Toronto’s Biggest Trends of 2020

Covid-19 pandemic has hit almost every industry in Toronto. But that was not the case with Ontario’s real estate sector, which remained as strong as before. According to Brandi Ricci, she and her hubby spend 6 months looking for a house and outbid 9 times before finding their dream house. As per the statement of the Toronto Real Estate Board, the sales of homes increased up to 24.3% in the Greater Toronto region in November 2020 as compared to the sales in November 2019. The reason is people are moving into suburbs while searching for single-family houses.

The Statistics of Durham Region

The president of Realosophy Realty Inc. John Pasalis has been chasing pandemic trends and found that the prices of homes in the Durham Region raised by 23.9% between November 2019 and November 2020. Now, a single-family house costs approximately $150,000 higher than last year. Durham was the most popular area in the Greater Toronto region due to its low-cost detached homes as compared to Mississauga and York Region. Hence, people started rushing into Durham during a pandemic that ultimately increased the prices of detached houses in this area.

Everybody needs a house office along with a huge kitchen

Covid-19 pandemic caused a decrease in borrowing rates. This is why more families started looking for big houses with additional whistles and bells. These are the things that were never considered before as they were not useful or out of budget. According to Andrew Ipekian (real estate agent), people need home offices, a pool, and a huge kitchen as they were cooking more by staying and working from home. The low-interest-rate means people have more money for getting those additional luxuries.

People, who lack funds, are opting for other options such as adding an expansion or renovating their existing house. As per the statement of MPAC (Municipal Property Assessment Corporation), more homeowners are upgrading their houses this year. MPAC is an organization that evaluates and categorizes the financial worth of properties in Ontario.

Renovations boost throughout Ontario

MPAC’s president Nicole McNeill said that the renovations increased by 28% in Ontario as people are giving more times at their homes this year. There has been a decline in the sales and costs of condos in Toronto since pandemic. It’s because post-secondary students are staying in their house instead of a condo rental and there is also a ban on immigration. Hence, more space is now required for the condo dwellers to work from the house. Also, there has been a rise in the units available for sale.

As now the vaccine for covid-19 is present, individuals have started working from the office. Real estate experts assume that condo’s demand will bounce back. In fact, it’s already happening. While living in a condo, you may require the service of an exterminator in Toronto.

At present, investors have started investing in the condo market, which will decelerate that downward trend. Ipekian accepts this anticipation and believes that there will be Boxing-day-like sales of condos in downtown Toronto.

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Logan Leo

“Travel practitioner. Total analyst. Entrepreneur. Introvert. Writer. Student. Evil beer geek. Amateur creator.”

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