THUNDER BAY — Despite struggling for three months during the first COVID-19 lockdown, the resale housing market in Thunder Bay rebounded and finished 2020 on a high note.
The year ended with 1,268 transactions, just marginally below the 1,273 house sales recorded in 2019.
The Thunder Bay Real Estate Board also estimates that resale prices averaged about seven per cent higher than 2019.
However, in December, houses sold for an average of just under $238,000, 15 per cent more than a year earlier.
The number of units sold in December also rose 30 per cent over the same month in 2019.
It was a welcome bounce-back in the marketplace for Thunder Bay's 193 real estate sales people.
Andrew Lawrence, president of the real estate board, says "we just got the tar kicked out of us" by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in March, April and May in particular.
"In that first wave, everybody was pulling back. Our business was down across the board about 50 per cent. Then we slowly started to climb out of it except for a couple of months that were a little softer," Lawrence said.
He said the recovery rate generally continued gradually through the balance of the year.
Finishing almost on par with 2019, Lawrence said, "is not bad, in consideration to how badly the year started. We weren't projecting – before COVID – much of an increase over the previous year."
Lawrence said the first wave of COVID, when everything slowed down, created a pent-up demand in the second half of the year as people decided to step back into the market.
"That was a big relief to the real estate industry, that's for sure, and to a lot of other businesses that depend on us."
Homebuyers looking for properties in the $240,000 to $320,000 price range, or what Lawrence calls "the sweet spot," currently may find themselves facing competing offers, because there's a lack of inventory.
He said he's aware of a recent listing that resulted in no fewer than eight offers being presented to the seller.
Although the number of multiple-offer scenarios recently slowed down somewhat, Lawrence said it can leave buyers feeling frustrated.
"It's great for the seller. Terrible for the buyers. They have to start all over again...When you have this situation it makes it difficult for buyers who, say, are maxed out at $240,000 or $250,000 or $280,000. Because they can only go so far, and then they don't get it, it's very frustrating."
He expects 2021 won't see the big swings in market activity that COVID-19 created last year.
"Nobody's looking at doom and gloom, but I don't think it's going to go into orbit, either," he said.
As for the impact of COVID-19, Lawrence said the industry has adapted to the safety protocols and knows how to work with them.
For example, his own firm requires that no buyers enter a house without a mask, must verify they are symptom-free, must sanitize beforehand, and can't touch anything in the house during the tour. In addition, no more than two people plus the realtor are allowed in the home.
Lawrence said most people looking to buy a house are comfortable with the precautions now, although there was a little bit of pushback at the outset.
