November brought a sense of urgency to the Toronto real estate market, where Covid has people buying and selling homes for completely different reasons than before the pandemic. Data from the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board showed that November home sales in the Greater Toronto Area were up 24.3% compared with last year, as demand for single-family homes continued to surge ahead of condos.

There were 8,766 homes sold in November up from 7,054 in November 2019. The average sale price is $955,615, up 13.3% from $843,307 a year earlier. 11,545 homes were listed for sale in November, up from 8,651 in November of last year, as the market catches up from spring’s slowdown. While detached home prices rose to an average of $1,202,281, up 15.2% from November 2019, average condo prices fell 2% to $605,863. The number of condos that hit the market this November was almost double that of November of last year. There has been a total of 150,913 listings in the Toronto area so far this year, compared with 149,241 at this time last year.

But regardless, our inventory is still low. The search for more living space continues to take buyers to the suburbs and beyond. In the suburban areas, we are still seeing bidding wars. It’s highly competitive and properties are not sitting long. Several Canadian economists recently surveyed believe that record low interest rates have been keeping buyers interested and prices high in Canadian real estate. With low inventory and growing demand, they expect that housing values in Canada’s largest markets could see a 5% increase in 2021. The conclusion is that home and work will become entwined more intimately in the future and that living space needs to be reviewed to accommodate such a future.