Over the past several years, Canadian cities have grown both up and down in line with housing trends and trends that fluctuate and flow in the course of. While certain Canadians are looking further in search of affordable housing, a lot of others are looking for multi-family living units like condominiums and apartments in bigger cities.
The emergence of apartments and apartment-condominiums in Canada’s largest urban centres not only reflects a change in lifestyle choice for much of the population, but also underscores important demographic, economic, and societal shifts related to increased rates of immigration, declining household size, changing household characteristics, ageing populations, rising prices for single-family homes, land shortages, and restrictive development policies.
Each of these aspects in their own way and together have had a significant effect on Canadian real property market.
Real estate professionals study and monitor this trend, they also note that the unforeseen COVID-19’s arrival simultaneously slowed down and stopped some of these trends in ways that couldn’t be predicted. Prior to COVID-19 the major cities were experiencing the rise in the demand for multi-dwelling family units, a trend which was expected to last throughout the next few years.
In the beginning days of the pandemic’s global spread it was evident that the situation was changing. As the rates of infection increased and lockdowns became more severe and remote work was the norm that led to an exodus of individuals from cities to rural or suburban areas.
These developments, in conjunction with technological advancements and an economy growing increasingly dependent on real property and real estate, have had a major influence on Canadian real estate market. Here is a look at the development of real property in Canada and a brief overview of present landscape and the impact that technology is having on it. technology.
The History of Real Estate in Canada
Organized markets that formalize and connect buyers of residential homes with sellers existed for more than 100 years within Canada and the very first board of real estate founded by 1888 Vancouver — just two decades prior to the country’s creation in 1867.
In 1943, a group of real estate associations from across Canada created a national association to reflect the broader nature of the business. In the years following as the country expanded and the market grew, it evolved to adapt to evolving demographics, lifestyles and the preferences for housing.
The 1950s witnessed the emergence of the tiny yet affordable suburban single family house as the most preferred choice of housing for millions of returning military personnel and their families. In the 1950s the majority of the new construction projects in Canada were single-family houses.
The 1960s witnessed a boom in demand for multi-family and apartments housing, which was fueled by the population of new immigrants coming from Canada from Europe as well as developing nations. The low cost of multi-family homes was a major draw to single-family houses.
As consumers grew wealthier in the 1970s and 1980s, we saw a decline of 40% in multi-family dwellings and a revival of single-family dwellings with single and multi-family developments evening out and forming a similar percentage of the new building.
Reversing yet again, the 1990s were a gruelling time on the Canadian real estate market in a period marked by the high rate of interest, the economic recessions in the beginning into the decade and with a slowdown in the construction of homes.
In the 21st century, and thanks to the rise online, the demand recommenced the upward trend because of the drop in mortgage rates as well as the ease of access to listings on the CREA-owned realtor.ca and the rising the popularity and accessibility of condominiums. On a national scale apartments have become the predominant kind in condominium development since the mid 2000s.
How It’s Going
Today, the value of residential real estate is an important indicator of economic growth that has increased in importance since the market continues to expand over the last decade. Particularly during the epidemic, that saw a long-lasting low-interest environment, and an increase in savings for households and the housing market been booming.
The rapid growth of homeownership and residential investment has led to an economic system that’s more dependent on real estate than it has ever been. In Q4-2020, the residential investment ratio soared to 9.27 percent, which is up 9.02 percent over the prior quarter. In actual fact, Canadian residential investment is expanding at a fast pace, despite the pandemic. In 2019 to 2020, the residential investment increased by 22.3 percentage points more, averaging over $200 billion.
The market for real estate has also been recognized as an important and “safe” investment, allowing investors to increase their wealth, since the value of real estate is likely to increase over time.
The Impact of Technology
Another key element in the growth of the business over the past decadeas a disruptor as well as an opportunity source is the use of technology. In the past, the real estate market was based on face-to-face interactions as well as open houses, physical listings as well as client walk-ins. Technology has not only changed the industry externally by changing consumers’ purchasing habits, but also affected the industry inside with the wide availability of information and listings on the internet.
The buyers of today are the most educated and empowered in the history of humanity thanks to technology, which gives more information as never before. With a couple of clicks, prospective buyers can check out the available properties and how much they’re being advertised for and, in some cases the price they’ve sold for. This gives buyers more information and realistic expectations for buyers when they enter the market, and also gives buyers an advantage when they submit offers.
Technology has also significantly benefited real property professionals. Service is now seamless to provide better customer service, and cutting-edge technology helps integrate the various industries involved in a property transaction. Real estate agents are able to differentiate themselves by establishing high standards of expertise and customer service.
Ongoing Evolution
The Canadian market for real estate is constantly changing according to changing demographics as well as economic conditions, consumer preferences and policies of the government which affect the cost of ownership.
Much to the delight of many people, the effect of the current epidemic has, for the majority of the time, pushed up the market, instead of reinforcing it.
In the same way the technology system of real estate industry is getting more advanced, which has increased transparency of listings and market transparency to a point that promises to improve the efficiency of the market and fair for both buyers and sellers.
In the near future the cloud-based infrastructure will continue revolutionize the real estate industry which will bring in the age of intelligent real estate. Making use of advanced property intelligence as well as innovative technologies, focused on increasing security of data, will remain a significant driver for the business and propelling it forward in the many years to come.