Hot summer for cottage sales in Manitoba

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This article was published 27/07/2020 (2063 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The only thing hotter than the weather this summer has been the local cottage real estate market, which is in the midst of one of its busiest seasons in recent memory.

With interest rates low, demand to get out of the city high, and vacation plans to foreign countries derailed, a growing number of Manitobans have decided to sign on the dotted line and become cottage owners — a luxury version of escape that some buyers have started to see as a necessity.

“I think it was the perfect storm (for the cottage market) that COVID-19 hit just as spring was around the corner,” said Sherie Turek, a director-at-large on the Winnipeg Realtors Association’s board.

“What do people start thinking about then? The lake, the beach, and summer,” she added.

With July nearly over, recorded sales for local resort properties for the year to date on the multiple listings service neared 100, as compared with 62 last year, which by all accounts was considered an exceptional year. The “resort” classification — which usually refers to three-season cottages — also means some properties may not be included in that amount, meaning the number of sales could be even higher.

Turek, a fourth-generation cottage-owner and a veteran of 20 years in real estate, says in addition to built properties, vacant cottage lots have also been selling at an astonishing pace. Owners who’d held off selling for years are suddenly eager to offload them, and buyers are equally eager to take them off their hands.

Last year, about 30 per cent of Turek’s company’s sales were in the cottage sector, with the remainder in the city. This year, those percentages have flipped.

Despite some early worries about how COVID-19 would impact the market, Turek said she was generally confident the pandemic would make it boom, not bust.

“By April, we knew it was going to be a hot year,” she said. “We started to see a huge demand, sold several properties, and pretty much had people knocking down the door to buy cabins before the snow melted.”

Realtor Sarah Parent was a little less certain. “Absolutely, we had no idea what was going to happen with COVID or how it was going to affect us,” she said.

“It started out pretty quiet, but it’s definitely taken a U-shaped turn,” she said. “I do a lot in Lac du Bonnet, and we have listings that are flying off the shelves.”

Properties that normally could take three months or longer to get any significant nibbles or nab buyers are now getting snatched up in three weeks or fewer, Parent said.

Case in point: in the last week of May, a 600-square-foot, four-season, lakefront cottage on a half-acre lot at Lac du Bonnet went up for sale. Normally, Parent said she’d expect a buyer by the end of summer, if that. By June 15, the deal was done — a first-time cottage-buying family looking to escape the city purchased the property for $330,000.

The family was nudged toward the purchase by a “you only live once” feeling, Parent said. “It was always in the forefront of their minds, thinking, ‘We’d love to do this one day,” she said. “All that’s happening has given people a different view. If we can afford it now, why not?”

Across the board, Manitoba’s real estate market has enjoyed a stellar few months, even as other industries have suffered. In June, the Manitoba Real Estate Association had its highest number of sales in a single month for at least the past 40 years, with 2,015 residential properties changing hands.

June was also a banner month for WinnipegREALTORS, which had a 24 per cent increase in sales this year versus the same month in 2019.

“You can’t deny the city is selling like hotcakes too,” said Parent.

But even if the city is hot, the allure of making a short trek to escape it has heightened for Winnipeggers.

“I think that people just want to enjoy their summers,” Parent said. And if they can afford it, a cottage purchase is making more sense than ever.

ben.waldman@freepress.mb.ca