“If everyone is going left, look right." -Sam Zell

The right time to buy things is usually when other's aren't, which is why I've felt that this year was a great time to buy a centrally located condo. Cities aren't going anywhere. This isn't their first pandemic. Downtown demand will return as soon as urban life returns and the majority of people are back in their offices next year.

I've also been predicting that the run-up in single-family home prices that we have seen this past year here in Toronto will eventually lead to a surge in demand for condos (and perhaps even for larger suites). It's a question of relative affordability. And so it was interesting to see Shaun Hildebrand of Urbanation predicting the same thing for 2021 in this recent Toronto Star article.

Hildebrand thinks the soaring prices of single-family homes will also push more buyers back to the condo market.

As of November, the average price gap between condos and detached houses was $596,000. The gap between a condo and a semi-detached or townhome was about $217,000. Both of those were at their second-highest levels since the market peaked in late 2016-early 2017, he said.

“This could really start to swing demand towards condos in the second half of the year,” said Hildebrand.

Realosophy data shows condo sales were already up year over year prior to the holidays — 23 per cent the first week of December, 31 per cent the second week and 72 per cent the week of Dec. 14. That means 727 condos sold that week, compared to 418 in the same week last year.