Formerly a sellers’ market, Mississauga real estate market more balanced during pandemic

With restrictions still in place for many parts of Ontario, and three regions once again in lockdown—with the possibility of more joining them—many people are looking to upgrade their living situations.

Throughout October, the Ontario housing market has seen significant competition among buyers, and there was an annual uptick in home sales across the province.

Several real estate boards, including the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board, reported a record-breaking month of sales.

Zoocasa has been tracking housing competition across 35 Ontario real estate markets during October by reviewing sales and new listings data for each region.

This data is used to determine the sales-to-new-listings ratio (SNLR), which indicates whether a market is a buyers’ market—SNLR under 40 per cent—a balanced market—SNLR between 40 per cent and 60 per cent—or a sellers’ market—SNLR over 60 per cent.

According to the findings, 30 out of the 35 markets exhibited strong sellers’ market conditions, such as high demand and a low number of new listings.

This is up from the 27 markets that favoured sellers in October 2019.

Additionally, 14 of the 19 GTA markets favour sellers. Mississauga was one of the five markets that exhibited balanced conditions—there were 943 sales and 1,665 new listings which resulted in an SNLR of 57 per cent.

This represents a pretty significant shift from last year, when Mississauga’s SNLR was 73 per cent—a sellers’ market.

The decline has been attributed to the fact Mississauga is a condo-dense market, which means it has a higher volume of listings, while sales saw a decline due to the pandemic.

“Going into 2021, I expect more competition in the first quarter, as sellers that were able to wait on the sidelines or were undecided may begin to list their homes,” Evelyn Anders, a Zoocasa agent in Toronto, said in a recent release.

“Depending on its effectiveness, the COVID-19 vaccine is likely to have a ripple effect on housing market conditions, particularly in dense urban centers like Toronto, that may see demand re-emerge across all market segments,” she continued.