As Ontario commences stage one of its reopening plan this week, the Toronto region’s real estate board is continuing to take stock of how the housing market could be further impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Today, the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board (TRREB) released findings from an Ipsos survey on consumer sentiment, as well as home buying and selling intentions, in light of the ongoing pandemic. The survey was carried out from April 24 to April 27th with a group of 802 participants.

While sales continue to be severely impacted in all Canadian markets, buyers’ desire to eventually purchase within the Toronto region still remains strong.

Across the GTA, 27 percent of respondents surveyed said that they were ‘likely’ to purchase a home within the next 12 months. This marks a slight decrease from 2019, when 31 percent of respondents said that they would likely make a purchase during that time span. However, even with this drop, purchase intentions remain in line with the five-year trend, according to the report.

Satisfaction with their current home was the leading reason 62 percent of respondents said that they had no intentions of buying over the next 12 months. Other respondents cited affordability issues as their major deciding factor not to purchase. From the survey group, only 16 percent of respondents said that challenges caused by COVID-19 were the reason that they were unlikely to buy a home over the next 12 months.

In the City of Toronto, purchasing intentions were above the GTA average, with 34 percent of those surveyed saying they would likely buy in the next 12 months. Younger buyers and households with children had the most motivation to buy, with 45 percent and 37 percent expressing interest, respectively.

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