Homebuyers in the Greater Toronto Area are increasingly being pushed further north to cottage country where the real estate climate is heating up due to the pressures of rising prices and low inventory, experts say.
“We haven’t seen bidding wars in the past very often, and now we’re seeing competing five offers, so it’s a very different story,” said Danielle Beitz, a real estate agent in the Parry Sound and Georgian Bay areas.
With the average price of a detached house hitting $1.21 million last month in the GTA, which is up 33.4 per cent from a year ago, according to the Bank of Canada, it’s reverberating to cottage country.
Prospective buyers who are being priced out of markets across the Greater Toronto Area, are abandoning their searches, or retiring, and heading to cottage country where prices are only starting to be impacted by the boom, she added.
“What we’re seeing and feeling right now is overwhelming,” Beitz told CTV News Toronto on Monday.
A significant uptick in buyers from the GTA looking to invest in property further north are driving prices up, Beitz added.
According to Remax Parry Sound-Muskoka Realty Limited, prices rose $150,000 in the last year.
During that time, the number of available listings has fallen by almost 28 per cent, with only 580 properties on the market.
Dana LaBrie has been looking to purchase property in Parry Sound, Ont. since March 2016, but she’s been striking out until last week.
“The properties are selling really, really quickly,” she said. “Everybody’s beating me to the punch and I can’t even seem to get in to look at properties within my price range.”
Beitz told CTV News Toronto she is advising clients to buy vacant land or a fixer upper to increase their chances of securing property.
LaBrie purchased a 60-year-old home.
“It needs some TLC,” she said. “I’ll be in for a good amount of cash, but that’s the risk I’m willing to take.”
