Sigh a breath of relief, 2020 is almost in the rear-view mirror!

And while a new year typically renews optimism—or in this case, what’s left of it—2021 will bring especially good news for one cohort of homebuyers.

“I think it will be easier for first-time homebuyers to get into the market in 2021,” said James Laird, president of CanWise Financial and co-founder of Ratehub.ca. “First-time homebuyers will have a limited opportunity to enter the housing market, but not in the single-family detached market; it will almost certainly be in the urban condo market. Condos will soften for the first half of the year, but they will stabilize in the second half of the year.”

In other words, the time to act is now.

“The last several years, the condo market has been on fire, making it difficult for first-time buyers, but it’s not right now,” added Laird. “It’s better to enter it when it’s weak than when it’s on fire, depending on the person’s life situation, of course.”

First-time buyers in Vancouver and Toronto have been short-shrifted in recent years by runaway housing prices, including in the market’s starter home segment, and while 2020 has been a proverbial kick in our collective teeth, it has proffered opportunity to these buyers. If first-time buyers act quickly heading into 2021 and get prequalified, their prospects will be brighter.

Continue to read on: Canadian Real Estate Magazine