The 2018 property market led us into a strong seller’s market throughout most of 2019. Renfrew County does not tend to spike and tank like the city markets do and that is such a bonus for our buyers. The market was brisk and depleted much of the inventory which created a strong seller’s market. Sellers often enjoyed multiple competitive offers on their property. So, as we moved into 2020, we had a low inventory to start the year, but that is not entirely unusual, as the spring market usually brings property onto the market. And just as we would hope to ramp up business and buckle down for another busy season in the Valley, we had our knees knocked out from under us with COVID-19.
For the first few weeks realtors, buyers and sellers all tried to find the proper approach to continue to get people moved into their homes as there were many folks whose homes were sold and had nowhere to move into and call home. Fortunately, realtors are deemed an essential service and with the help of many of our governing organizations, Ministry of Health and other levels of Government, we all developed a protocol that kept our sellers and their properties, our buyers and our realtors all in compliance and the properties as protected as possible. This truly is a challenging and unprecedented time for realtors.
The market presently still has reasonable activity. Usually April is very busy with sales and listings, and we are moving towards cottage season where we usually see lots of waterfront properties on the market. This year, however, remains a seller’s market so far. There is an extremely low inventory of all types of property on the market — and there are certainly people looking and sales are occurring.
Realtors are doing our best to accommodate those that must move and we use technology wherever possible rather than in-person visits. We have electronic signatures and so many more tools at our disposal to make this process easy.
No one has a crystal ball. I wish I did though, to determine how COVID-19 will affect our market throughout 2020 and beyond. With so many people laid off and perhaps some job and business losses, it may affect people’s ability to borrow and obtain a mortgage. There are certainly many challenging times ahead of us. The local real estate market has had hard times before but we are resilient and because our market does not spike and tank we can recover. It is just a question of how and when. We really will not know the total effect on the real estate market for several months ahead.
About the author: Pat Scott is the owner and Broker of Record at Queenswood National Real Estate Ltd. She came to the area in 1976, raised her family here and considers it home. Pat’s real estate career began in 1990 at Queenswood. While she purchased the company in 2014, she mostly loves the listing and selling part of the job.
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