Love it or hate it — whether you’ve witnessed the meteoric rise in your property’s value over the past decade, or felt the deep frustration of wondering if you’ll ever be able to afford a home in the city — there are few among us without a strong opinion.

That was the case long before the city came to a grinding halt in the face of COVID-19.

Today, in the midst of these uncertain times, most of us find ourselves at home, wondering what post-lockdown life is going to look like.

And while there is no shortage of opinions — everywhere, from everyone — the real estate hot takes are especially interesting.

That’s because they are all over the place.

Some say what was poised to be the hottest spring market on record is just on pause, and will reactivate the moment eager buyers and sellers are released from quarantine.

Others forecast a much bleaker picture than business as usual.

Surely Toronto real estate can’t emerge unscathed from a global economic downturn with historic unemployment numbers, and questions about if and when the next wave of the virus will hit?

Will it mirror the fall and recovery of the great recession of 2008-2009, or not?

While there is no shortage of educated people with intelligent opinions, we just don’t know yet.

Given that the definition of “market value” is what a given property will sell for on the open market, we will need the real estate market to open up again before we can get any real sense of our new normal with respect to house prices and property values.

In the meantime, there have been some government decisions made in response to the COVID-19 pandemic that are already having an impact on the here and now.

After years of historically low vacancy rates on the rental market, largely attributed to investor-owners experiencing bank-robber returns through short-term rentals, the lockdown had an immediate impact.

Suddenly investors have unrentable units to carry.

Almost immediately Craigslist and Kijiji were flooded with new rental apartments.

For renters who have been forced to endure once-inconceivable bidding wars on apartments approaching peak unaffordability, this is great news.

More supply means less demand — you can expect prices to adjust accordingly.

Even without a crystal ball, we can certainly expect to see an immediate impact on the condo market.

Those same investor-owners are suddenly entering their second month of lockdown with no clear end in sight.

Mortgage relief options are limited for non-principal residences, and the short-term rentals that used to cover costs and then some are now banned outright in the province.

Many investors will find they have no alternative but to offload, so it would be entirely reasonable to expect a rise in “distress sales.”

Even pre-construction condominiums will surely take a hit as buyers under contract, now experiencing lost earnings and unemployment, may no longer qualify for financing and could be unable to close on their deals.

Is this bad news?

For some it’s not great.

But is it opening up a wedge of opportunity for buyers and renters who have long needed a break? Absolutely.

So, while we have all surely lost patience with false optimism in the midst of this pandemic, everything isn’t completely awful.

Rocky months lie ahead for Canada’s commercial real estate market, but the sector will likely experience a remarkable revival once the COVID-19 crisis passes, Morguard Director of Research Keith Reading predicted.

“Confidence that the virus is under some degree of control, ideally a vaccine, but minimally a treatment or processes that minimize exposure … will boost the confidence of consumers and businesses. As a result, consumers’ demand will improve, which will expand businesses and eventually the economy will recover,” Reading said in an interview with MBN. “Then, property owners and managers will have confidence that tenants will be able to pay rent and eventually expand. As economic outlook improves, investor confidence will increase.”

Such a virtuous cycle might also play a part in the recovery of the similarly beleaguered residential market, according to analysts.

Reading also said that the commercial market is ideally placed to respond to the sea change brought about by the pandemic.

“COVID-19 has emphasized the importance of human interaction and technology,” he said. “The commercial real estate sector will evolve to accommodate both people and business in the future. Mixed use will continue to expand and health and sustainability will move further to the forefront. Owners and managers will position assets to best meet the needs of businesses and people moving forward.”

Industry players can draw assurance from the segment’s fundamental robustness, Reading said

“In my over 30 years in commercial real estate, the commercial sector has risen to the challenge of several downturns including the late-80s’ recession, the dot-com crash and the Great Recession/financial crisis. I have no doubt the industry will rise again, after the arguably most significant crisis since the 1930s’ Depression,” he said . “Through it all, people and businesses have needed places to live and work. I don’t see that changing.”

Real estate market activity in Toronto is off by 60-65 per cent, according to realtor Barry Cohen, of Barry Cohen Homes. But that doesn’t mean things have fallen off a cliff. Most buyers and sellers have pulled back to wait it out, but others cannot or will not. And those people are looking for creative and safe new ways to move forward.

According to Cohen, who operates in the luxury home market and is one of the top realtors in the country, this spring was shaping up to be the best Toronto has seen in 20 years. When the new COVID-19 measures came in, including banning open houses, the market froze as transactions have dropped like a rock and prices have started to pull back.

Unlike the last major correction of this magnitude that ran from 1989-1993 when the future was unclear, what we are experiencing now has an end game, he says. There are treatments and vaccines on the way. The curve is flattening in Canada, and things will return to normal. Combine this reality with interest rates at historic lows, and Cohen sees a lot of pent up demand that should snap the market by late 2020 or early 2021.

Jamie Dempster broker at RE/MAX Hallmark Jamie Dempster Group who operates primarily in the under $2 million market, is still busy. He has sold four homes and leased two condos in the last couple weeks.

“It is less frantic and rushed, one month ago we saw flashes of the 2017 spike in prices, bidding wars and general frantic behaviour,” he says. “People are acting much more cautious and not diving into situations.”

Whoever remains in the interim market is very serious about making a move right now, and forward-thinking realtors are making it happen thanks to cutting-edge technology that allows for maximum physical distancing.

“There is more of a sense of urgency, as opposed to the tire kickers who are just checking things out,” says Cohen. “The reality is that people are rightfully very concerned about going into homes, and we need to and are adapting.”

Cohen’s firm has two pieces of key technology to facilitate a true-to-life experience as possible for potential buyers. Firstly, there is virtual staging.

“Many agents didn’t have the ability to stage, and most sellers were not willing to participate given the health concerns,” Cohen explains. “So, what we do is that we impose staging on photos of the home. We can create any style, we can change wall colours, add a different type of chandelier and that really helps us to show what the home can become.”

In addition to virtual staging, there is also enhanced 3D modelling that allows potential buyers to have a very realistic walk-through of the home. In these tours, currently done by a third party operator but soon to be done in-house, every nook and cranny can be viewed in high definition and at the buyer’s own pace.

“You feel like you’re actually walking through the home,” Cohen says.

This technology, he adds, has actually been in use the last couple of years, but agents didn’t use it that much.

“Before, this technology was criticized for showing too much,” Cohen explains. “But now it is this golden opportunity to really do the best, closest thing to physically being on a home tour.”

Most of the listings on Cohen’s website utilize the new technology and web traffic has actually increased by a whopping 500 per cent in recent weeks while users are spending much more time viewing each property.

These new tools are combined with others also coming to the fore across all business sectors such as Zoom meetings for listing interviews, as well as DocuSign and electronic signatures for transactions.

Dempster has connected both buyers and sellers via Facetime to conduct property tours and uses a virtual tour platform called Matterport to showcase homes.

Home inspections still need to be conducted in person, but the current operating procedure has inspectors going into homes alone and with full safety measures in place then reporting back to the buying team.

Some of the changes have been so well received that both Cohen and Dempster said they would make them permanent after the shutdown.

That being said, although there is much that can be done on the digital side, there is always a human element that is hard to replicate, says Dempster.

Both said, some face-to-face interactions are still necessary on occasion and are handled with a great number of precautions. But, with the vast majority of in-person communications over that has resulted in an overall tempering of the market.

“A huge part of our job is to understand people’s needs, fears, concerns. Although we are managing virtually, nothing replaces the in-person connection and developing a trusting relationship with our clients,” he explains. “We are seeing a big decline in cold leads coming in, meaning people who haven’t met me and wanted to before engaging our services. As a result, they are holding off on listing or buying.”

As we approach the midpoint of April, there is already talk of ways Toronto and other cities can exit the shutdown and phase in industries that have been closed.

In an opinion piece written for a local website, TRREB president Michael Collins said, “If social distancing measures begin to loosen starting in the mid-to-late summer, then we could see a strengthening demand for ownership housing throughout the fall and into the winter. News of employees returning to work and extremely low mortgage rates could also fuel tighter market conditions.”

With open houses now prohibited in many regions amid the COVID-19 pandemic, real estate agents are looking for ways to showcase their properties without putting their clients and potential buyers at risk. Enter the video walkthrough, a feature typically reserved for the sale of luxury homes with generous marketing budgets.

But we’re here to tell you that you don’t need a $1,400 DSLR camera to shoot professional-looking video walkthroughs. The Livabl team has filmed and edited over 120 home tours for our YouTube channel, often using budget accessories like a $30 LED light or a garden cart in lieu of a dolly track. Here we’ve rounded up our top tips for real estate agents who want to create compelling video walkthroughs without shelling out a lot of cash.

1. Declutter and stage the property
Prepare the property as if you were hosting an open house. That means cleaning out the closets, mowing the lawn, putting away family photos and clearing all surfaces of clutter. Even while filming homes that have been professionally staged by interior designers, we’ve had instances where a water bottle or dog toy gets left in the way and it ruins an otherwise perfect shot. Don’t forget to look in less obvious places too; a wide-lens could capture the baseball bat your client keeps hidden under the bed in case of intruders.

2. Prepare a shot list
Preparing a shot list ahead of time will help you maintain focus on the day of filming. Think about the home’s top selling features and how you can highlight them. Have the owners installed new quartz countertops? Hone in on the subtle, marble-like veining to show it off.

It’s also a good idea to sketch out a floorplan of the home and decide the order of the rooms you’re going to film. When you reach the editing stage, the video will flow more naturally. Don’t forget to capture some shots of the exterior and any private outdoor spaces.

3. Consider the time of day and weather conditions
Shoot with natural light whenever possible. The quality of your video will look infinitely better and it will send a message to buyers that this home is bright and airy. That being said, filming on a clear day might cause an abundance of sunlight to stream in and ‘blow out,’ or overexpose, the windows. Slightly overcast conditions are more preferable because the light is diffused through the clouds and shadows tend to be softer.

Here at Livabl, we like to schedule our shoots in the morning when the light is not as harsh. If you arrive at the property in the late afternoon, you also risk running out of daylight hours. Always give yourself more time than you think you’ll need, otherwise, you may have to rely on artificial lighting, which can cause your footage to appear yellowish and unnatural.

4. Add artificial light when necessary
Even if you’ve followed all of the rules listed above, you may still encounter a space that’s dark and dingey. To brighten it up, you could purchase an LED video light online for less than $50 or use a torchiere floor lamp to bounce light off the ceiling and cast a softer glow. If the home you’re selling has under-cabinet lighting in the kitchen or pot lights throughout the living room, you may want to keep them turned on to showcase those features to potential buyers.

5. Invest in a smartphone gimbal stabilizer
Video stabilizers have come a long way in recent years and you can now purchase a handheld smartphone gimbal for as low as $70. They’re essentially glorified selfie sticks that allow you to shoot really smooth video footage while in motion and capture interesting angles. Smartphone gimbals are much easier to lug around than a traditional tripod and there are thousands of YouTube videos dedicated to gimbal moves that will lend your video some cinematic flair.

6. Buy an inexpensive lavalier microphone
The vast majority of video walkthroughs do not feature narration, but if you’re looking to personalize your tour, you might consider purchasing a lavalier (or lapel) microphone on the cheap. Using your phone or camera’s built-in microphone is not ideal, as it picks up a lot of background noise. A lavalier microphone is unidirectional, meaning it hones in on the speaker.

There are several models that plug directly into your smartphone and you can use the Voice Memos app (or your app of choice) to record crisp, clear audio. If you tend to ramble or are short on time the day of the shoot, you might want to record the audio separately and follow a script.

7. Consider a wide-angle lens for your camera phone
A wide-angle lens allows you to capture a large space like a great room or kitchen without having to pan and also makes smaller rooms feel more spacious. If you have a newer Android or iPhone, you already have a great wide-angle lens built-in — just make sure you know how to zoom out properly.

For older smartphones or those who want to be a little more creative with their shots, clip-on lens kits are readily available online. These usually come with a variety of lenses including wide-angle, fisheye and telephoto. But as is the case with DSLR cameras, not all lenses are created equal. Poor quality glass can distort the image, so make sure you choose a reliable brand. Olloclip and Moment are household names in smartphone photography and although they’re a bit pricier, they offer better quality visuals, durability and are compatible with multiple smartphones.

8. Get creative with composition and close-ups
Wide-angle lenses are great for showcasing entire rooms, but when you’re selling a home, you also want to emphasize the design details, like a gooseneck faucet or cabinet hardware. Flex your creative muscles by applying the rule of thirds to your shots or experimenting with soft focus. Capture a mix of wide shots, pans and close-ups to make your video more dynamic and exciting.

9. Download the FiLMiC Pro app for iOS and Android
FiLMiC Pro is your phone’s built-in camera on steroids. For about $15, you can access DSLR-like settings that allow you to manually change the frame rate and shutter speed, monitor audio levels, lock in focus and exposure, adjust the white balance and much more.

We’re particularly fond of the ability to turn off the stabilization feature the newer iPhones are equipped with. If you’re using a smartphone gimbal, the iPhone OIS (optical image stabilization) will conflict with the stabilization that the gimbal provides, resulting in some Blair Witch Project-inspired camera shaking. Thankfully, FiLMiC Pro takes care of that issue.

Next week we’ll be publishing a follow-up to this article on editing tips for video walkthroughs so stay tuned!

On any regular day, jumping through the hoops of closing a real estate transaction can be a handful — there’s paperwork to sign, lawyers to meet with, and mortgage appraisals to be had. Like many other aspects of the Canadian real estate industry, and our daily lives, COVID-19 has thrown the typical process of closing deals out the window.

“Things that we used to take for granted before, so for example, having to meet with a lawyer to sign paperwork, is no longer even a possibility,” said Reuven Gorsht, co-founder and CEO of Deeded, a tech company that specializes in supporting and digitizing the real estate closing process. Deeded provides secure signing, document and closing support to clients through its online assistant platform.

To comply with newly implemented social distancing standards, which restricts the amount of face-to-face interaction transactions typically require, some closing processes have been adapted or moved online. By making property closings paperless and completely functional through new technology, Deeded is helping ease this transition.

According to data from the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA), over 88,000 homes were sold in Canada in the first two months of 2020. With two parties on all transactions, this means that roughly 176,000 individuals and families are expected to close on a property in the coming weeks and months. While real estate, land registry and legal services have been deemed an essential service and remain open in Ontario, the COVID-19 pandemic is still making the closing process fraught with uncertainty.

“Residential closings involve a lot of different pieces coming together, and that could be anything from mortgage, to the availability of lenders, the appraiser, the appraisals, the availability of law firms and lawyers being open, [and] land registry,” said Gorsht. “Things literally keep changing by the minute.”

Job loss and fear over temporary unemployment related to COVID-19 has hit Canadian households hard during the last few weeks. In mid-March, the federal government received 500,000 applications for employment insurance benefits. As Gorsht explained, for those buyers and sellers who have made mortgage commitments, a sudden job loss may throw the mortgage lender’s ability to honour that commitment into question. In some transactions, lenders may include additional conditions requiring reverification of employment, which Gorsht said has been a cause of concern for some clients trying to close.

“Of course, that changes everything and that throws a lot of deals into a state where clients have a very high level of anxiety and want to close a lot faster and want to move up their closing dates, so we’re seeing that,” he said.

Even in the event of a COVID-19-related job loss, or other extraordinary circumstances that impact the buyer or seller, existing deals must still close, explained Gorsht. Standard real estate agreements in Ontario do not include a force majeure clause, a provision that would relieve both parties from obligations in a contract in light of an unforeseen event that stops the parties from fulfilling their contractual responsibilities. Other delays such as self-isolation, Gorsht explained, have an influence on the entire closing process.

“Let’s say you’ve got folks that are quarantined and they’re not able to sign anything, it now impacts everybody else,” he said. “It impacts if they’re selling, then you’ve got their buyer expecting to move in, and, of course, it impacts the buyer’s ability because they’ve probably sold their place as well, or notified their landlord.”

For those buyers and sellers who aren’t currently required to close, but are looking to make a sale, there may be actions they can take to gain more control over their future transaction. Gorsht said some lawyers have suggested including a COVID-19-specific clause in new contracts to cover any unforeseen situations arising as a result of the disease.

“There are a bunch of clauses being employed to be able to prevent future deals from delay,” he said.

Closing on a real estate transaction traditionally involves in-person meetings and signings, but in an era of strict social distancing, there’s no business as usual. One Deeded client who recently closed on a property is a nurse; as an essential medical worker, signing in person is not an option. To accommodate remote closings, regulatory and licensing bodies like the Law Society of Ontario (LSO) have changed their processes on how transactions can legally be completed.

For example, the LSO recently altered their interpretation of the Commissioners for Taking Affidavits Act, which normally requires that “every oath and declaration shall be taken by the deponent in the presence of the commissioner or notary public,” according to the LSO’s website. Now, lawyers and paralegals are not required to be physically present, and alternative means of commissioning are accepted, such as video meetings.

While technologies that support virtual showings, video-walkthroughs and e-signatures have existed for some time, Gorsht said that they are shining in this time of social distancing and widespread business shutdowns. Digital identity authentication has improved and online conferencing has made remote signings possible. Another Deeded client who couldn’t make it back in time from Latin America was able to close on a property via video.

“Now, technology has come such a long way, especially over the last few years where we’ve got digital identity technologies that are able to do a much better job than you can physically identifying your driver’s license on whether that is a legitimate document or whether it’s active,” said Gorsht.

While we aren’t certain what a post-COVID-19 world will look like yet, Gorsht believes that some of the virtual changes being deployed across the real estate industry will become permanent fixtures.

“Now that people are actually experiencing this new technology and being able to do things remotely, those behaviours, I believe, will stick,” said Gorsht. “We’re going to see such a massive change in the way that people are transacting on real estate.”

Data released earlier this month by the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board (TRREB) gave us the first glimpse of the huge blow the COVID-19 pandemic would deliver to the city’s housing market.

After a strong showing in the first half of March, Toronto home sales fell 16 percent in the second half of the month when compared to the same period in 2019. While the market still emerged from March with sales up 12 percent over the previous year, it was a far cry from the momentum achieved in February when sales rose 44 percent over 2019.

“Uncertainty surrounding the outbreak’s impact on the broader economy and the onset of the necessary social distancing measures resulted in the decline in sales since March 15,” said TRREB President Michael Collins, in a media release.

There’s no doubt that market activity will fall much further and April’s results will paint an even bleaker picture of the state of Toronto housing after a full month spent weighed down by the pandemic.

But as market activity takes a big hit from the restrictive measures implemented to fight the virus’s spread, RBC Senior Economist Robert Hogue believes that Toronto home prices are relatively safe from a significant decline.

In a brief published in response to last month’s TRREB data, Hogue noted that the MLS price index for Toronto still increased 11.1 percent year-over-year in March.

“We expect price support to wear down in the weeks ahead. Still we see a low risk of a collapse at this point,” he said.

“We believe the extraordinary policy response from all levels of government and the Bank of Canada, as well as accommodating measures offered by financial institutions will soften the blow.”

TRREB’s own market analysis team took a similar view when providing a preliminary evaluation of the disruptive effects of the pandemic on the region’s housing market.

“As we move through the spring, it is possible that we may see a moderation in price growth if market conditions soften due to a combination of slower sales and an uptick in listings,” TRREB said in a media release accompanying the March market data.

“However, a resumption of tighter market conditions and an improving pace of price growth will likely occur as the market recovers in the fall of 2020 and winter of 2021.”

TRREB is set to release an updated Toronto housing market outlook for 2020 in mid-April once it completes a full assessment of the impacts of the pandemic.