COVID-19 Impact on Real Estate - February 15, 2021
Emailed to clients on Feb 15, 2021.
Hi all,
Happy Family Day! Hope you’re having a great day.
Here’s this month’s update:
Real Estate Market Overview
In a strong start to the year, GTA home sales in January 2021 were up more than 50% compared to last year with growth across all segments and regions.
Please click on the video below for market highlights.
Real Estate Market Outlook
A few days ago the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board released its forecast for 2021. The outlook for the GTA is for continued strength with a near-record sales forecast and a record average selling price over $1 million.
A survey conducted by TRREB using Ipsos shows that intent to purchase a home remains strong at 30%.
Compared to last year, intent to purchase in the City of Toronto is down by 7%, while interest in the 905 areas has increased.
More survey respondents intend to purchase detached or semi-detached homes, with intent to purchase condominiums down by 7%.
In addition, the forecast points to economic recovery, continued low borrowing costs, a resumption of immigration, and availability of vaccines as positive factors impacting the real estate market.
All of this points to continued tightened conditions with more buyers than supply can satisfy. The average price of a home in the GTA is expected to top $1 million, with a forecast of 105,000 sales in 2021. A good time to sell, but a difficult market if you are a buyer.
Selling a House During COVID
Realtors Behaving Badly
In this edition of “Realtors Behaving Badly”, I have two examples of realtors ignoring COVID-19 advice and giving the rest of us a bad name.
According to Global News, a realtor listed an East York property for sale in January while the basement tenants were in quarantine for COVID-19. As many as 20 buyers walked through the property before the authorities were notified and shut it down. The property was taken off the market. I’m not sure what disciplinary action is being taken, but the realtor’s name is known.
As I scrolled through our local South Mississauga Facebook Group, I was dismayed to find a thread about a realtor going door-to-door in the community looking for potential sellers. To make it even worse, like me, she was a Royal LePage agent. Door-knocking has been strongly discouraged by all levels of real estate associations, Royal LePage, and our brokerage as an irresponsible practice during COVID-19.
Angry that this person was besmirching the reputations of me and my Royal LePage colleagues, I reached out to my broker of record to alert her. A number of other realtors did as well (I guess we are all in the group). It turns out that the realtor does not work out of the Clarkson office, but regardless the damage was done. She was reprimanded for her thoughtless actions.
Guidance for Buying and Selling Property During COVID-19
The Ontario Real Estate Association (OREA) has published guidance on how realtors should conduct themselves in order to continue providing essential and safe service to buyers and sellers of real estate.
- Digital Tools. REALTORS® must continue to use digital tools such as virtual tours, virtual staging, video conferencing, and electronic documents & signatures as much as possible.
- Personal Protective Equipment. REALTORS® must provide PPE for themselves and their clients for any in-person meeting.
- In-Person Showings. REALTORS® must continue to limit in-person showings as much as possible. If an in-person showing is necessary, REALTORS® must follow all local health guidelines such as physical distancing, wearing PPE and cleaning/disinfecting both before and after the showing. During a showing, additional safety measures include:
- Having the homeowner away from the property
- Increasing ventilation by opening windows, if possible
- Making it quick
- Not touching anything
- Limiting the number of visitors to those on the contract only. No family members
- Having the home owner or listing realtor turn on the lights and open interior doors beforehand so the visitors don't have to
- Not using the bathroom (actually, you should never use the bathroom at a showing)
Help for Homeowners
Here are the latest changes to government assistance for those affected by COVID-19.
On January 29, 2021, the federal government announced that EI regulations will be amended to temporarily waive the waiting period for EI claimants who establish a new claim between January 31, 2021 and September 25, 2021. Click here for more information.
On February 5, 2021 the provincial government announced that applications for the two-year $115 million Skills Development Fund are open. Click here for more information.
On February 1, 2021 the provincial government announced that the Ontario Support Program will be extended until 2022 to ensure that low income seniors and people with disabilities have access to food, medicine, and other essentials during COVID-19. Click here for more information. Click here for more information.
On January 25, 2021 the provincial government announced expanded eligibility for the targeted emergency childcare program to include additional workers who are performing critical roles in their communities. Click here for more information.
On January 15, 2021 the provincial government opened applications for the Ontario Small Business Support Grant. Click here for more information.
That’s it for this update. If you missed any of the past COVID-19 Impact on Real Estate updates you can find them on my blog here: http://stephhebbrealestate.blogspot.com/
There is also a ton of other information there about buying or selling real estate on the blog.
Please let me know if you have any questions or feedback at Stephanie.hebb@royallepage.ca.
Stay safe,
Steph
More reading:
https://www.livabl.com/2021/01/bidding-wars-2021-housing-market.html
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