The COVID-19 pandemic continues to put downward pressure on the rental market nationally. A growing supply of apartments, mostly in the condo sector are hitting the market as Covid has stalled immigration and sent university students and some hourly workers home to live with their parents. In Toronto, rents declined .7% year-over-year. In downtown areas with concentrations of short-term rentals and neighbourhoods with large student populations, there has been an uptick in vacancies and rent incentives to try and fill units that have emptied out. Total lease transactions in the GTA condo market grew 16% year-over-year during Q1-2020 to reach 7,002 units — the highest first quarter total on record. The post-COVID-19 period saw a steep decline in activity, with lease volume down 25% compared to the same period a year earlier.
It’s hard to believe that we are almost half way through 2020 and in the middle of a pandemic, with unemployment at an all time high, millions of people without a job, and the Toronto real estate market couldn’t care less. If you are looking for a Covid-discount you’re not going to find it here. What you will find, just weeks after the worst month of sales, are multiple offers and buyers and sellers with more and more confidence. No one expected the market to take off like this. Buyers were on pause for a couple months, but they seem to be jumping back in with a frenzy. Case in point – we have a listing in our office in Bloordale Village that has 139 booked showings and offers are on Monday. You’re lucky if you can even get in to show it now. No double bookings and only a few time slots left!
Open houses have been suspended throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and while real estate services were declared essential and have continued uninterrupted, agents have innovating methods for home-showings like Facebook Live, 3-D video tours, Zoom and a good portion of real estate transactions including paperwork occurs electronically. Consumers are adapting during this extraordinary time, and their willingness to embrace new tools tells us that the Canadian dream of home ownership remains strong, even during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Home sales are showing signs of improvement in the Toronto real estate market, but economists say it's far too early to feel optimistic about the possibility of recovery from the devastating effects of COVID-19. Activity in the region improved in May compared with April, according to figures the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board released Wednesday. But it remained less than half of what we saw a year ago. “The pandemic knocked the wind out of what was expected to be among the strongest spring seasons in home-sales history, said Sherry Cooper, chief economist at Dominion Lending.”
With large companies extending their work-from-home policies economists are predicting that real estate trends might shift and cause a “suburban boom” in the housing market. These trends in the job market could lead to housing preferences that move away from dense metropolitan areas and an outward migration of young families that could be considered the new “hipsturbia”.