Canada condo market rebounds

Condominium markets in some of Canada’s biggest cities have rebounded strongly this year, and agents and analysts say the market could once again return to pre-pandemic red-hot conditions as rental demand surges and inventories evaporate.

The condo market, which had been hot for years, cooled quickly last year during the pandemic as investors fled, spooked by the exodus of renters from cities to live with families or find cheaper places elsewhere.

Short-term rental demand dried up and first-time buyers flocked to the suburbs and smaller towns to work from home.

This year, the rental market is rebounding on the prospect of white-collar employees and students returning to offices and universities and a strong bounce back in immigration to make up for pandemic-driven declines. Younger buyers are also returning to condos after prices for bigger homes surged during the pandemic.

“Market confidence has rebounded very quickly,” particularly in Toronto’s downtown core, said Shaun Hildebrand, president of Toronto real-estate research firm Urbanation.

In the second quarter, the downtown market made up the highest proportion of greater Toronto area condo resales in a decade, which “speaks to a renewed level of confidence, not only in the condo market generally, but more specifically in the downtown market,” Hildebrand said.

About 12,700 condos sold across the greater Toronto area from January to April, surpassing the 10,300 transactions ahead of the previous market peak in 2017. And while they fell following a March high, they remained 15 per cent higher than pre-pandemic levels.