The housing market rebound that’s taken shape over the last two months has so thoroughly exceeded expectations that it’s forcing real estate companies to overhaul their 2020 forecasts.

Late last week, real estate brokerage RE/MAX released its Fall 2020 Outlook, which surveyed agents and brokers across Canada in an effort to take the market’s temperature heading into the final stretch of 2020.

To call the year eventful would be a gigantic understatement. But even with the unprecedented shutdown that took place through the spring and economic volatility that accompanied it, the brokerage’s home price projections for the end of the year have actually been revised upward.

RE/MAX brokers and agents now expect average Canadian home prices will rise 4.6 percent by the end of this year, up from the 3.7 percent increase they had predicted for 2020 at the end of last year, well before COVID-19 had even been identified by the medical community.

“While COVID-19 lockdowns slowed Canada’s housing market at the start of a typically busy spring market, activity bounced back by early summer in many regions, including Vancouver and Toronto,” said RE/MAX Regional Executive Vice President Elton Ash.

“Despite the tragic impacts of the pandemic, our optimism in the strength of Canada’s housing market has always remained, and current market activity further exemplifies this. Many homebuyers are now exploring different neighbourhoods that better suit their new lifestyles, and real estate agents are getting busier and working more with buyers from different major cities.”

Ash said that RE/MAX agents across the country are expecting homebuying activity through 2020’s fall season to resemble volume seen during a typical busy spring season.

RE/MAX’s home price projections are far from the only ones being revised after the robust activity levels seen throughout the summer.

In a note published last week, Capital Economics’ Stephen Brown said that the firm had expected Canadian home prices to stagnate through 2020, before picking up steam again in 2021 and 2022. Now, the economist believes even that prediction may prove to be too pessimistic given the resiliency seen in the Canadian real estate market.

RE/MAX Boosts 2020 Home Price Projections as Market Rebounds by Sean MacKay | Livabl