We’re in the middle of a pandemic. Unemployment is at an all-time high. Millions of people are without a job.

And the Toronto real estate market couldn’t care less.

If you’re looking for a COVID-discount on your next property, you better not be searching here – ’cause you won’t find it. What you will find, just weeks removed from arguably the worst month in our nation’s economic history, are multiple offers and buyers and sellers with more and more confidence.

“It’s so hard to say why it’s shocking,” says John Pasalis, president of Realosophy Realty. “While nobody was expecting it to fall off, no one was expecting it to take off like this. The market is insanely competitive right now.”

Pasalis notes that in April, multiple offers seemed to die down, but now “we’re back to bidding wars.”

“Buyers may have hit pause for two months, but it’s not like they lost their buying desire altogether,” Pasalis suggests when asked why he believes the market is seeing the amount of action it’s currently experiencing. “People who were out of the game, they’re jumping back in.”

READ: In-Person Home Tours in Toronto Up 95% in May Compared to April

But Pasalis doesn’t think new, record-low mortgage rates are what’s driving the momentum. “Perhaps there are a few people who see rates under 2% and think, good gosh this is crazy, that might be part of it. But overall, rates don’t create buyers, they create a little more urgency.”

The sub-2% rates Pasalis is referring to came about just last week, when HSBC lowered its five-year fixed mortgage rate to 1.99%, becoming the first bank in Canada to “crack” the 2% barrier. It was the first bank to do so, but it certainly may not be the last.

Continue to read on: TorontoStoreys