Are work-from-home policies fuelling a boom in cottage sales?

The teleworking revolution has impelled a significant spike in activity in Canada’s top recreational property markets, according to industry players.

Emblematic of the phenomenon is Muskoka’s cottage sector, which has seen accelerated activity over the last few months, according to Catharine Inniss, sales representative at Cottage in Muskoka Real Estate.

“There’s so much more telecommuting now; I think employers have gotten past the idea that it’s not productive and found out that it’s very productive,” Inniss said in an interview with CTV News. “We had a delayed market for a while but now it has completely sped up and surpassed every other year though that real estate has been in existence up here.”

The market particularly benefited from an influx of would-be buyers from Toronto in May, Inniss said.

“We were hearing that there was pent up demand,” Inniss said. “We were hearing stories about people living in condos in the city, and not being able to get out anywhere to a public park, even being concerned about walking on the sidewalk so we thought if anybody’s been thinking about it, then now would be the time that they would be pursuing buying a cottage.”

Payroll data from ADP Research Institute indicated that the April-May period saw the addition of 208,400 new jobs in Canada, which might impel greater purchasing power down the line.

“The job market appeared to show early signs of a rebound in May as restrictions eased and many began to return to work,” said Ahu Yildirmaz, vice president and co-head of ADP Research. “Industries that led job growth were construction, healthcare, and administrative support services, while manufacturing and finance continued to show losses as a result of COVID-19.”