March continued to be an aggressive real estate market with average sales up 5% from February 2021 ($1,097,000 from $1,045,000) and transactions up 42.7% (15,652 from 10,970).

We are seeing an accelerated spring market, where this type of activity is more common in April or May. That being said, a 42.7% increase in transactions is not common over a month to month or year to year basis ever. Consumers are seeing a light at the end of the tunnel, With low interest rates and more and more Canadians getting their first vaccine shot. This is helping the over heated market. Another major factor for many Canadians who are still working is that they have more money in the bank on average ($200 billion more saved in 2020 from 2019), because they have spent less due to drastic changes to their day to day lives, and have more idle time than ever before to think about making a move.

We believe that this heated market will continue for the next 2-3 months, lasting until around June where things will slow down and have a more balanced outlook. However, many COVID related events can change this unexpectedly – the vaccine roll out in Canada, COVID variants and their impact, and changes to lock down restrictions for example. Canada and the rest of the world will not have a sense of normal until at least the fall of 2021, so many things can happen between now and then.