With the arrival of September, there is change in the air. The nights are cooler, and the air is fresher. Spring and summer, we have seen much upheaval in our lives as we attempted to adjust to the impact of the pandemic. And as we have discovered, we are resilient. We have discovered new ways to go forward, carry out our daily activities, do business and more. Our focus has changed, and our priorities have become more evident as the realities of Covid have become clearer. What we are living through is one for the history books. When we finally come to the end of the dark tunnel called Covid, there will be changes to our lifestyle in ways we never imagined, and the real estate market is changing too.

Homeownership is the lifeblood of our economy and personal lives and allows for the average Canadian to build equity and fund retirement. Real estate purchases have an element of emotion, and with what is going on now, the emotions are high. After being locked down for months, homeowners are starting to see flaws in their homes they never noticed before, whether it’s a workable flow of the home or the size of the home. This is resulting in homeowners looking for a change they never knew they wanted. With the shortage of inventory and a trend of increasing values, some of this activity may be fueled by the feeling of change that families are looking for, resulting in a robust real estate market, surprising many economists.

Buyers and sellers who have not secured a deal yet are not giving up. In August, sales in the GTA soared 40% from the same month last year and the average price jumped 20% to a record $951,404. New listings in the freehold market were up last week 7% from the week before, but not much change in the number of sold properties most likely because of the long weekend. The activity continues to be strong with 65% of homes selling at or above the list price. The condo market also saw an increase in new listings up 16% from the previous week with the centre of action between $500K and $700K and the activity has picked up with 43% of condos selling at or above the list price. Looking ahead to the fall market there is a lot of optimism that we will be seeing a slew of activity.