Toronto now a buyers’ market due to coronavirus pandemic: report

Toronto has turned into a buyers’ market amid the city’s COVID-19 outbreak.

According to Zoocasa, the global pandemic has had a profound short-term impact on housing in the area.

While there was a strong start to the spring housing market in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) in February, Zoocasa reports that it began to slow in reaction to Ontario’s escalating measures in response to the coronavirus, and buyers, as well as sellers, began holding off on home sales and purchases amid economic uncertainties.

“According to our calculations, the sales-to-new-listings ratio (SNLR) – a measure of market competition calculated by dividing the number of sales by the number of new listings – dropped to 38% for detached and semi-detached homes in the GTA between March 17-23; compared to 53% for the week prior to the emergency declaration,” reads the report.

“For condo apartments and condo townhouses, the SNLR dropped from 55% to 40% for the same time period. When the SNLR is between 40%-60%, this indicates a balanced market, while above and below that threshold reveals sellers’ and buyers’ markets, respectively. As such, these numbers represent a visible shift in market conditions over a very short period of time.”

During the first week of Ontario’s state of emergency, there was a 14% dip in new listings for detached and semi-detached houses. As well, there was a 35% drop in house sales, and 10% drop in condo sales and townhouses.

Zoocasa

Two weeks after the state of emergency was announced, sales for detached and semi-detached homes dropped 53%.

The condo market dropped 53% in sales as well, with new listings down 26%.

Zoocasa

While both weeks show the detached homes are a buyers’ market, condo sales are really not that far behind and is currently considered a balanced market.

But everything is expected to change once again, as the city of Toronto announced that current physical distancing measures could be in place for up to 12 weeks.