Toronto home sales dove 69 percent in the first half of April over the same period a year earlier as the true extent of the market disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic became clear.
Only 1,654 properties sold across the Greater Toronto Area during this time — typically one of the busiest stretches for the region’s housing market. The city’s resale condo market, which saw a 72 percent decline year-over-year, was particularly hard hit.
The Toronto region’s real estate board released the home sales and sold price data for the first 17 days of April today. This is an unusual move as TRREB stopped publishing mid-month sales and pricing data several years ago and had been exclusively releasing monthly figures since then. However, it moved today to publish this data in an effort to provide some guidance on how the COVID-19 pandemic is impacting the housing market.
A significant drop in sales activity was widely expected so the scale of the declines is not coming as a complete shock.
“The state of emergency measures currently in place, including the necessary enforcement of social distancing, has impacted the real estate market in many ways,” said TRREB President Michael Collins in a media release.
“Home buyers and sellers have concerns about the economy and indeed their own employment situations. On top of this, many buyers and sellers are avoiding any type of in-person interaction. In the condo market in particular, individual condo corporations have curtailed entry for non-residents,” he continued.
On the pricing side, the average sold price of a home in the Greater Toronto Area declined by 1.5 percent to $819,665 through the first 17 days of the month compared to the same period last year. TRREB was quick to point out that the average price measure is influenced by the composition of properties sold during a given period. The board’s media release noted that sales for homes priced above $2 million declined more than overall sales during the first half of April.
Looking forward, the board expects that the second quarter of the year will be the worst affected by measures brought about by the pandemic. Spring homebuying, typically the busiest season for Toronto real estate, will be hampered by the strong social distancing measures that are likely to remain in force over the next few months.
“All of the COVID-19 related issues and measures have translated into a temporary drop in the number of transactions – a drop that will persist until we experience a meaningful and sustained decline in the number of cases,” said Collins.
“However, once recovery begins, it will likely accelerate in earnest as buyers seek to satisfy pent-up demand that will build up over the course of the spring and at least part of the summer,” he added.
