Homebuyers heed the pandemic push
Millennials look beyond their small GTA homes for places where they can safely live, work and play
Jessica Wilson, a 30-year-old teacher with the Toronto Catholic District School Board, thought she was heading to Thunder Bay for March Break. Wilson owns a cottage in the area, and said she spends most school holidays there — taking in her hometown’s idyllic views of Lake Superior before returning to the city’s hustle-and-bustle.
Five months later, she’s still there. And, with no end to the coronavirus in clear sight, Wilson has decided it’s going to stay that way.
“Financially it doesn’t make sense. My mortgage in Thunder Bay costs less than my rent in Toronto. It was a nice apartment but it’s like $2,000 to live in a basement. You know?” said Wilson, who’s lived in the GTA for seven years. “I haven’t felt as restricted being in a small town because there’s paths and nature everywhere. You have a lot more movement that’s available.”
According to Statistics Canada’s recent report, Price trends and outlook in key Canadian housing markets, COVID-19 may cause home buyers to spread “further away from pricier cities like Toronto and Vancouver to be able to afford larger houses.”
This is in line with studies, such as the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC)’s 2018 Housing Market Insight report, which revealed an increase in GTA households migrating to municipalities that offer more affordable, single-detached housing over the past few years.
And as COVID-19 has meant people staying home, it’s raised an unexpected question among many millennials: Where, exactly, do I want that home to be?
When Wilson bought her “camp” in 2017, it was to invest some savings into a recreational property. A 1,200-square-foot, lakefront home ticked all of her boxes: two bedrooms, sauna, sunroom, less than an hour from the city centre, and within her $300,000 budget.
Since she was living on the top floor of a colleague’s home in Toronto at the time, rent was reasonable. That changed in 2019 when her landlord got pregnant and she got evicted. The best deal she could find in the same neighbourhood, Roncesvalles, cost $600 more per month.
“There has absolutely been an increase in clients looking outside of the GTA.“MARK STEELE REAL-ESTATE BROKER
When COVID-19 became an issue this year, Wilson was feeling the squeeze. So, while at her cottage where she reconnected with loved ones and enjoyed a more rural environment, with fewer coronavirus cases and a lower cost of living, Wilson said she had enough motive to end her lease in the city.
“Once the school year starts, I’ll have to face those everyday realities of living in a small town. Plus winter is going to be a whole other situation that I need to deal with. But so far it’s been good,” she said. “Ask me in a few months.”
Wilson gave up her job in Toronto for a position with a local school board. But, for many professionals, COVID-19 is making it easier to simply move your job with you. A Statistics Canada survey released in May found that nearly onequarter of Canadian businesses expect 10 per cent or more of their workforce to continue working from home post-pandemic.
“It didn’t really seem like it would work before COVID,” said Amanda Wyman, 35, who bought a house in Port Hope during the quarantine — despite her husband’s office being located in downtown Toronto. “With the possibility of working remotely, that changed.”
The couple had not planned to move for another five to 10 years but when the virus confined them to their two-bedroom loft with their 10-month-old baby, their quarters suddenly felt awfully close.
“The silver lining was getting to spend a lot more time with our son Mortimer,” said Drew Tozer, a 30-year-old data analyst at a crown corporation. “The downside was having to juggle work with parenting going on in the background.” Space wasn’t the only issue. “COVID changed how we saw Toronto — at least in the short term — because you immediately lost a lot of the benefits of being in the city,” Tozer said.
For just under $700,000, Wyman and Tozer are the new owners of a 1,900square-foot, three-bedroom detached home with an additional loft area and large yard. As Tozer noted about the price: “In Toronto, that’s a small onebedroom condo.”
There’s only one bathroom, but part of the two-car garage was converted into a workshop — perfect for Wyman, a ceramics teacher who owns Mud Makers in the Junction Triangle. Thanks to her partners and technology, she said she can run the studio from afar. Tozer’s parents also live in Port Hope and as well as that advantage, the town, is just a 1-1/2-hour commute to Toronto.
Real-estate broker Mark Steele said he’s noticed an uptick in clients who are expressing interest in municipalities outside the GTA.
“There has absolutely been an increase in clients looking outside of the GTA ... now that COVID has made it less important to work from an office,” Steele said.
Yet a COVID-inspired migration pattern has the potential to drive up prices, notes CMHC’s principal economist for the GTA, Dana Senagama.
“It’s almost counter-intuitive because although you’re looking for affordable housing what it’s likely going to do is push prices up higher,” explained Senegama.
Ryan Kardish has first-hand experience with the tribulations of price surges. The 29-year-old digital strategist has been house-hunting since March in his hometown of Ottawa where prices are reaching all-time highs, outpacing growth in other key markets, according to Statistics Canada.
Despite what Kardish described as “intense bidding wars that are pushing the prices of homes $60,000-80,000 above asking,” he feels the time is right to buy after living in a shared downtown Toronto condo for four years.
Initially, he had his sights set on a spacious $500,000 condo in Ottawa’s Centretown. But he said the pandemic highlights that “it’s more important to have a dedicated office space or to be more comfortable at home.” He’s now looking for a single family home in the suburbs, closer to $700,000.
Kardish’s girlfriend, Marnie Gontovnick, has also changed her mind about relocating.
“You really start to value space, size of property and backyard accessibility compared to being in a condo with tons of other people,” she said.
“(This period) has opened our eyes: Why are we paying a premium to be in Toronto? As of now, there’s no point.”