Ontario vacant lot is a steal at $99K — but it’s ‘presently underwater’

A 7.7-hectare vacant lot is making big waves in Ontario’s real estate market, where it’s listed at the bargain-basement price of $99,000.

The lot appears to be a steal at first glance. It’s located in the small village of Shrewsbury in southwestern Ontario, it’s far cheaper than anything else in the area, includes plenty of space to build a dream home and it offers an unprecedented view of Lake Erie.

There’s just one catch: the vacant lot is no longer located on Lake Erie, according to the listing — it’s in Lake Erie.

“The property is presently underwater,” the listing on Realtor.ca says.

In other words, your unprecedented view would be an underwater view, and your closest neighbours would be fish, not people.

The property “could have endless possibilities in the future,” according to the listing. “Be creative,” it says.

The real estate agent for the property declined to share any of those possibilities with Reuters, but social media users have already started to float their own suggestions after the original posting was shared widely online. Some recommended turning it into an underwater lair of sorts, while others suggested filling it in with dirt or building a home on stilts.

“Sounds fishy to me,” one wary Redditor said.

“Get Aquaman on the line!” another added.

Water lots are not common in Canada, but they can be used for storing water vehicles, mooring a houseboat or running a fish farm. Such lots typically have some form of land access, but this one reportedly does not.

Google Street View footage shows the property was at the end of a street that juts out into the lake.

The footage from 2012 shows a camper seemingly sitting on the property at the time, before the area became submerged.

Housing prices have soared across Canada during the pandemic, though the market cooled down slightly last month.

The average home price in Canada is $688,000, according to May numbers from the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA). The average price in the Chatham-Kent region is just shy of $399,000, the CREA says.

It’s hard to break into the real estate market right now, but you can get your feet wet in Shrewsbury for a cool $99,000.

—With files from Reuters