Start here Work with Cavmir in The Kawarthas
Get a Proposal (786) 751-3426
Home/ Locations/ The Kawarthas
C$544
Avg. Nightly Rate
37%
Avg. Occupancy Rate
C$4,440
Avg. Monthly Revenue
5–7%
Est. Cash-on-Cash ROI
HIGH
Seasonality
MODERATE
Regulatory Burden

* Market averages in Canadian dollars from AirROI data for the Municipality of Trent Lakes (Buckhorn and Pigeon Lake), October 2025 to September 2026, shown by AirROI in Canadian dollars converted from US dollars at 1.39. ROI is Cavmir's estimate. A single home's numbers depend on its size, its location and how it is marketed.

The Market

Why the Kawarthas Are an Upscale Lake Rental Market

Cavmir is an Airbnb marketing agency. We build the brand, the direct-booking website and the marketing for short-term rentals in The Kawarthas.

The Kawarthas are the chain of lakes north and northeast of Peterborough that the Trent-Severn Waterway links on its way from Lake Ontario to Georgian Bay, and for a rental owner they are five markets under one name. The City of Kawartha Lakes holds Bobcaygeon, Fenelon Falls and Sturgeon Lake. In Peterborough County, the Municipality of Trent Lakes takes in Buckhorn and Pigeon Lake, Selwyn Township has Lakefield, Young's Point and the Chemong Lake villages of Bridgenorth and Ennismore, and the townships of North Kawartha and Douro-Dummer share Stoney Lake (also spelled Stony), with the village of Apsley to the north. The City of Kawartha Lakes' tourism office puts the region about 90 minutes northeast of Toronto, and in AirROI's data Toronto is home to about 40 percent of the guests who review Trent Lakes rentals and 38 percent of those in the city.

Trent Lakes, the township around Buckhorn and Pigeon Lake, earns far more per listing than Ontario as a whole. AirROI's figures for October 2025 through September 2026 give its average listing about C$53,300 in bookings at C$544 a night, with 36.5 percent of open nights booked, while Ontario's average listing took about C$29,200 at C$270, and the township ranked 50th of Ontario's 282 markets by revenue. A tenth of its listings charged C$1,000 or more a night. Size explains most of it: nearly half the township's listings sleep eight or more guests, and the houses with five bedrooms or more took a median of about C$84,200 a year at an average of about C$982 a night. The lakes have hosted paying guests for a long time, too: Viamede, on Stoney Lake near Woodview, has taken them since 1885.

The rules are set municipality by municipality, and they differ. The City of Kawartha Lakes licenses rentals of less than 28 days under By-law 2023-111, which Council adopted on June 20, 2023. Trent Lakes passed a registration by-law, B2025-024, on March 4, 2025: C$350 for the first calendar year, C$250 a year after that, and the registration number in every advertisement. Selwyn Township states on its website that it does not license short-term rentals, and we found no rental licence among the by-laws that North Kawartha and Douro-Dummer publish. We found no municipal accommodation tax in any of the five either, and none of them appears among the Ontario municipal taxes that Airbnb collects for hosts.

Those rules shape the marketing. In Trent Lakes the guest count follows the septic system at two people per bedroom, a named responsible person has to respond within 90 minutes, and the registration number belongs in every ad, so the listing copy, the posted rules and the welcome book all begin from those three facts. The calendar matters as much. In AirROI's two-year calendar for Trent Lakes the nightly rate moves only between about C$455 and C$585, while occupancy runs from about 22 percent in January to 67 percent in August. Outside summer the rate holds and the nights go empty.

Cavmir's part is the marketing: a brand for the house, a listing written around what it really offers, direction for the photographer, a direct-booking site, a place in Google and AI answers, and paid campaigns aimed at the Toronto-area families and couples who book these lakes. The city licence, the township registration, septic inspections and HST returns remain the owner's work, done with their own lawyer, accountant and contractors. What follows is AirROI's picture of Trent Lakes and its neighbors, the rulebook in each of the five municipalities, the season from the lock opening to the Festival of Trees, and three plans: a big lake house near Buckhorn, a licensed home in Bobcaygeon and a boat-in cottage on Stoney Lake.

Top Attractions & Landmarks

  • Stoney Lake and Juniper Island
  • Petroglyphs Provincial Park near Woodview
  • Lock 32 at Bobcaygeon, the waterway's first lock
  • The Kirkfield Lift Lock
  • Lovesick Lock, reachable only by boat
  • Buckhorn and Pigeon Lake
  • Lakefield and Chemong Lake
  • Warsaw Caves Conservation Area

Nearby Markets: Muskoka  |  Prince Edward County  |  The Blue Mountains

Pines on a granite island in October light on Lower Buckhorn Lake in the Kawarthas, Ontario

Photo: Paul Gierszewski · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikimedia Commons

Why Cavmir

The Cavmir Advantage
in The Kawarthas

Each Kawarthas property is sold as the product it is, under the rules of the municipality on its tax bill: a five-bedroom lake house near Buckhorn sold to multi-family groups inside its registered guest count, a licensed home a walk from the Bobcaygeon lock sold to couples and boaters, a boat-access cottage on Stoney Lake sold by the week with a clear arrival plan, a winterized house with a sauna sold for the colder months. We reach the people who book these lakes where they look: Google, AI assistants, Instagram, and the inbox of the family that stayed last August. Cavmir is a marketing agency only: the owner or their manager keeps the keys, answers the guests and takes the bookings, and the direct-booking site hands every inquiry and reservation to them.

Branding for The Kawarthas Airbnb
Step 01
Branding & Direction
→
 Airbnb Listing Service for The Kawarthas rentals
Service
Airbnb Listing Service
→
 Influencer marketing in The Kawarthas
Step 10
Influencer Marketing
→
View All Services
State of the Industry · History

The Kawarthas STR Market — Past & Present

The region's name is younger than its canal. Martha Whetung of Curve Lake First Nation coined 'Kawartha' in 1895, an anglicized form of the Anishinaabe word Kawaategamiing, which The Canadian Encyclopedia translates as land of shining waters, or reflections. The lakes' Indigenous history is far older. North of Stoney Lake, Petroglyphs Provincial Park, established in 1976, protects what Ontario Parks calls the largest known concentration of Indigenous rock carvings in Canada, the Teaching Rocks, with turtles, snakes, birds and human figures cut into the stone. The park's Learning Place Visitor Centre presents Anishinaabe teachings, and Ontario Parks describes the site as sacred.

For the settlers, the waterway came first. Lock 32 at Bobcaygeon, built in 1832 and 1833, was the first lock on what became the Trent-Severn Waterway, and it was rebuilt in the 1850s with the support of the lumber baron Mossom Boyd, when the area was a center of logging. Work on the full route went on in fits and starts for 87 years, from 1833 to 1920. A Quebec contractor, George Goodwin, built the Lovesick lock between 1882 and 1887 on an island that is still reachable only by water, and the Kirkfield Lift Lock, built from 1900 to 1905, lifts boats about 15 meters at the waterway's highest point, about 256 meters above sea level. Today the route runs 386 kilometers with 44 locks, and Parks Canada has run it since 1972.

Tourism followed the boats. After 1890 the island-studded lakes became a popular vacation destination, especially for sport fishermen, and steamboats carried visitors to large resort hotels. On Stoney Lake the turning point came earlier: the American Canoe Association held its 1883 meet on Juniper Island, and afterward people from Ontario and nearby states bought Crown land and built simple cottages. Viamede opened on the lake in 1885. In 1892 T.W. Robinson, of the Metropolitan Store in Peterborough, built a two-story store, post office and living quarters on Juniper Island, which added an open-air ice cream parlor and lunch counter in 1910; the post office closed in 2000, and the building was rebuilt on its old footprint in 2015 and 2016. In 1937 Jack and Ila Crowe bought a small dairy in Bobcaygeon that became Kawartha Dairy, and the family still runs it from the town.

Rental regulation arrived in the City of Kawartha Lakes first. Council began looking at short-term rentals in 2017, held a public forum in 2018 and chose to keep monitoring. A survey that closed in February 2023 drew more than 1,000 replies, and on June 20, 2023 Council adopted By-law 2023-111 with a phased rollout: registration and mapping that summer, the online licence application in August, and a round-the-clock complaint hotline and online complaint form from December 1, 2023. Global News reported in June 2024 that licensing and the demerit point system were in full swing. The city had estimated more than 1,000 rental listings in 2023, the count had come down to 750, and 250 licences had been issued with 450 more being processed.

Peterborough County's townships went different ways. Trent Lakes Council approved a three-year phased approach in March 2022 and on March 4, 2025 passed By-law B2025-024, which requires registration rather than a licence for any single detached dwelling rented for less than 28 consecutive days. The township does not cap the number of registrations, allows one registered dwelling per property, and penalizes anyone who advertises a hunt camp, trailer, duplex, triplex or multi-unit building as a short-term rental. Selwyn Township, which takes in Lakefield, Bridgenorth, Ennismore and Young's Point, does not license short-term rentals; its page points owners and guests to the burning, noise, parking and property-standards rules instead. North Kawartha and Douro-Dummer list no rental licence among their by-laws, and both regulate noise, open-air burning and parking.

The market today is smaller and earns more per listing. AirROI counts 169 active listings in Trent Lakes, down 7 percent on the year, while average revenue per listing rose 7.5 percent; the City of Kawartha Lakes has 493, down 6 percent, with revenue per listing up 12.2 percent. Selwyn has 120 listings averaging about C$50,000 a year, North Kawartha 88 at about C$43,400 and Douro-Dummer 54 at about C$41,000. In Trent Lakes 96 percent of listings are entire homes, about 40 percent are run by Superhosts and 45 percent carry Airbnb's Guest Favorite badge, but only about 5 percent are professionally managed, a quarter show their exact location, and the average listing has just 16 photos. When we audit a Kawarthas listing, we start with the faults that lose bookings here: a missing registration or licence number, a guest count the septic system can't carry, sixteen photos asked to show five bedrooms, nothing to sell in winter, and no way for last summer's family to book again without a platform.

Pricing Strategy & Seasonality

Pricing, Seasonality & When to Capture ROI

Pricing Strategy

AirROI's numbers for Trent Lakes show how much the bedroom count matters. AirROI tracks bookings in US dollars and displays them in Canadian dollars at about 1.39, the average rate over its October 2025 to September 2026 window, and every AirROI figure on this page is that Canadian display. Two-bedroom homes had a median of about C$21,800 a year at C$264 a night, three-bedroom homes C$29,300 at C$429, four-bedroom homes C$49,300 at C$544, and homes with five or more bedrooms C$84,200 at about C$982. Across the market the median listing charged about C$430 a night, the top quarter C$625 or more and the top tenth C$1,000 or more, while the bottom quarter charged C$300 or less. Three-bedroom homes are the most common product, at 37 percent of entire homes, and about 24 percent have five bedrooms or more, so the large-group end is where the rate is.

The year has a short top. In AirROI's two-year calendar, June, July and August average about C$11,700 a month per listing at 56 percent occupancy and C$571 a night, May about C$6,130, and September to April about C$4,740 a month at 30 percent and C$468. July 2026 itself ran higher, at about C$13,700 a listing, 59 percent occupancy and C$623 a night. AirROI's monthly numbers cover only the cottages taking guests that month; its annual number, about C$53,300, also includes every cottage that rented for a few weeks and then shut for the season. That's why twelve monthly averages add up to far more than the annual one, and why the C$4,440 a month in the box above is lower than the nightly rate times occupancy would suggest. Of the twelve monthly averages added together, June, July and August account for 44 percent.

Amenities separate the top of the market. In AirROI's Trent Lakes data, the 31 percent of listings with a hot tub averaged about C$104,000 a year against C$30,300 for those without, and the 11 percent with a sauna about C$116,000 against C$45,400. Listings with self check-in, 80 percent of the market, averaged about C$61,800 against C$19,500 without, and those with a dedicated workspace about C$75,200 against C$34,400. Part of that gap belongs to the house rather than the hot tub, because hot tubs and saunas tend to come with the five-bedroom places on the best water; read the numbers as a portrait of the top tier, not as the value of any single amenity. In the City of Kawartha Lakes the pattern repeats: listings with a hot tub averaged about twice the revenue of those without, and listings with a sauna nearly as much.

Show the whole price, and keep the cleaning fee in scale with the stay. Eighty-five percent of Trent Lakes listings add a cleaning fee; the median is C$203 and the average C$250, roughly C$47 to C$58 a night across the average stay of 4.3 nights. Most of the market asks for two nights (45 percent) or three (28 percent), 17 percent ask for four to six, and about half use Airbnb's firm cancellation policy. Value is the lowest-scoring category in guest reviews, at 4.68 against an overall 4.80, so the total has to feel fair: show the nightly rate, the cleaning fee and, for registered operators, the HST together on the direct-booking site, and say what the stay includes, from paddle craft and life jackets to the campfire rules.

The City of Kawartha Lakes is a different mix. Its 493 listings averaged about C$40,950 a year at C$444 a night and 36 percent occupancy, with the summer months near C$9,030 and the rest of the year near C$3,800. Smaller homes are more common there: 100 two-bedroom listings had a median of C$20,500, against C$74,500 for the 64 homes with five bedrooms or more, which averaged about C$895 a night. Nearly a quarter of the city's listings accept one-night stays and nearly half ask for two, so a weekend home in Bobcaygeon or Fenelon Falls competes on short stays, while a large house on Sturgeon Lake competes on group weeks.

Seasonality & ROI Windows

Seasonality is high. In AirROI's two-year calendar for Trent Lakes, August is the strongest month at about C$13,900 per listing and March the weakest at about C$3,910, a spread of roughly 3.6 to 1. Summer also books furthest ahead and stays longest: guests booked August stays about 100 days out and March stays about 20 days out, and the average stay ran 5.7 nights in July 2026 against 2.8 nights in February. The boating season frames it. In 2026 the Trent-Severn lockstations opened on May 15, the Friday before Victoria Day, ran longer summer hours from June 19 to Labour Day, and closed on Thanksgiving Monday, October 12.

Spring and fall are the shoulders. May averages about C$6,130 a listing, with Victoria Day weekend and the lock opening, and Petroglyphs Provincial Park opened for the 2026 season on May 8. September and October still average about C$5,800 and C$5,340 in AirROI's two-year calendar, with Thanksgiving and harvest weekends such as the annual Pumpkinfest at McLean's & Buckhorn Berry Farms near Lakefield, held October 24 and 25 in 2026. Fall stays booked later than summer ones, about 53 to 66 days ahead in the fall of 2025, so keep the calendar open and priced through late summer and sell two- and three-night stays with the hot tub and the fire in the photographs.

Winter is the quiet stretch, and the one where a prepared house gains the most. January ran about 22 to 23 percent occupancy at about C$490 a night, and guests booked only about five weeks ahead. The houses that do best then are the ones built for it: a hot tub or sauna, a heated house that photographs warm, plowed access stated plainly, and a reason to come, such as Buckhorn's annual Festival of Trees & Decor, which runs from November 20 to December 14 in 2026, or the December holidays, which lifted the average Trent Lakes listing to about C$6,260 in December 2025, well above November and January. Use the slowest weeks, in March and April, for maintenance and new photographs before the summer calendar opens.

Regulation & Licensing · 2026

What the Law Requires in The Kawarthas

In Ontario, short-term rental rules are set by each municipality, so the first question for any Kawarthas property is which one it sits in, and the tax bill answers it. The City of Kawartha Lakes requires a Short-Term Rental Accommodation Business Licence for stays of less than 28 days in a row under By-law 2023-111. At the 2023 launch the city published four fees: C$150 for six months or C$300 for a year when the owner lives on the property full-time (a hosted rental), and C$750 for six months or C$1,500 for a year when the owner does not, with six-month terms running May to October or November to April. The fees are non-refundable, so confirm the current schedule before you apply. An application needs proof of ownership, a copy of the owner's driver's licence, proof of general liability insurance of at least C$2 million, and a scaled site diagram and floor plan showing room uses, smoke and carbon monoxide alarms, extinguishers, gas and electrical shut-offs, exits, decks, parking spaces, wells and septic components. The city expects about two to four weeks from submission to approval.

Kawartha Lakes issues each licence with the maximum capacity the Ontario Building Code and the fire regulations allow, and its FAQ ties occupancy to the septic system at two people per bedroom, with children counted. New for 2026, the city requires a smoke alarm in every sleeping room and in each hallway or area outside them, at least one on every floor, and carbon monoxide alarms outside sleeping areas and on all floors wherever there is a fuel-burning appliance or an attached garage. A rental that supplies drinking water to guests from something other than a municipal system may also count as a small drinking water system under Ontario Regulation 319/08. Enforcement starts with education, but repeat calls cost the owner: inspection fees run C$121 for the first occurrence, C$245 for the second, C$490 for the third and C$975 for the fourth, then double, while fines go to the people who broke the by-law. Global News reported in 2024 that seven demerit points revoke a licence for six months and fifteen bring a two-year suspension, and complaints go to a 24-hour hotline and an online form.

Trent Lakes runs a registration program under By-law B2025-024 for any single detached dwelling rented for less than 28 consecutive days. Registration costs C$350 for the first calendar year and C$250 for each renewal, runs for the calendar year, and is applied for through the Cloudpermit portal with floor plans drawn to scale, two pieces of government identification and the sewage system permit if one exists. The registration number must appear in every advertisement, and a by-law summary with emergency contacts must be posted inside. Occupancy follows the septic system at two people per bedroom under the Ontario Building Code, with children counted and floor area deciding for houses of more than five bedrooms. The owner names a responsible person who must respond within 90 minutes, every fire on the property needs a seasonal burn permit, and the township's transfer stations take only waste generated in the municipality, with a municipal access card for each person dropping it off.

The Trent Lakes penalty schedule is specific. Operating or advertising without a valid registration costs C$1,000 for a first offence, C$5,000 for a second and C$10,000 for a third; exceeding the registered occupancy starts at C$500; failing to attend the property within 90 minutes of notice starts at C$300; operating contrary to the approved floor plans starts at C$300; and advertising a hunt camp, trailer, duplex or multi-unit building as a short-term rental starts at C$500. Penalties can be appealed, demerit points are assigned only once a penalty is confirmed, and four points can lead to revocation. In Selwyn, which does not license rentals and defines them as stays of 30 days or less, the township can hold operators accountable for their guests' actions and can charge inspection fees when enforcement returns to a property. Burning there is banned in the built-up areas of Lakefield, Bridgenorth, Ennismore, Young's Point and Woodland Acres and within 30 meters of a building, fire pits can be no wider than 61 centimeters, and guests should park entirely on the property. North Kawartha's parking by-law bans parking on any township road or right-of-way in every season, and Douro-Dummer regulates noise, nuisances, open-air burning and parking through by-laws of its own.

Taxes sit on top. A registered operator charges Ontario's 13 percent HST. Airbnb adds GST/HST to stays of 30 nights or fewer, cleaning fee included, and remits it itself when the host has no HST number; a registered host charges and reports the tax on their own account and enters the number in Airbnb so guests aren't taxed twice. Airbnb's list of the Ontario municipal accommodation taxes it collects names Barrie, Brockville, Cornwall, Greater Sudbury, Mississauga, Ottawa, Toronto, Windsor and the Waterloo region, and none of the five Kawarthas municipalities, and none of their own pages that we read mentions such a tax. The federal layer belongs to the Canada Revenue Agency: from the 2024 tax year, a rental offered for stays of less than 90 consecutive days loses its income-tax deductions for any period in which it runs where rentals aren't allowed or without the licence or registration its municipality requires. All of this is orientation for planning, not legal advice; check it with the city or township office, a lawyer who knows Kawarthas by-laws and your accountant. Cavmir handles the marketing side.

Market-Specific Tips & Challenges

Local Tips & Unique Market Challenges

Tips That Actually Move Revenue in The Kawarthas

Lead with the compliance facts. A guest or a neighbor can look up a Trent Lakes registration or a Kawartha Lakes licence, yet AirROI finds no permit number on any listing in either market. Open the listing and the direct-booking site with the same four lines, the number, the legal guest count, the bedrooms that support it and a local contact, and the house comes across as a professional operation before the first question arrives.

Sell the sleeping plan inside the legal count. Nearly half the Trent Lakes listings sleep eight or more and the big houses earn the most, but the count in Trent Lakes and in Kawartha Lakes' FAQ is two people per bedroom, set by the septic system, with children counted. A listing that advertises fourteen for a five-bedroom house invites an occupancy penalty and a disappointed group. Say which bedrooms are on the approved floor plan, how the beds split, and how many people the registration or licence allows; in Trent Lakes, operating contrary to the approved floor plans is an offence of its own. If you think the septic system supports more people, ask the township before the listing says so.

Build the second season. The rate barely moves through the winter while the bookings thin out, winter guests book about five weeks ahead and decide on the photographs, and hot tubs and saunas show some of the widest revenue gaps in AirROI's amenity data. Photograph the hot tub steaming, the sauna lit, the stove going and the road cleared, write a two- and three-night winter offer for Toronto couples and friends, and point them to Buckhorn's Festival of Trees & Decor in December and the trails at Warsaw Caves, which stay open in winter though the caves close to visitors from November to May.

Use the water and the waterway. Shoot the house from the lake and from the end of the dock at the times of day guests will be out there, state the boat or walking time to the nearest lock or village, and list every boat and paddle craft that comes with the stay, with the rules for each. The Trent-Severn lockstations ran from May 15 to October 12 in 2026, and a welcome book can send guests by boat to Lovesick Lock for a picnic, to Juniper Island for a burger and an ice cream, or to Bobcaygeon for the first lock on the waterway and a cone at Kawartha Dairy. A boater's page on the direct site, with mooring and fuel notes, makes the canal part of the stay.

Make the repeat booking easy. Toronto supplies about 40 percent of Trent Lakes reviewers, followed by Hamilton, Mississauga, Ottawa and Kitchener, and August stays are booked about 100 days out, so the families who loved this summer are next summer's best guests. Give them a route back that doesn't run through a platform: a direct-booking website that loads fast on a phone, a Google Business Profile with current photos and the registration number, and a mailing list that hears about next July and August before the dates are released anywhere else. The bar is high: Trent Lakes listings average 4.80 stars and check-in scores 4.92, so the arrival after a 90-minute drive from Toronto has to work in the dark, with the lockbox, the lights and the last stretch of road described before the guest leaves home.

Unique The Kawarthas Challenges

The rules change at a township line. A lake house in Trent Lakes needs a registration, a responsible person who can respond within 90 minutes and a burn permit for every fire; a home in Bobcaygeon needs a city licence, C$2 million of liability cover and the city's 2026 alarm layout; a cottage in Selwyn needs no licence but sits under burning rules that are stricter in its villages and parking rules that keep guests' cars on the property; and North Kawartha and Douro-Dummer leave the rental itself unlicensed while banning road parking or regulating noise and burning. A house-rules sheet borrowed from a cottage across the township line can be wrong on licensing, burning and parking all at once, so each property's listing and welcome book are written for its own municipality.

Septic and water set the ceiling. Trent Lakes and Kawartha Lakes both tie the guest count to the sewage system, Trent Lakes warns that overloading a system can make it fail and need full replacement, and an owner whose sewage records the township cannot find may have to show an approved system, which can mean a new installation. In Kawartha Lakes a rental that supplies its own drinking water may fall under the province's small drinking water rules. Before you market more beds, find the septic records, have the system inspected, and price any upgrade against the extra guests it would allow.

The calendar is steep and the supply is shrinking. June to August make up 44 percent of the twelve monthly averages in AirROI's Trent Lakes calendar, January fills about 22 percent of its nights, and the heating, the insurance and the mortgage are billed every month of the year. Active listings fell 7 percent in Trent Lakes and 6 percent in the City of Kawartha Lakes over the year while revenue per listing rose, which rewards the owners who stay in the market and run it well, and leaves less room for a listing that looks like every other lake cottage.

A Curious The Kawarthas Fact
One Kawarthas lake keeps its water in layers. McGinnis Lake, in Petroglyphs Provincial Park north of Stoney Lake, is one of only a handful of meromictic lakes in Canada, which Ontario Parks explains as lakes whose layers of water don't intermix, and the park describes its color as a bright blue-green. Visitors can see it during the park's season, May 8 to October 12 in 2026, on the same day as the Teaching Rocks.
Finance Essentials — The Kawarthas
🛡️

Insurance

The City of Kawartha Lakes will not license a rental without proof of general liability insurance of at least C$2 million, and its floor plan has to show the alarms, extinguishers, shut-offs and exits; Trent Lakes wants floor plans drawn to scale. Make sure the policy names short-term rental use, and get in writing how it treats guests on the dock, in the boats and canoes, in the hot tub and sauna, and around a wood stove. AirROI's Trent Lakes cost model pencils in about C$530 a year for short-term rental insurance; treat that as a line in a spreadsheet rather than a quote, and have a broker who places Kawarthas cottage policies price the real cover.

🧾

Property & Income Tax

Once registered, an operator collects Ontario's 13 percent HST itself; for hosts without a number, Airbnb adds GST/HST to every stay of 30 nights or fewer and sends it to the government. We found no municipal accommodation tax in any of the five municipalities, and Airbnb's Ontario list names none of them. The federal rule since 2024 removes the expense deductions of a rental that lacks the registration or licence its municipality requires, so the Trent Lakes registration and the Kawartha Lakes licence belong in the tax file as well as the by-law file. Settle HST registration and how the rental income will be reported with an Ontario accountant in the spring, before the first summer week is sold.

🏦

Mortgages & Financing

RE/MAX's 2026 housing outlook for Kawartha Lakes (published in November 2025, and naming Lindsay, Bobcaygeon and Fenelon Falls) put the 2025 average residential sale price at C$704,440, down 1.9 percent from 2024, on 1,054 sales, expected prices to rise about 1 percent in 2026, and put move-up single-family homes at C$725,000 to C$775,000. Those averages cover every kind of home, so price a waterfront purchase on comparable lake sales; RE/MAX's spring 2026 recreational report, as Cottage Life summarized it, counted Kawartha Lakes among the areas with double-digit price decreases. Ask a lender how it treats a seasonal or winterized property, road access and rental income, and put the licence or registration, the septic work and a full year of heating in the cash-flow model from the start.

Future Outlook · 2027 & Beyond

Where The Kawarthas is Headed Next

The rules are still settling. The Trent Lakes registration program is in its second calendar year, Kawartha Lakes added new alarm requirements for 2026, and Selwyn, North Kawartha and Douro-Dummer have no rental licence today, so their council agendas are worth watching. Carrying costs move as well: RE/MAX's November 2025 outlook for Kawartha Lakes noted that the municipality was forecasting a 7 percent property tax increase, and property tax falls on every owner whether the house rents or not, so check this year's bill before you set next summer's rates.

The market is getting more professional. Fewer listings each earned more over the past year, nearly half of Trent Lakes listings are co-hosted while only about 5 percent are professionally managed, and the Toronto families who book the summer weeks plan more than three months ahead. Owners who publish their registration, describe the property exactly, price the shoulder months and build a direct channel are positioned for that, while a listing posted once and left alone competes against them on every search.

Search is changing too. Families now type questions such as which registered lake houses near Buckhorn sleep ten, or which Stoney Lake cottages you reach by boat, into an AI assistant before they open a booking app. The assistant can recommend only what it finds in writing, so an owner who puts the registration, the guest count, the bedroom plan, the drive from Toronto and the winter offer on a quick website of their own gives it the material to name the house. Our explainer on generative engine optimization for vacation rentals goes into the details; it's also why Cavmir treats the direct site and AI search as a single piece of work.

From the Desk of Sofie Sinag

Why We Love Marketing in The Kawarthas

What I love about the Kawarthas is that so much of the story is written down. A lock built in 1833, an island store that opened an ice cream counter in 1910, rock carvings that Ontario Parks calls the largest known concentration in Canada: there's enough on the record to fill a welcome book without inventing a word.

I also like how practical the work is. A registration number, a guest count set by the septic system, a responsible person within 90 minutes of the door: each is a promise a guest can hold the owner to, and a listing that opens with them is trusted before anyone scrolls to the photos.

And I like the range. The same lakes hold five-bedroom houses for three families, boat-access cottages on Stoney Lake, small homes a walk from Bobcaygeon's lock and winterized houses with a sauna and a hot tub. Each has its own guest and its own best month, and pairing the house with both is the job.

Cavmir's The Kawarthas Cheat Sheet

The Picks We Recommend for Your Welcome Book

The picks we would put in a Kawarthas welcome book: the places guests ask about, the ones they can reach by boat, and the two pages that keep a registered or licensed stay running smoothly.

Rock Carvings

Petroglyphs Provincial Park

North of Stoney Lake near Woodview, the Teaching Rocks hold what Ontario Parks calls the largest known concentration of Indigenous rock carvings in Canada, and the Learning Place Visitor Centre presents the teachings behind them. In 2026 the park was open from May 8 to October 12, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with no cars admitted after 4 p.m. and closures on Mondays and Tuesdays in spring and fall except holiday Mondays; day visits can be reserved online.

By Boat

Juniper Island Store, Stoney Lake

T.W. Robinson built the store and post office on Juniper Island in 1892, and it added an ice cream counter in 1910. Rebuilt in 2015 and 2016, it runs as a summer take-out staffed by students, with breakfast sandwiches, the Juniper Island Burger, ice cream, coffee and penny candy. It's a boat trip, so give guests the route from the dock.

Lock Picnic

Lovesick Lock

Lock 30 sits on an island and is reachable only by boat, as it has been since it was built between 1882 and 1887. The lockstation has a picnic area, washrooms, drinking water and camping, and boaters can moor overnight for up to two nights.

Engineering

Kirkfield Lift Lock

Built from 1900 to 1905 and described by Parks Canada as the second-highest hydraulic lift lock in the world, it lifts boats about 15 meters at the highest point on the Trent-Severn. Watch a lockage from the picnic area on a summer afternoon; in 2026 the locks ran from May 15 to October 12.

Ice Cream

Kawartha Dairy, Bobcaygeon

Jack and Ila Crowe bought a small dairy in Bobcaygeon in 1937, and the family still runs the company from the town, with flavors that include Tragically Chip. Pair a cone with a walk to Lock 32, built in 1832 and 1833 as the first lock on the waterway.

Caves and Trails

Warsaw Caves Conservation Area

In the Indian River valley, about 25 minutes from Peterborough, Otonabee Conservation's park has seven caves formed at the end of the last ice age, kettles and potholes, about 15 kilometers of trails, a beach and canoe and kayak rentals at C$12.50 an hour. A car paid C$20 for day use in 2026, and the caves are closed to visitors from November to May, though the trails stay open.

August

Buckhorn Festival of the Arts

Begun in 1978 as a fundraiser, the festival brings professional artists from across Canada to the Buckhorn Community Centre on Lakehurst Road for a weekend each August; in 2026 it ran August 15 and 16, with admission by donation. Mention it to guests booking mid-August.

July

Lakefield Literary Festival

Lakefield has held a literary festival for more than 30 years, honoring the writers the village was home to, Margaret Laurence, Catharine Parr Traill and Susanna Moodie. The 2027 festival runs July 23 and 24, so put the dates in the listing for that week.

Lake Dinner

Viamede Resort, Stoney Lake

Founded in 1885 on Stoney Lake near Woodview and still independently owned, Viamede serves farm-to-table dishes at its 1885 Restaurant & Patio and classic plates and wine tastings at the Mount Julian Restaurant. It also hosts weddings and keeps a resident naturalist, which makes it a good suggestion for a special dinner or a guest's wedding weekend.

First Page

The registration and the house rules

Trent Lakes requires its by-law summary, with emergency contacts, to be posted in each rental and the registration number to appear in every ad, and Kawartha Lakes asks owners to post its renter information sheet. Open the welcome book with the number, the legal guest count, the burn-permit rule for campfires and the transfer-station rules, so guests know them before they need them.

Who to Call

The responsible person

Name the responsible person, give a number someone answers, and say how fast problems get handled. With a 90-minute response rule in Trent Lakes and a 24-hour complaint line in Kawartha Lakes, a guest who can reach the owner's contact quickly has no reason to call the municipality first.

Local Playbook · Three Property Types

How Cavmir Markets The Kawarthas Properties

Three property types that do well in The Kawarthas, a common starting point for each, and the plan Cavmir builds for it.

Five-Bedroom Lake House · Pigeon Lake, Trent Lakes
The Situation

A large waterfront house near Buckhorn that advertises sleeping for fourteen on bunks and pull-outs, more than its five bedrooms allow under the township's two-per-bedroom rule, with no registration number in the listing and sixteen photos. It sells summer weekends one at a time and sits empty from November to April although it has a hot tub and a sauna.

The Plan

Cavmir confirms the registration, the approved floor plan and the legal guest count first, then rebuilds the listing around them: the registration number and the ten-guest limit in the first lines, a sleeping plan room by room, and new photography directed at the dock, the water, the hot tub and the sauna. July and August go out as full weeks for two or three families sharing the house, all arriving on one changeover day; the cold months become short stays pitched to Toronto couples and friends; and last summer's families get the first claim on next summer through the owner's own booking site and a list of past guests.

What It Targets

Summer weeks booked by groups that fit the legal count, a winter offer that sells on its own merits, and a listing a careful family can verify. Track weekly summer bookings, winter occupancy, the share of returning and direct bookings, and review scores for accuracy and value.

Licensed Village Home · Bobcaygeon, City of Kawartha Lakes
The Situation

A three-bedroom un-hosted home a walk from the Bobcaygeon lock and the shops, licensed under By-law 2023-111, competing with the city's 493 listings on one-night stays at a low rate. Its photographs never show the town, the lock or the river, and the listing says nothing about the licence or the alarms the city now requires.

The Plan

Cavmir rewrites the listing around the location: the walk to Lock 32 and Kawartha Dairy, the licence number in the first lines, and a two-night minimum for summer weekends with a weekly rate for families. We direct photography of the house and the walk into town, build boater and event pages on a direct-booking site, from the lock season to Buckhorn's arts weekend and the December festival, and set up search content for guests looking for a walkable base in Bobcaygeon.

What It Targets

A stronger summer rate on weekends and weeks, a shoulder-season offer that gives couples a reason to come in spring and fall, and a direct channel for returning guests. Track the average nightly rate, the share of stays of two nights or more, direct bookings and search traffic for Bobcaygeon terms.

Boat-Access Cottage · Stoney Lake
The Situation

A four-season cottage on a Stoney Lake island, reached by boat from a mainland landing, that loses bookings to confusion. Guests don't know where to park, how the boat transfer works or what happens in bad weather, and the listing sells it as a generic lake cottage instead of a boat-in stay near Juniper Island, Viamede and the Petroglyphs.

The Plan

Cavmir confirms which township's rules apply, then writes the arrival as part of the product: a map from the landing, parking and boat-transfer instructions, life-jacket and weather notes, and the arrival times that work. The listing leads with the boat-in setting and the places within reach by water, summer sells by the week with a changeover day that matches the transfer, and the shoulder months become two- and three-night stays for couples who want the Petroglyphs in May or October.

What It Targets

A boat-in stay sold on its own terms, fewer arrival questions and cancellations, and a shoulder season with a clear offer. Track the inquiries that convert, arrival-related messages and reviews, weekly summer bookings and spring and fall occupancy.

FAQ

The Kawarthas Airbnb Marketing:
Questions, Answered

Does Cavmir offer Airbnb marketing services in the Kawarthas?

Yes. Cavmir markets lake houses, cottages, boat-access properties, winterized homes and small resorts across the Kawarthas, from Stoney Lake and Buckhorn to Chemong Lake, Lakefield, Bobcaygeon and Fenelon Falls. That means the brand, the listing, photography direction, a direct-booking website, Google and AI search, and paid campaigns; the biggest waterfront houses belong in Cavmir's estates and private collections tier. Cavmir does marketing only, so the property, the keys and every guest conversation stay with the owner or their manager.

What can a Kawarthas short-term rental earn?

AirROI's figures for the Municipality of Trent Lakes, around Buckhorn and Pigeon Lake, covering October 2025 to September 2026, give the average listing about C$544 a night, 36.5 percent occupancy and about C$53,300 a year, or C$4,440 a month (AirROI tracks US dollars and shows Canadian figures at about 1.39). Because that yearly figure averages in cottages that rented for just a few months, it is lower than the nightly rate times occupancy. Summer is where the money is: June to August average about C$11,700 a month per listing in AirROI's two-year calendar, and houses with five bedrooms or more took a median of about C$84,200 a year. The City of Kawartha Lakes averaged about C$40,950. These are directional estimates, not a forecast for your house. The 5–7% in the box is Cavmir's rough estimate: the Trent Lakes average is about 7.6 percent of the C$704,440 average 2025 sale price in RE/MAX's outlook for neighboring Kawartha Lakes, about 6.9 percent of C$775,000, the top of its move-up range, and about 5 percent after AirROI's running costs, before the mortgage and property tax. Waterfront usually costs more than either price, which pulls the figure toward the bottom of the range.

When is the peak season for Kawarthas rentals?

Summer. In AirROI's Trent Lakes data, July and August ran 59 and 63 percent occupancy in 2026, August is the strongest month in its two-year calendar and March the weakest, and June to August make up 44 percent of the twelve monthly averages. The boating season sets the frame: in 2026 the Trent-Severn locks opened on May 15, before Victoria Day, and closed on Thanksgiving Monday, October 12. Sell full summer weeks, open next summer's calendar early for returning families, and give fall weekends and winter a product of their own.

Are short-term rentals regulated in the Kawarthas?

Yes, municipality by municipality. The City of Kawartha Lakes licenses rentals of less than 28 days under By-law 2023-111, with fees from C$150 to C$1,500 at the 2023 launch depending on the term and whether the owner lives on site, C$2 million of liability insurance and new alarm rules for 2026. Trent Lakes requires registration under By-law B2025-024 (C$350 the first year, C$250 to renew), with the number in every ad, two guests per bedroom tied to the septic system and a responsible person who responds within 90 minutes. Selwyn does not license rentals, and we found no rental licence in North Kawartha or Douro-Dummer, though their burning, noise and parking by-laws apply. Check the details with your municipality before you list; Cavmir works on the marketing and doesn't give legal or permit advice.

Do I need a licence for a cottage rental on Stoney Lake or Chemong Lake?

It depends on the municipality, not the lake. Selwyn Township, which takes in Bridgenorth, Ennismore and Lakefield, says it does not license short-term rentals, and we found no rental licence among the by-laws of North Kawartha or Douro-Dummer, the townships around Stoney Lake. That doesn't mean there are no rules: Selwyn bans burning in its villages and within 30 meters of a building, North Kawartha bans parking on township roads in every season, and the federal tax rules still apply. A property in Trent Lakes or the City of Kawartha Lakes needs a registration or a licence. Confirm with the township before you list.

Does Airbnb collect HST or an accommodation tax in the Kawarthas?

On every stay of 30 nights or fewer, Airbnb puts GST/HST on the price and the cleaning fee and pays it over itself if the host has no HST number; a host who has registered handles the tax directly and enters the number with Airbnb, which then leaves it off the guest's bill. Ontario's HST rate is 13 percent. Airbnb's list of the Ontario municipal accommodation taxes it collects doesn't include any Kawarthas municipality, and we found no such tax charged by the five municipalities this page covers. On direct bookings a registered operator charges the HST, so the direct-booking checkout should show it as its own line.

How can a Kawarthas cottage take more bookings direct?

Make it easy for last year's guests to come back without a platform in between. That takes a quick direct-booking website with the registration or licence number, the legal guest count and the full price; a Google Business Profile; a past-guest email list; and SEO and AI search work, so the property is named when someone asks for a lake house near Buckhorn or a cottage on Stoney Lake. Trent Lakes guests book August about 100 days ahead, so start the list that hears about next summer's weeks before this season ends.

How much does Airbnb marketing cost for a Kawarthas property?

That depends on the scope. Monthly plans and one-time projects each carry a price on the pricing page; for a single cottage, the first step is usually a listing overhaul or the 12-step system. There's no charge for a first conversation about your property: contact Cavmir.

Free Property Review

What is your The Kawarthas property actually worth per night?

Send us the listing and we'll tell you what we'd change. Not a pitch deck — a straight read on your photos, your title, your rates against the The Kawarthas comp set, and whether a direct-booking site would pay for itself.

You'll hear back from a person, usually inside one business day. If we don't think we can move your numbers, we'll say so. Cavmir is a short-term rental marketing agency — we position and market properties, we don't manage them.

  • No obligation, and no automated call sequence
  • We market and position — we never manage your property or hold keys
  • Works whether you're on Airbnb, Vrbo, or direct

Market Intelligence · Seasonality

Airbnb seasonality in the Kawarthas, month by month

Demand in the Kawarthas peaks around July through August and runs quietest around January through March. Here is how the year actually books — and what to do about each stretch of the calendar.

Peak demandSteadyQuiet

Peak season

Summer, June through August, is the peak, and July and August run well ahead of June, with the year's highest occupancy and nightly rates; August is usually the strongest month for revenue. Toronto families book those weeks about three months ahead and stay the better part of a week, so have weekly rates, a fixed changeover day, the sleeping plan and the dock photos ready by spring, and offer next summer's weeks to returning guests before anyone else.

The shoulders

May, September and October are the shoulders. The Trent-Severn locks open on the Friday before Victoria Day, Petroglyphs Provincial Park opens in May, and Thanksgiving closes the boating season in October, with harvest weekends around it. These weeks book later than summer, so keep them open and priced, sell two- and three-night stays to couples and friends, and use the local events in the copy instead of discounts.

The quiet stretch

November through April is the quiet stretch, with January the lowest month for occupancy and March the lowest for revenue. Nightly rates hold up far better than occupancy, so the work is filling nights: a hot tub or sauna, warm winter photos, plowed access stated plainly and a short-stay offer for Toronto couples and friends. Late winter is also the time for maintenance and new photography before summer bookings open.

Dates that fill first

Trent-Severn Waterway opening and Victoria DayMay
The lockstations open on the Friday before Victoria Day, May 15 in 2026, and the boating season starts with them; have summer weeks priced and the boating details in the listing before then.
Lakefield Literary Festivallate July
A festival of more than 30 years in Lakefield, the village of Margaret Laurence, Catharine Parr Traill and Susanna Moodie, held in the busiest weeks of summer; the 2027 dates are July 23 and 24, so name it in the copy for that week.
Buckhorn Festival of the Artsmid-August
Begun in 1978, it brings artists from across Canada to the Buckhorn Community Centre for a weekend, August 15 and 16 in 2026; August already books early, so use it in the listing copy rather than as a reason to discount.
Thanksgiving and the lock closingOctober
The locks close on Thanksgiving Monday, October 12 in 2026, the last long weekend of the boating season, and McLean's and Buckhorn Berry Farms near Lakefield holds its annual Pumpkinfest later in the month; sell both as two- or three-night fall stays.
Festival of Trees and Decorlate November to mid-December
Buckhorn's annual holiday festival, November 20 to December 14 in 2026, gives a winterized home a reason to sell December weekends with the fire and the hot tub in the photographs.
Market Intelligence · Guests

Who books the Kawarthas Airbnbs — and how far ahead

Toronto-area families
The core of the summer market, from Toronto, Mississauga, Hamilton and nearby cities, booking a week at the lake months ahead. They want a dock, safe swimming, a bed for everyone and a clear drive time.
Multi-family groups and reunions
Two or three families, or a reunion, sharing one big lake house. They choose on the sleeping plan and the bathroom count, and they pay the top rates for five-bedroom houses with a hot tub, a sauna or a games room.
Couples and friends on short stays
Spring, fall and winter guests who book two or three nights on shorter notice. They choose on the hot tub, the sauna and the fire, and on a reason to come, from the Petroglyphs to a festival weekend.
Boaters and waterway travelers
Guests who come for the Trent-Severn locks, the island stops and the villages along the water. They want docking details, the route to the nearest lock and the places they can reach by boat.

The booking window

Summer books furthest ahead, about three months out for August, while late-winter stays come in within a few weeks. Have summer priced and photographed by spring, give returning families first choice of next summer's weeks, and keep winter and shoulder pricing open for late planners.

Typical stays

Summer stays run longest, often close to a week in July, and winter stays are the shortest, usually two or three nights. Most listings ask for a two- or three-night minimum, and a weekly summer offer with a fixed changeover day suits the families who book the busiest weeks.

Where guests drive from

TorontoMississaugaHamiltonBramptonOttawaKitchener

Where guests fly from

CalgaryVancouverHalifaxNew YorkLondon
Toronto is by far the largest source of guests, about 90 minutes away by the City of Kawartha Lakes' own count, with the rest of the Toronto area, Hamilton, Ottawa and Kitchener behind it. International guests are a small share, mostly from the United States and the United Kingdom, and they fly into Toronto; geo-target the Toronto area for summer weeks and winter weekends, and use a past-guest list for returning families.
Market Intelligence · What Wins

The Airbnb that wins in the Kawarthas

The winner is a four- or five-bedroom waterfront house with a dock on a navigable lake, a hot tub or sauna, a sleeping plan that fits its guest count, and photographs taken from the water. In Bobcaygeon, Fenelon Falls and Lakefield, smaller homes win on the walk to the village and the lock. Boat-access cottages on Stoney Lake win when the arrival is explained as clearly as the view.

Amenities that move bookings here

private dockhot tubsaunaself check-inair conditioningdedicated workspacegames roompaddle craft
The highest-leverage move is a winter product: photograph the hot tub steaming and the sauna lit, write a two- and three-night offer for Toronto couples, and give it its own page and its own rates. A well-presented lake house books its summer; the winter months are where the extra nights are.
FAQ

the Kawarthas Airbnb marketing questions, answered

How do I market my Airbnb in the Kawarthas?

Start with the product, a big lake house for groups, a village home near the lock or a boat-access cottage, and sell that advantage in the title and the first photos. Show the sleeping plan bedroom by bedroom, photograph the property from the water, and build a winter offer around the hot tub, the sauna and the fire. Price summer by the week for Toronto families and the shoulder months as short stays, then add a direct-booking website and a past-guest list so returning families can rebook without a platform fee. That's the marketing layer Cavmir builds for owners here: photography direction, listing copy, a direct-booking site and local search.

When is peak season for Airbnbs in the Kawarthas?

Summer, with July and August well ahead of every other month and August usually the strongest for revenue. The boating season runs from the Friday before Victoria Day to Thanksgiving Monday, May and the fall bring shorter stays around Victoria Day, Thanksgiving and harvest weekends, and November through April is the quiet stretch, with January and March the slowest months.

How far in advance do guests book Airbnbs in the Kawarthas?

Summer books furthest ahead, about three months out for August stays, because Toronto families plan their lake week early. Fall weekends come in about two months ahead, and late-winter stays within a few weeks. Have summer priced and photographed by spring, and keep shoulder and winter dates open for late planners.

Where do most Airbnb guests in the Kawarthas come from?

Mostly from Toronto, about 90 minutes away, with Mississauga, Hamilton, Brampton, Ottawa and Kitchener behind it. International guests are a small share, mainly from the United States and the United Kingdom, flying into Toronto. Target the Toronto area for summer weeks and winter weekends, and keep a list of past guests for next summer.

What amenities matter most for an Airbnb in the Kawarthas?

A private dock and room for a group lead in summer, and a hot tub and a sauna carry the rest of the year; listings with them earn far more in local data. Self check-in, air conditioning and a dedicated workspace are expected now, and a games room helps large groups on a rainy day. Paddle craft, with clear rules for using them, finish the summer offer.

Keep exploring

Airbnb marketing in Parry Sound
Nearby market
Airbnb marketing in Prince Edward County
Nearby market
Social Media
Service
A system for 5-star Airbnb reviews
From the blog
Amenity ROI Tool
Free tool
Free Tools · Websites That Book

See what your listing in the Kawarthas is leaving on the table

Run your Airbnb, Vrbo, or website through Cavmir's free grader. It checks the things that decide whether guests book in the Kawarthas — photos, listing copy, page speed, local search — and shows you where bookings leak. Takes about a minute, and there's no sales call attached.

If the report says your booking engine is the weak link, that's fixable: a direct-booking website of your own means repeat guests stop paying platform fees to come back to you. That's the work Cavmir does — see Airbnb website design in the Kawarthas.

What the grader measures

  • ✓Photos and the first-impression frame
  • ✓Listing title and copy
  • ✓Your direct-booking website (or the lack of one)
  • ✓Page speed and mobile experience
  • ✓Local search and Google visibility
Grade My Listing — Free
Ready to Grow in The Kawarthas?

Let's Put Your The Kawarthas
Property on the Map

Talk to Cavmir today. We'll show you exactly what your The Kawarthas property is leaving on the table — and how fast we can change that.

Book a Free Strategy Call
Keep Learning

Guides Every Host Should Read

Cavmir — the Airbnb marketing agencyStart Here Short-term rental booking platforms — 22 sites comparedGuide Top 40 Airbnb & vacation rental management companiesGuide Property management software for short-term rentalsGuide Airbnb Plus & Luxe: what it takes to qualifyLearn Vacation rental marketing agency: what Cavmir doesAgency