It’s been said that you have to enter every new year with an optimistic outlook, otherwise you’re doing yourself a disservice. That’s something we can certainly believe in, and most realtors will agree that if you’re going to be in business for yourself you really must have a positive attitude and optimistic outlook. Now it’s fair if the current state of the world and the pandemic means unavoidable pessimism for a lot of people, but we’re going in the opposite direction and you’d do well to come along!
We’ve gone on at length about how absurd it was to suggest that house prices in Canada were going to crash as a result of the pandemic’s economic downturn. The way the market stayed resilient throughout the storm said everything that needed to be said, so we’ll leave that there. A health real estate market is one where house prices seen incremental gains, not the massive jumps that people who can’t get into the housing market regularly complain about. And those are legitimate complaints.
Now if we exclude the Toronto and Vancouver areas where supply and demand economics are pretty much exclusively responsible for housing affordability woes, we in fact have seen incremental gains in housing prices across the country as a whole. That’s the way it should be, and everyone – from homeowners to agents to contractors and the national GDP as a whole – have benefitted from the resilience of our housing market in Canada.
It’s still a tough business to make a go in, however, and that’s why our online real estate lead generations system here at Real Estate Leads is as highly advisable ever here in early 2021 for realtors who need to get more out of their client prospecting efforts. Another big plus for any of them is being explicitly in the know about trends in the Canadian housing market, so let’s use the first post of the year on a 2021 Canadian Real Estate Market Forecast.
Apprehensions Washed Away
Just 3 months into 2020 and the term ‘uncertainty’ had never been more appropriate for the state of the housing market in the country. Those concerns were legitimate, as there was an initial freeze on the homebuyer front as people were naturally apprehensive. Some were apprehensive for the magnitude of the situation, and others were waiting to see if home prices actually did fall in the way some doomsday types were predicting they would.
This was what lead to the ‘pent up’ demand, as the expression went. Come around September of 2020 the volume of sales was rebounding, and in large part because people who were qualified buyers before the pandemic and were less exposed to the ill effects of it made the move they were always going to make at some point.
And yes, the fact that some many would-be buyers remained qualified buyers is a testament to how many people had taken care of the finances to the point that they were sufficiently insulated against the pandemic’s economic downturns. Of course, everyone hopes that those who lost their employment because of the pandemic find the opportunity to re-establish themselves and return to being qualified buyers if purchasing a home was on the list for them before March of 2020.
Commercial Real Estate in Canada 2021
For decades now Canadian commercial real estate has been viewed as a relatively safe, low-risk investment. These days though, the economic uncertainty and pandemic-driven safety measures like lockdowns, physical distancing regulations and capacity limits have taken a big bite out of the enthusiasm that has always been seen for this market.
Unfortunately, part of the commercial market has been seeing retail stores close their doors due to forced lockdowns. Lost revenue as well as a growing consumer shift to online option is triggering decreased demand for industrial properties.
However, businesses transitioning to a remote workplace are assessing the future need for physical office space and whether or not a shift to a hybrid or entirely remote setting moving forward might be the better choice. Still others will wait to see how society adjusts in the coming months to make these types of decisions.
Then there’s been the role of the Federal Government’s CECRA program in all of this. It’s been very helpful and will have long term positive effects on the health of the commercial real estate market in Canada.
Other good news points for this market are in the fact that Industrial properties and warehouses will continue to thrive as the surge in e-commerce continues, further fuelling the need for these types of spaces.
Residential Real Estate in Canada 2021
Opposite to the way it is with the commercial real estate landscape, residential real estate has always been especially cyclical and exposed to uncertainties and risk. We can start by saying that these who have plenty of investment properties in Canada aren’t nearly as self assured as the primary residence-only homeowners are. The market could still take a turn for the worse based on the slightest factor, and it’s these types of owners who are already feeling the pinch if they own condos in Vancouver or Toronto.
However, the pandemic has certainly added a new level of uneasiness and tightening in the market and the reality is that the fundamentals for market forces in residential real estate do not change. Major cities with ample employment opportunities will always inherit large populations as Canadians, and despite the increasing prevalence of work-from-home there are always going to be plenty who need to live close to where they work.
There is a mixed positive in this, and one thing that we’ll see as a predominant trend in 2021 is a hotter rural residential real estate market. That also stands to really benefit the economies of smaller towns, and have other bigger-picture advantages for all of humanity.
Another huge factor here is going to be if interest rates stay very low the way they did throughout 2020. While that will benefit economic recovery, it has the potential to be a double-edged sword. But if rates are to rise there will definitely be a rush of people looking to buy homes and secure favourable financing for that purchase.
All in all – things are looking good for people ready to enter or move-up in the housing market in Canada, and that bodes well for realtors like you! If you’d like to put some serious power behind your client prospecting efforts then do like a whole lot of other success-minded realtors have and sign up for Real Estate Leads here. It’s a proven effective way to put Internet Marketing approaches to work for you and put you directly in touch with people in your area who are genuinely ready to make a move in the real estate market. Only one realtor will receive these leads – and that’s you!
