Cottage Country Shows Resistance to GTA Housing Declines
The cottage country which is just several hours away from the Toronto real estate market is in no way affected by the housing markets cooling down. Home dealing in the cottage country are doing very well and prices are still rising.
Reports from Royal LePage indicates there was an increase in the average price of recreational-homes to $413,000 in May which the cost for lakefront homes increasing by 20% in Muskoka to $1.5 million from $1.25 million last year.
Chief operating officer of Royal LePage, Kevin Somers noted that the recreational property market is growing at a satisfactory rate and it is in contrast from other home types in the urban areas. He went on to suggest that the summer sales of homes in the area are expected to increase despite the fact that market activities in the Toronto housing market goes through a cooling down.
Considering the existing supply and demand variables, backed with favorable financial conditions, the recreational property market is expected to have a strong summer market.
The cottage country market are most of the time participated by wealthy investors and the money they use to buy these homes are mostly from homes they bought earlier, hence they are not affected by the recent changes in the Toronto market, Somers stated.
They are less worried about the ongoing situation in Toronto and there are a growing number of people coming into the cottage country market. With many people approaching their retirement, many prefer to downsize to a much affordable home.
Like all other markets that see an increase in demand, it is very likely for bidding wars to take place and this is exactly what has started to happen in the cottage country market especially in markets around Muskoka and Collingwood area. But this is not a common situation to occur in these areas.
In the past, there was very little stress involved in buying a recreational property, so this is a very new trend in the market.
However across the area, there is a range in home prices depending on the area and type of property you want to purchase.
