COVID Real Estate Market Update

I, like many of my wonderful colleagues, have been struggling with what to post during these difficult times. Everyone is facing different challenges right now, and whether you’re worried about health, family, finances, etc., the list goes on, and it’s a lot. Trying to be sensitive to what everyone’s going through while also still putting out information has been tricky and has felt very awkward.

 

Below is a market update for anyone who’s concerned about their home/investment or what’s happening with real estate. Until this is over, I hope that everyone has more good days than bad. I can’t wait to hug so many people. My poor dogs are getting suffocated.

 

Real estate remains an essential business, however, it’s not business as usual. The governing real estate bodies were slow to provide a clear policy for brokerages other than prohibiting open houses and suggesting limiting face-to-face contact. This has left many decisions up to individual brokerages and resulted in a variety of policies. Sage, like many other reputable brokerages, has elected to limit in-person business as much as possible and encourage clients to prioritize their safety and that of the community. For those who still absolutely need to sell, properties are still being listed for sale with additional options like 3D tours, video showings, virtual staging, and new legal protections. For those where purchasing is essential, viewing properties from the comfort of your home has never been so easy, interactive, and detailed. Although it’s not the ideal situation on either side, clients who need to secure or sell housing right now and in the near future are in capable hands.

 

Although the volume of showings and number sales has decreased in the GTA over the last few weeks, we have yet to see a significant decrease in prices, particularly close to the core. It’s a fickle market with some well-appointed properties at competitive price points still selling with multiple offers, and/or in a short time period. Other listings aren’t seeing much activity and are taking longer to sell than they would have just a few months ago.

 

Many areas in the Toronto market were experiencing a strong seller’s market prior to COVID, so we could see a cooling off from that peak in the short-term. March sales numbers were overall quite strong both in volume and price point when comparing month-over-month and year-over-year. We’re already starting to see a shift in April with much less activity than a few weeks ago. It’s all changing from week-to-week with varying trends for different areas/neighbourhoods, and types of housing.

 

Should there be a flood of inventory or a major shift in the economy, it’s possible we could see a downward price shift. It seems likely that investment type of properties, i.e., pre-construction condos and condo buildings that had a large percentage of Airbnbs would be impacted first (in case you didn’t hear, Airbnbs are temporarily not permitted in Ontario). Toronto could be more sheltered than the rest of the GTA, similar to the 2017 correction, as there is still a large pool of buyers looking to secure housing. This is of course speculation, and as always, depends largely on supply and demand. No one knows exactly what’s going to happen.

 

For more specific information on what’s happening in your market, or if you have questions about buying, selling, or renting in the current climate, I’m here to help.