Sean MacKay

Even as COVID-19 infections are surging once more across the province, it has done little to diminish the appetite of home buyers and sellers who are moving at a frantic pace, part of a countrywide phenomenon that has economists concerned about an overheated market.

The current furious pace of homebuyer activity, along with rapidly accelerating price increases seen since mid-2020, are unlikely to last into 2022.

Unsurprisingly, during the pandemic, when buyers and renters alike have been searching for more space, smaller unit sizes have been posting the largest rent price declines.

The region’s new single-family home segment, which had outsold condos for three straight months, took a backseat in February.

As of the end of February, the average price of a BC home was $866,583, up by $126,000 over the same time a year ago. That increase equates to a 17 percent annual increase, a pace that a Central 1 Credit Union economist calls “astounding.”

When it comes to addressing Canada’s rapidly overheating housing market, getting more homes built, especially affordable rentals, is the first recommendation RBC Senior Economist Robert Hogue has for policymakers.

Taken together, just over 50 percent of all condo transactions that took place in Toronto in February happened in these five areas.

Homebuyers in Barrie, an hour north of Toronto, have seen single-family home prices jump by $147,000 since August. Meantime, in Fraser Valley, a region east of Vancouver that contains the small cities of Abbotsford and Chilliwack, recorded a $145,000 increase.

Low interest rates and strong local demand pushed 2020’s sales total well above the previous year’s.

That’s a good thing since BMO recently published a separate report encouraging home builders to further ramp up new supply to help ease some of the home price pressure the country is facing.