{"id":9047,"date":"2021-03-19T13:14:15","date_gmt":"2021-03-19T13:14:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.canadianrealestatemagazine.ca\/parry-sound-emerges-as-luxury-property-hotspot\/"},"modified":"2023-11-20T01:27:11","modified_gmt":"2023-11-20T01:27:11","slug":"parry-sound-emerges-as-luxury-property-hotspot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.canadianrealestatemagazine.ca\/news\/parry-sound-emerges-as-luxury-property-hotspot\/","title":{"rendered":"Parry Sound emerges as luxury property hotspot"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ryan McKeown is the owner of I Branched Out, a home d\u00e9cor shop in that specializes in high-end, custom furniture using real Ontario wood. Born and raised in the town of just over 6,000 residents, McKeown\u2019s has noticed a dramatic change over the last several years.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt started three or so years ago, but the pandemic has certainly caused people to get out of the city and move north. We\u2019re only two hours from Toronto,\u201d McKeown told CREW<\/a>. \u201cWe see that in my store all the time. Just today, I had someone who listed their downtown Toronto condo and they\u2019re building a cottage<\/a> 10 minutes from downtown Parry Sound.\u201d<\/p>\n

I Branched Out, located on Parry Sound\u2019s main street, is a popular destination for one-of-a-kind craft furniture purchases, and as a result it receives customers from as far as the immediate GTA. However, like most small businesses, it has struggled through the COVID-19 pandemic, and according to McKeown, if not for the seeming tidal wave of new residents, his business might not have survived.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

\u201cOur store made it through the pandemic mainly because of the new building here in Parry Sound,\u201d he said. \u201cWe see eight to 10 people every Saturday who aren\u2019t from here.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a result, it has become commonplace for houses in the town to sell for over $1 million, and according to Matt Smith, who\u2019s launching a boutique brokerage, Engel & V\u00f6lkers Parry Sound, in the town\u2019s downtown on March 22, people are moving to the town for its \u201c12-month living.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe big attraction to the area is the lifestyle. You get a lot more activities in Parry Sound with the trails, boating and the outdoors lifestyle,\u201d said Smith, a longtime broker with Engel & V\u00f6lkers Toronto Central in Yorkville. \u201cA lot of communities this size can\u2019t support a year-round lifestyle, which means they shut down after Thanksgiving, but Parry Sound has a regional hospital here, and it really is a regional hub. It can support 12-month living.\u201d<\/p>\n

The town is receiving a robust contingent of entrepreneurs who are opening up high-end boutiques, as well as young artists, says Smith. Moreover, some of the available properties are as opulent as anything found in Toronto, if not more, including a 37-acre, 50,000 sq ft former lodge whose current owner is using it as a private residential estate. The town\u2019s emergence as a hotspot for luxury properties compelled Smith to open Engel & V\u00f6lkers Parry Sound and staff it with local realtors.<\/p>\n

And with a slew of custom construction in the town, Smith anticipates his new brokerage will be busy.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really gotten a lot stronger since COVID happened,\u201d said Smith. \u201cIt had been coming along for a few years, with families relocating up here and skyrocketing prices. You used to be able to pick up a nice place in the low to high $800,000 range, but now it\u2019s well over $1 million. The price points alone have driven things to luxury status. You used to find waterfront cottages here and now people aren\u2019t building cottages, they\u2019re building four-season homes. These are the changes we\u2019ve seen in Parry Sound in the last 12 to 18 months.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ryan McKeown is the owner of I Branched Out, a home d\u00e9cor shop in that specializes in high-end, custom furniture using real Ontario wood. Born and raised in the town of just over 6,000 residents, McKeown\u2019s has noticed a dramatic change over the last several years. \u201cIt started three or so years ago, but the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":23359,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.canadianrealestatemagazine.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9047"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.canadianrealestatemagazine.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.canadianrealestatemagazine.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.canadianrealestatemagazine.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.canadianrealestatemagazine.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9047"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.canadianrealestatemagazine.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9047\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29130,"href":"https:\/\/www.canadianrealestatemagazine.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9047\/revisions\/29130"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.canadianrealestatemagazine.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23359"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.canadianrealestatemagazine.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9047"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.canadianrealestatemagazine.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9047"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.canadianrealestatemagazine.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9047"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}