Despite a strong increase in sales for March 2020 as a whole, there was a clear break in market activity between the pre-COVID-19 and post-COVID-19 periods. For the purposes of this release, the start of the post-COVID-19 period was the week beginning Sunday, March 15.
- The overall March sales result was clearly driven by the first two weeks of the month. There were 4,643 sales reported in the pre-COVID-19 period, accounting for 58% of total transactions and representing a 49% increase compared to the first 14 days of March 2019.
- There were 3,369 sales reported during the post-COVID-period – down by 15.9% compared to the same period in March 2019.
Media on Real Estate: COVID-19 slows Toronto home sales after surge the start of March – Canadian banks pause payments on 10% of mortgages as they field 500,000 requests for deferral – Toronto real estate market is changing but still plenty of activity – Is Toronto’s real estate market a bubble poised to pop? – Toronto housing market ‘going to take a hit’ during COVID-19, but experts say it won’t last.