News

Canada’s COVID-19 housing market extravaganza has, until recently, ignored condominiums. But no longer.

In the Greater Toronto Area, condo prices were down 3.7 per cent annually in February and in Greater Vancouver up by a puny 2.5 per cent, even as both cities saw detached home values rise by double digits.

But the demand for apartments is coming back — and fast.

In Toronto, 41 per cent of condos sold for more than the seller’s asking price last month.

Excluding the pre-pandemic peak of February and March 2020, it’s the largest share of sales priced above asking since 2017, before the introduction of the federal mortgage stress test for buyers with a down payment of 20 per cent or more.