As we navigate through these uncertain times, we are wondering what condo life will look like in the future. To illustrate how quickly the condo market changed as a result of COVID-19, resale activity was up 25% year-over-year during the first half of March 2020 and fell 21% year-over-year in the second half of the month, with even steeper annual declines of over 70% reported for April. However, the GTA market was exceptionally tight leading into the COVID-19 period, creating spillover demand that has enabled the limited number of units on the market to continue transacting. In fact, the average sale price-to-list-price ratio has remained near 100% through April, and the average days on market was unchanged at 18 days.
The April stats were released this week from the Toronto Real Estate Board and as bleak as it may look with sales down 67%, home prices remained at April 2019 levels. There was also a report put out by CMHC (Canada Mortgage and Housing) that suggested Canada’s real estate prices probably wouldn’t return to pre-covid levels until the end of 2022. The experts reject that bleak outlook suggesting national outlooks do not necessarily reveal regional, municipal, or even neighbourhood distinctions, and some experts say Toronto’s prospects may not be so bleak.
Awh…the month of May when spring gradually blooms into summer and finally some good news to report. Some economists apparently predict home prices to rise 6% this year and we can expect to see rapid price growth once the outbreak passes, several recent forecasts have predicted, even amid massive job losses. Despite a steep drop in sales this year, the average home price in Canada will be 6.1% higher at the end of this year than it was a year earlier, TD Bank said in a forecast issued this week.
ENDING APRIL 24TH, 2020 The mid April market update was released from the Toronto Real Estate Board for the first 17 days of April and it provides the first comprehensive look at the state of our market during the government shutdowns. Sales were down 69% compared to the same time in 2019. Most affected were high end ($2 million+) detached homes and the condominium market where sales fell 72% year over year. Condos have traditionally attracted a high share of first-time buyers, who in times of uncertainty can put their decision to purchase on hold. The number of new listings were also down on a year-over-year basis by 63.7%. Overall, the average selling price across all types of homes fell by 1.5% to $819,665 in the GTA and $885,371 in the City of Toronto. The fact that new listings trended in a similar fashion to sales during the first half of April means that market conditions remained tight enough to provide support for the average selling price to be in line with 2019 levels.
While several businesses have taken a hit with the pandemic, the real estate market is seeing a decrease in home-buying interest both locally and nationally. The overall March sales results were clearly driven by the first two weeks of the month. There were 4,643 sales reported in the pre-COVID-19 period, accounting for 58% of total transactions and representing a 49% increase compared to the first 14 days of March 2019. There were 3,369 sales reported during the post-COVID-period – down by 15.9 per cent compared to the same period in March 2019.