Coronavirus Hits Housing Market

ForSale — For sale by owner sign in front of house

Written by: Brittney Balment, Nadia Ghafari, Emua Adodo and Catia Conniott

An increasing number of Canadians have been laid off, lost their jobs completely or had their incomes reduce due to COVID-19. The sharp downturn in the economy has also affected the real estate market. According to the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board, (TREB) home sales were down by almost 16 per cent for the last two weeks of March, compared to the time last year. That's a sharp reversal of what had been shaping up to be a booming market.

Sales were up by more 12 per cent in the first half of March over 2019. TREB also says that monthly listings had increased by 3 per cent. But they dropped more than 18 per cent in the second half as the impact of the coronavirus took hold.

Ecko Jay real estate agent Judith Fairn has seen the market shift since the COVID-19 outbreak.

"When the overall economy is suffering, people are not buying homes". according to Fairn.

In addition TREB put a halt to in person Open Houses, allowing only virtual tours.

Harvey Kalles real state agent Amin Morshedi says people are scared of buying homes as they choose to stay in quarantine during this pandemic.

"It has caused the market to slow down and on the good note, it has brought the interest rates to all time low."

Above is a graph that displays a drop in housing sales from February 2020 to March 2020.

Sean Morrison, President of the Ontario Real State Association urged all realtors to stop holding open houses, and encouraged them to turn to virtual tours and online communication instead. This change has not been easy for some realtors.

“We’re so used to being hands on and with people, face to face, so it has been quite a challenge trying to adapt to a totally different way of doing things.” Says Judith Fairn, Toronto based real state agent.

However, not all physical showings are cancelled. For a limited number of showings where people are in an urgent need of finding a home, strict safety protocols are being followed such as screening symptoms and the use of masks and sanitizers.