Toronto’s real estate fatigue and COVID-19 anxiety are rising: real estate agents

Estate agents say now is a good time to strike a deal as prices may finally cool due to rising COVID-19 cases and the season

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Toronto’s housing market may finally cool down after month after month of unusually fast-paced behavior.

The average home price in Toronto broke records in June and continued to rise despite the COVID-19 pandemic, reaching $ 1,025,925 in October.

But daily cases of COVID-19 in Ontario also hit record highs. The provincial government announced 1,581 new cases on Saturday and the pandemic is expected to get worse.

“We continue to urge our members across Ontario to stop hosting open homes,” said Tim Hudak, CEO of the Ontario Real Estate Association. “Limit face-to-face interactions as much as possible and use virtual tools first and to the fullest extent possible.”

If the trends continue, Ontario’s red zones could eventually face a similar freeze in March, which brought the hot housing market to a halt.

But Toronto area real estate agents Meray Mansour and Odeen Eccleston, of Re / Max Hallmark Realty and WE Realty respectively, don’t think real estate sales will stop abruptly. Rather, the buying and selling will be just a pause.

“In the spring, because it was so new to us, we hadn’t developed that tolerance yet,” says Mansour.

“There was so much uncertainty, people were just paralyzed with fear,” adds Eccleston.

Both real estate agents believe that most people will continue to conduct business as usual during the second wave, but perhaps a little more carefully. After speaking on the phone, Mansour will visit the properties to offer his client, who will stay at home, a live tour using Zoom.

“We are a little used to it now,” says Mansour. “Like” OK, here we go again. ”

An unstable Toronto real estate market

Both Mansour and Eccleston also believe this is a good time to start looking for real estate deals. Toronto prices continued to rise through October despite the pandemic, which is an indication of demand. But after months and months of hustle and bustle among real estate agents, buyers and sellers, they say exhaustion is coming.

“People are getting what I might call a bit of real estate fatigue in Toronto,” Eccleston says, explaining it’s a good time for buyers to get a deal from sellers who want to download the remaining listings.

“People start falling asleep at this time of year. I say don’t give up now because the competition will be a little less fierce in November and December. ”

It helps that November and December are typically a time when people take their minds off real estate and calculate vacations. Mansour adds that despite the high prices, the market is unstable, which leaves room for the search for details.

“There were weeks where the offer was very high and then it disappeared,” says Mansour. He adds that the market has recently been in a state where it is no longer just following sustained trends, but is almost reacting emotionally.

For example, Mansour noted that Toronto’s real estate business got a boost after Joe Biden was announced the expected winner of the US presidential election.

“Literally, the day after the winner was announced, everything worked out. My projections have increased. My offers have been accepted. I sold everything. ”

Mansour believes the election results have made people feel a little more confident in their actions and finances, which are tied to the US economy.

Eccleston adds that the weather was nice too, which generally correlates with strong real estate activity. But they both agree that moods and emotions have a strong impact on real estate business.

People’s emotions – and the real estate market – have been on a roller coaster in 2020.

Real estate agents are the new therapists

“It’s harder to make deals because of collective anxiety,” explains Mansour, who says he’s working 10 times harder because pandemic fatigue is putting a strain on transactions.

The pandemic has not only added new health and safety measures and barriers, but new stresses for customers who in some cases are making life-changing decisions in response to the pandemic and financial crisis.

Will they have a job? Do they want to leave the city and look for more space? Or will this pandemic end after a vaccine arrives, which means they should resist? Do they buy first or sell first?

These are all questions that customers usually know the answer to in advance, Mansour says. But not in a COVID-19 world.

“There are announcements every week from the government telling us that the numbers are rising, the numbers are falling, we are locking up, we are opening up,” Mansour says, adding that the emotional toll COVID-19 is taking on people affects people. real estate decisions.

Nowadays, real estate agents feel more like therapists.

“The anxiety levels are high. People drink a lot more. We don’t have the normal things we do every day, like going to the gym or hanging out with friends and family. There is much more isolation. All that stuff affects us psychologically. And most people aren’t even aware of it. It’s kind of like this underlying factor.

“Sometimes, when people are anxious, they make bad decisions,” he adds. “I really had to put on my therapist hat and be like, ‘OK, is this something you really need to do or is it something you are doing because of your anxiety?'”

@justsayrad