If you want to find a great cottage from which to watch summer sunsets, you won’t find a better deal than in Manitoba. But you’d better act quickly.

The Keystone Province has long had the distinction of being home to the highest number of residents per capita who own multiple properties, but that might be in jeopardy if cottage-country real estate prices continue on their current trajectory.

According to a new recreational property report from Royal LePage Real Estate Services Ltd., the value of lakefront cottages in Manitoba has risen 28.6% over the past year — the highest growth rate in the country — jumping from an average of $204,167 to $262,500. Just think how high the demand might be if last summer hadn’t been one of the coldest and wettest on record.

“It’s phenomenal,” says Jim Muir, sales representative at Royal LePage Dynamic Real Estate. “I’ve been selling real estate since 1983 and I’ve never seen the market as strong as it is now.”

Land-access lakefront cottages in the southern Interlake District, located less than an hour’s drive from Winnipeg on the west side of Lake Winnipeg, are selling “almost immediately” for $175,000-$225,000.

Muir attributes much of the percentage gains for lakefront cottages in Manitoba over the past year to their relatively low prices compared with the rest of the country.

“I’m getting clients as far away as British Columbia buying in Manitoba because it is so affordable,” he says.

(Despite the market price growth over the past year, Manitoba’s average waterfront property still trails that of the next hottest provinces for lakefront cottages: Quebec, where the average price rose 25.5% over the past year to $412,500; and Alberta, where the typical waterfront cottage is going for $625,000, up 25% from last year. They also still lag those in Ontario — $354,212.)

The Manitoba market is just as buoyant on the other side of Lake Winnipeg, according to René Desmet, a broker at St. Boniface Realty Co., based at Victoria Beach. He says the most popular spot continues to be Victoria Beach, located about 75 minutes north of Winnipeg on the east side of the lake.

The rare time a “for sale” sign goes up on a lakefront cottage there, owners are getting “well over” $200,000 for the property, he says.

“Demand far exceeds what is for sale. There is not much movement,” he says.

With the dearth of lakefront cottages, those on the back lots are almost as popular, he says, noting they typically sell for $90,000 and up.

The excess demand in Victoria Beach has resulted in spillover popularity into nearby beach communities such as Traverse Bay, Hillside Beach and Grand Beach, Desmet says.

Properties are even more expensive when you travel east on the Trans-Canada Highway. Prices for standard waterfront, water-access cottages in the Kenora area of Ontario — where Sandy Riley of Richardson Partners Financial and Marty Weinberg, formerly of Assante Corp. have vacation properties — are running $150,000-$500,000 this year, compared with an average price of $200,000 a year ago. Waterfront cottages that have land access are selling in the $200,000-$600,000 range, compared with an average price of $275,000 last year.

Bruce Bennett, a broker with Northwoods Realty Ltd. in Sioux Narrows, just south of Kenora, says it is difficult to find cottages for less than $200,000. “Vacant land can run $150,000-$250,000. Every lot is different but if you get a perfect piece of property, it commands a price,” he says.

Bennett says cottages have come a long way from the days when they were just four walls — a place to get away from the bugs.
Today, winterized homes with two or three washrooms, satellite TV, high-speed Internet access and dishwashers are common.

“It’s not the simple life any more,” he says.
“Cottages used to be places people went a
few weeks a year, but people are coming and going all the time now. Many work out of their cottages. It’s a different lifestyle.”
IE