What a crazy year for real estate. COVID certainly didn’t stop people from buying or selling. In fact we saw an 8% increase in sales over the previous year. I personally feel there were a few converging ideas. Some of them had to do with the trends which I addressed in Real Estate Trends 2020 but I also felt there was a large movement of single family investment properties. With record sale prices (15% over 2019) and with so much uncertainty with tenant rights during COVID, I think these types of investors are thinking its time to cash out while the going is good.
On the other side of the coin we are seeing multi-residential buildings flying off the table including places like Napanee and Gananoque. Toronto investors are swooping in and taking advantage of much lower pricing.
2020 was also the year we had a record number of house sales with multiple offers. My prediction is that 2021 will bring more of the same. Let’s hope I’m wrong!