The rise of the cottage country market – it depends on who you talk to.
As we come into the 2nd summer of Covid-19 in Toronto, we are seeing an exodus of almost biblical proportions to the small towns and lakes and townships in rural Ontario. Many who no longer need to work chained to a downtown office, are beelining it up North or out East.
Three season cottages that a year ago sold for $620k with great lake frontage, are selling now for $950k. Same lake, same 3 season capability. Of course, in the dirt real estate… homes of any kind, are up close to 30% higher than they were before and even though this is a big jump in the GTA, we have not seen this kind of action out of
the city in a long time.
If you ask an agent from cottage country, they will tell you that their real estate has been undervalued for far too long. It’s what they call a bubble correction. Demand drives supply, so we know that amid the chaos of the pandemic, urban-dwellers are aching to leave the hordes and find a little peace and quiet.
If you ask a rural homeowner, they will tell you that the mad desire for vacation properties, or cottages, or farm getaways being driven by the escaping urbanites is a tipping of the apple cart. There is a slow and easy way outside of city life that is not necessarily embraced by newcomers. You can rent a DVD at the corner store a short drive away and you just need to give them your name and phone number… no late charges… and bring it back when you can. Oh, and they also sell tomatoes and fishing tackle.
If you ask a desperate cottage buyer, they will tell you that the fight for real estate is madness.
All they want is a place to plop down and put their feet up where there is no elevator or group of partying drunk
and belligerents. They have spent too long fighting traffic and dutifully clocking in and making a buck. Now they want less and they are cashing in their nest egg homes to get it.
Will this buying frenzy outside of the city continue? We don’t know.
Will disenfranchised city folk learn to live with slower internet and a less frantic pace ? Or will STARLINK
and SpaceX make for a new way to live, beside a lonely lake?
Will the jobs and offices come back to the city and life downtown abound and even flourish ?
We just don’t know.
What we do know is that the rise of the cottage country market has been fast and furious just like the kind of DVD’s you will find stocked at the local country market.
