Housing Market Set to Remain Competitive in the Greater Toronto Area

Educated guesses and cautious optimism became prevalent in the Covid-19 world. Economists, governments, businesspeople and everyone else scrambled to try to figure out what would come down the pike.

Many of those people on that frenzied quest to understand are doing so after being introduced to a perplexing housing market. There was, of course, the departure from apartments and condominiums and to single family homes as people who lived their lives largely in the outer world suddenly found the walls closing in during the shutdown.

Backyard office sheds became a thing and peoples’ children needed dedicated workspace in light of school closures. Bidding wars became old hat as people fought with their pocketbooks for their dream homes. Life suddenly became much simpler and much more complicated in a matter of a couple of weeks.

Many experts painted grim economic outlooks and are now walking some of those statements back.

The world’s economies appear to be showing resilience and when Ontario released first quarter fiscal results a few weeks ago, the deficit proved hundreds of millions of dollars lower than what was expected and provincial revenue was up $2.9 billion, according to the Toronto Sun. 

Still, Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy urged focus, stating that despite the positive showing, there is much to be done to protect the province’s “health, jobs and economy.”

“Speaking of jobs, employers across the province now routinely complain about the growing difficulty they’re having hiring new staff — even at higher than pre-COVID wages. And 72,000 of the 94,000 new jobs added to Canada’s workforce in July were created in Ontario,” according to The Toronto Sun. “What all that suggests is the country’s economic engine, despite COVID, has been and continues to hum along nicely and is even heating up.

While the housing market seemed to be cooling for a bit, supply shortage, strong supplier demand, stimulus spending and the apparent economic buoyancy, is helping strengthen the market while it goes through stabilization.

Just as current homeowners are migrating to single family homes, first time home buyers are seeking, and finding, their footing in condominium purchases.

The housing market is set to remain competitive and the reality of multiple offers is not likely to fade.

“This strong upward pressure on home prices will be sustained in the absence of more supply, especially as we see a resurgence in population growth moving into 2022,” TRREB chief market analyst Jason Mercer said.

TRREB also predicts the surge of citizenship and permanent residency that was backlogged from COVID means there will be an influx of newcomers to the Greater Toronto Area who will want to call GTA home.

Realtor Penelope Wild, who penned the article, summarizes the situation well: “With the anticipated resurgence of newcomers into an already tight market, the gradual heating up of the province’s economy and ongoing pent up demand, sellers should expect to continue to see strong offers for their properties and buyers should remain realistic and prepared to bid in an ongoing competitive market.” 

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