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Orillia Real Estate Reflections and Projections

February 11, 2021

Orillia – The year 2020 left almost every industry reeling from unprecedented change in response to the pandemic. Real estate was especially impacted as buyer demand for more green space and a desire to relocate to regions outside of the GTA, including cottage country, skyrocketed.

“The market was quite feverish throughout the Parry Sound, Muskoka, Haliburton and Orillia,” says Chuck Murney, president of The Lakelands Association of Realtors® Board of Directors. “Across all regions, averages went up. The average number of sales rose 21 percent. We saw a 42 percent increase in waterfront properties sales, and the average sale price jumped 27 percent.”

The association represents over 800 realtors® in these four regions – all offer the wide-open spaces, larger properties and access to nature that people were seeking, in most cases only a couple of hours away from the GTA.

D’Arcy Hunt, a real estate broker who represents the Orillia region, and is president-elect on the association board experienced the surge firsthand.  “The Sunshine City and its neighbouring townships of Oro-Medonte, Ramara and Severn experienced unprecedented growth as people migrated to the area as a place to live and work,” says Hunt. “Simcoe County experienced an incredible year for real estate in 2020.  The City of Orillia, which is ideally located on a major highway and just over an hour to Toronto, saw the average home price increase by 28 percent.”

Looking ahead to how 2021 will compare to 2020, Hunt predicts that these trends will continue because of a lack of housing supply in the market and strong demand from local residents as well as those relocating from the GTA. In January, he says that most properties in the region had multiple offers and homes sold for approximately $50,000 – $100,000 over the asking price. “Orillia has all the amenities and the geographic location that attracts people looking for a seasonal or permanent home.  In addition to the trend of people leaving high-density living and being able to work from home, millennials are entering the housing market and boomers are retiring and downsizing, our local market is set up for a very positive short- and long-term future.”

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Crystal Henderson, CRAE, e-PRO®
Executive Director
The Lakelands Association of REALTORS®
34 Cairns Cres.| Huntsville, ON P1H 1Y3
705-788-1504 x 222
chenderson@thelakelands.ca

 

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