And we were off to such a good start... alas, it was not to be. The question on my, and many people's minds, is what is COVID-19 going to do to the real estate market? Obviously, the short term impact can already be seen - when the spring market is normally heating up, two weeks of physical distancing sent sales to the lowest level we've seen in March in at least 10 years. My data set goes back to 2005 (not shown in the charts below) and the lowest number of single-family homes sales I have on record was 636 in March of 2009. At the time, we were recovering from the "Great Recession" and things picked up quite a bit later in the year. Often when an external force hits the real estate market, buyers will shift their purchase forward or back, but this is obviously an unprecedented global event, and no one really knows what's going to happen. RBC says to expect a "tough but temporary blow" to the housing market, but also notes that "oil-producing regions are the most at risk due to the plunge in oil prices. Their comments that the market will recover in stages, hopefully starting early this summer, and that next year will see a big rebound in sales makes a lot of sense to me. We are still meeting with clients and showing homes, although almost all of these meetings are taking place online. Some clients have chosen to take their homes off the market, and some are keeping them on - a temporary rule change is allowing sellers to keep their homes listed in the Associations's MLS® System database for up to 30 days while not allowing showings. My recent post "Should you buy or sell real estate during the COVID-19 pandemic?" explains what is going on with listings, showings, deals and closings. I will update this post when the REALTORS® Association of Edmonton releases its monthly report on the Greater Edmonton real estate market. Here is our market infographic, followed by charts and comments on the Greater Edmonton area real estate market:  

Edmonton Stats

538 single-family homes were reported sold in Edmonton in March, a 9% drop from last year. Condo sales were down 8% from last year - 227 were reported sold in March: The average price of single-family homes dropped 4.5% from last March to $398,609 and the median dropped 2% to $366,000. Condo prices rebounded this month; the average price of condos rose 4% from last March to $217,613 and the median rose 2.6% to $200,000. The average price per square foot for single-family homes dropped $11 to $257 and for condos dropped $3 to $208. Posted by Liv Real Estate on
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2 Responses to March Market Report - UPDATED

The Greater Toronto area will move the entire country upwards as prices keep on increasing due to near zero interest rates. After this liquidity crunch mortgage rates will take a big fall and all virtually all buyers and renters will be shut out of the GTA the same as we see today with California.

Posted by Tony on Tuesday, March 31st, 2020 at 9:18pm

"Mortgage rates will take a big fall"
Don't you mean bond prices will fall (interest rates rise)?

Posted by GM on Wednesday, April 1st, 2020 at 9:16pm

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