released<\/a> last week by the region\u2019s real estate board.<\/p>\nRyerson University\u2019s Centre for Urban Research and Land Development (CUR) analyzed the preliminary TRREB data published last week and concluded that the city\u2019s condo market also appears to be worse affected by the pandemic downturn than other areas of the GTA.<\/p>\n\n
TRREB made the unusual move of publishing market activity data from the first 17 days of April in an effort to provide guidance on how the ongoing COVID-19 shutdown is affecting housing across the Toronto region. Typically the board only releases data in the first week of each month for the previous month.<\/p>\n
Toronto condo sales were down 72 percent in the period covered by the data release when compared to the same stretch a year earlier. Meantime, the average condo sale price fell 9.1 percent, the largest price decline measured in the GTA across all housing types.<\/p>\n
In commentary published late last week titled \u201cCondos in the 416 most vulnerable to COVID-19 shocks,\u201d CUR researchers noted that the market \u201cappears to be weakening faster than most forecasters had expected.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCertain markets are more vulnerable than others to the downturn resulting from pandemic lockdowns,\u201d CUR said in its commentary. \u201cDemand for condo-apartments in the city of Toronto relies heavily on rental demand and immigration, so it is not surprising to see this market weaken faster than others.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, researchers were quick to point out that housing data tends to be volatile and \u201ctwo weeks do not make a trend.\u201d CUR said that another factor to consider when evaluating the preliminary April sales and pricing data is the fact that Easter fell within the first 17 days of the month in 2020, but fell later last year, meaning any holiday slowdown would have materialized in the 2020 data but not in 2019\u2019s.<\/p>\n
The research team said the full month of data \u2014 set for a May 1st release by TRREB \u2014 will be far more telling of the scale of the slowdown and trends to look for in the months ahead.<\/p>\n
![\"toronto-condo-construction\"](\"https:\/\/www.livabl.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/toronto-condo-construction.jpg\")
<\/a>Photo: James Bombales<\/em><\/p>\n