Welcome To Dunbarton (Pickering)
Dunbarton is one of the oldest corners of Pickering, a village founded by Scottish settler William Dunbar in the 1840s, back when it had its own general stores, hotel and a stop on the Grand Trunk Railway. Today it’s a small, leafy pocket centred on Fairport Road between Kingston Road and the 401 corridor, where a handful of early-1900s houses still stand alongside custom homes built on deep lots from the 1980s onward.
It’s the kind of neighbourhood most people drive past without knowing it has a name. The people who do know tend to be the ones quietly waiting for a lot to come up.
Properties For Sale
Dunbarton (Pickering) FAQs
South-central Pickering, centred on Fairport Road, roughly between Kingston Road and the 401, with the Pine Creek valley running along its edge.
Honestly, the sample is too small to quote: only two homes sold here in the first quarter of 2026, so TRREB’s quarterly averages aren’t meaningful (Q1 2026 TRREB figures). Expect custom-home pricing well above the Pickering average, with the occasional original bungalow as the entry point. See the live statistics block below for current figures.
Better than almost anywhere else in Durham: Pickering GO on the Lakeshore East line is about a five-minute drive, then roughly 45 to 50 minutes to Union. The 401 is right there, for better and for worse.
Yes… big lots, mature trees, and one of the region’s best-known high schools inside the neighbourhood. It’s quiet in the way that families with young kids appreciate and teenagers complain about.
If you want land, privacy and history without giving up the GO train, it’s one of Pickering’s best-kept non-secrets. If you want to walk to a main street, look elsewhere… Dunbarton’s village days are long past.
Around the Neighbourhood
Cultural landmarks: the surviving village-era homes along the west side of Fairport Road, and the Erskine Cemetery, resting place of the Scottish Presbyterian families who founded the village in the 1800s.
Hot local spots: nothing within the pocket itself… the Kingston Road corridor handles the errands.
Parks & green space: the Pine Creek valley runs along the neighbourhood’s edge, and the surrounding streets feed into Pickering’s waterfront and conservation trails a short drive south.
Your Typical Neighbour
Dunbarton is a tiny pocket, so Statistics Canada doesn’t publish community-level figures… these are Pickering-wide numbers. The city counted 99,186 residents in the 2021 Census, with a median household income of about $118,000. Within Dunbarton itself, think long-tenure owners and move-up families who bought for the lots and stayed for the location.
Source: Statistics Canada, 2021 Census Profile, Pickering (City)
What We Love
The lots. Deep, treed and increasingly rare this close to a GO station. The history is real rather than curated… you can read the village’s founding families off the headstones at Erskine Cemetery. And the location maths is hard to argue with: five minutes to the train, one minute to the highway, and somehow still quiet.
What We Don't Love
Almost nothing comes up for sale, and when it does, it’s rarely cheap. The south end of the neighbourhood lives with the 401’s background hum, and Kingston Road traffic brackets the north. There’s no village core left… if you moved here expecting shops and cafés from the heritage brochure, you’ll be disappointed.
Real Estate
Dunbarton is a scarcity market: original mid-century houses and early-1900s survivors on big lots, steadily being joined or replaced by large custom builds. Two sales in a quarter isn’t a market trend, it’s two families’ decisions… so judge each listing on its own, and expect competition for anything with a good lot. New to the market? Start with our First-Time Buyer guide.
(Current prices and days on market appear in the live statistics block below, updated quarterly.)
Transit
Pickering GO on the Lakeshore East line is about a five-minute drive, running roughly 45 to 50 minutes to Union. Durham Region Transit buses run the Kingston Road corridor, and the 401 interchange at Whites Road puts the rest of the GTA in reach.
Schools
The neighbourhood is served by the Durham District School Board and the Durham Catholic District School Board. Dunbarton HS (DDSB), one of Durham’s best-known secondary schools, sits right at the neighbourhood’s doorstep on Sheppard Avenue, and St. Mary Catholic Secondary School (DCDSB) is nearby on Whites Road… confirm elementary catchments by address with the board locators. For school rankings and Fraser Institute scores, see our interactive Durham Region School Map.
Property Statistics in Dunbarton (Pickering)
Detached Houses - Statistics
Q1 2026
N/A
Average Price
20
New Listings
2
Properties Sold
N/A
Average Days on Market
N/A
% of Asking Price
semi-detached - Statistics
Q1 2026
N/A
Average Price
0
New Listings
0
Properties Sold
N/A
Average Days on Market
N/A
% of Asking Price
townhome - Statistics
Q1 2026
N/A
Average Price
1
New Listings
0
Properties Sold
N/A
Average Days on Market
N/A
% of Asking Price
Condos - Statistics
Q1 2026
N/A
Average Price
0
New Listings
0
Properties Sold
N/A
Average Days on Market
N/A
% of Asking Price
All Properties - Statistics
Q1 2026
N/A
Average Price
21
New Listings
2
Properties Sold
N/A
Average Days on Market
N/A
% of Asking Price
Source: TRREB Statistics
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