By: Carina Bonifaz

Despite COVID-19, the Oakville real estate market is continuing to appeal to buyers. Like most Canadian cities, Oakville started off 2020 strong. In Royal LePage’s "Upcoming Market Summary" released in late 2019, an increase of 4.75% was expected in the GTA by the end of 2020. However only a couple of months into the year, the global pandemic sent many businesses into a spiral, which has affected some local housing markets. Despite this, the Oakville housing market seems to be holding strong.

What is in store for real estate in Oakville?

Contrary to several predictions, Oakville real estate prices according to OMDREB did not go down during these past few months. In fact, the average home price increased 9.76 per cent year-over-year, reaching $1,251,124 in April 2020, compared to April 2019, when the average price was $1,129,093.

Luxury real estate in Oakville

For properties that are listed over $3 Million, the property segment had a small tone down over the last 60 days or so, which seems to be directly tied to COVID-19. Buyers may be waiting for the economy to return to its normal activities.

Talking to different colleagues there are even some multiple-offer scenarios occurring in Oakville, with some properties being sold over asking price. Royal LePage also reported that GTA home prices should remain relatively stable through the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on these factors, the belief is that Oakville real estate will remain as in demand as ever. This is great news for homeowners in Canada and specifically in Oakville.

For realtors, however, some things seem to have changed. Phil Soper, CEO of Royal LePage said that "traditional home sales practices" will not return to normal anytime soon. The traditional open house is all but extinct, however we have seen a surge of FaceTime showings, Instagram Live Open Houses, online signing of documents and the emergence of social media increasing tenfold. Realtors will have to find ways to market responsibly and continue to sell homes remotely until things have settled down and we re-open more and more businesses while maintaining practices that are deemed appropriate by the government, OREA and CREA.