When COVID-19 hit Canada, predictions about the housing market began to fly (along with predictions about every other aspect of life).

Before March, Toronto real estate was already on a tear in 2020. January saw the highest monthly price gain in two years (8.7% y-o-y), leading TRREB to declare that the hot GTA market would be a trend buyers and sellers should get used to seeing for the rest of the year.

February didn’t disappoint either, seeing its highest number of new home sales in nearly two decades and enjoying an overall rise in sales activity of 45% y-o-y.

It was going to be a banner year.

Of course, we all remember mid-March. Like most aspects of daily life, real estate ground to a (near) halt. For weeks, the uncertainty and sickness in the air stifled momentum and slowed interactions to record lows.

READ: The Toronto Housing Market is on Fire, Except Where it’s Not

In April, national home sales fell 56.8%, while in Toronto they plunged nearly 70% y-o-y. Market bears were starting to hold up their ‘I told you so’ signs. A report from TD at the end of April, which called for Toronto home prices to rise by nearly 8% in 2020, was loudly mocked for being out of touch with reality. By mid-May, the CMHC had released their now-famous forecast calling for average housing prices to drop up to 18% in the next 12 months based on the amount of mortgage deferrals taking place.

But 2020 had already reached its low point for real estate. Just a few weeks later and June was already back to near-normal levels. Since then, it hasn’t looked back, and it’s only gone up — to record highs, month after month.

Continue to read on: TorontoStoreys.com