The Canadian Real Estate Association is predicting home sales will be so strong they'll reach record highs this year, before starting to cool in 2022.
The association said Monday that it expects nearly 702,000 properties to change hands through Canadian MLS systems this year, up from the 551,262 recorded in 2020, while sales for 2022 are expected total 614,000.
CREA believes the national average home price will rise by 16.5 per cent on an annual basis to just over $665,000 in 2021 and $679,341 in 2022.
CREA's heated predictions show COVID-19 has not spooked buyers, who have waded into expensive markets even as layoffs are plentiful and unemployment high. Throughout the second half of 2020 and the start of 2021, realtors reported bidding wars and high numbers of offers for suburban homes or properties that need renovations.
CREA doesn't believe those trends will dissipate soon.
"At this point everyone knows how far the current monthly sales numbers are from historical norms, and that they have been setting record after record for eight months now, so this should not be a surprise," CREA chair Costa Poulopoulos said in a statement.
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The new outlook came as CREA reported Monday sales in February totalled 58,021, a 6.6 per cent jump from January and a 39.2 per cent increase from the 40,550 units sold in February 2020.
The actual national average home price in February was a record $678,091, up 25 per cent from $542,484 a year earlier.
