the phone first, and only book viewings with people who are realistic candidates.

Who this makes sense for

If you’ve got a vacant unit and you want it filled with a quality tenant in a reasonable timeframe, this is the easiest decision you’ll make. It’s especially worth it if you’re an out of town owner, if you’ve had a bad tenant experience before, or if you simply don’t want the time drain of managing it yourself.

If you’ve got a rental coming up or you’re thinking about turning a property into one, give me a call. Happy to walk you through what your unit should rent for and what the process looks like start to finish.

Matthew Zuccarini

Zuccarini Realty Group | RE/MAX Experts

705-998-2048

If you're just starting to think about buying or selling, the first decision you make is bigger than most people realize.

It isn't the neighbourhood. It isn't the price range. It isn't even the property.

It's the agent you choose to walk you through it.

Most people don't know what to look for when they pick one. So they go with whoever seems friendly, whoever a friend recommended, or whoever told them what they wanted to hear on the first call.

That last one is where things tend to go sideways.

Here's something worth knowing before you start.

In a shifting market, there's a pattern that plays out more often than people realize. It usually starts with a seller hearing a number they didn't like, or a buyer hearing a strategy that felt too cautious. Instead of working through it, they keep shopping for opinions until they find an agent who agrees with them.

That sounds harmless. It isn't.

What you end up with is an agent who built the relationship on agreement instead of accuracy. Overpriced listings that sit. Offers that don't go anywhere. Decisions driven by emotion rather than market data.

By the time the math catches up, weeks or months have passed. Sometimes more.

So how do you avoid that? Here's what I'd look for.

An agent who tells you something you don't want to hear

Not in a rude way. In a clear, respectful way. If every conversation feels like cheerleading, that's a flag. The market doesn't cheer, and your agent shouldn't either. You want someone who can sit across from you and say, "Here's what the data says, and here's what I'd recommend, even if it isn't the answer you were hoping for."

An agent who shows their work

Numbers should be on the table. Comparable sales, days on market, active competition, recent trends in your specific area. If someone is throwing out a price or a strategy without backing it up, ask why. A good agent will walk you through every piece of it.

An agent who sets expectations early

Before you list. Before you write an offer. Before anything moves. The conversations that feel a little uncomfortable at the start tend to save you from the ones that are much harder later.

An agent who is consistent

What they tell you on day one should be what they tell you on day ninety. If the message changes based on what you seem to want to hear, that tells you everything you need to know.

An agent who is honest about risk

Every market has risk. Pretending it doesn't is a disservice. You want someone who can talk through scenarios, walk through the downside, and still help you move forward with a clear head.

The best agent for you isn't always the one who makes you feel best in the first meeting. It's the one whose advice still holds up six months later.

Honesty doesn't always win in the moment. It tends to win in the long run.

If you're starting the process and want a straightforward conversation, no pressure, just real numbers and a clear plan, reach out anytime.

Cheers,
Matthew