Toronto's housing market hot and getting hotter

Despite all the challenges of the pandemic, Toronto continues to be one of the hottest real estate markets in the world – and seems to be gaining traction by the day. For real estate marketers, the pandemic has been a 14-month study in adaptation, as we discover new ways to market our clients’ projects, many without traditional sales centres, motivating events and buzz generated by line-ups to buy first.

What is driving the Toronto market and how we have adapted to new marketing practices makes fascinating reading.

Constant demand

Toronto is ranked the seventh most liveable city in the world (according to The Economist Intelligence Unit), and by 2046, the city’s population is projected to increase by 25.9 per cent to 3.7 million people. Fuelled by strong immigration targets – 401,000 new immigrants in 2021, 411,000 in 2022 and 421,000 in 2023, with almost half settling in Ontario – there is a constant, unrelenting demand for housing.

According to the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board (Feb 2021), year-over-year sales were up 52.5 per cent in Toronto’s resale market, underscoring the escalating demand for product. This is even more significant in the new home sector, with lowrise new home inventory down 56.5 per cent year-over-year, a 24.4-per-cent increase in the price for new lowrise homes year-over-year and, despite the price increases, a 51.1-per-cent increase in new home sales year-over-year. (Altus Group, January 2021)

Incredible opportunity

All of this equates to a market that is hot and getting hotter. As inventory lessens and demand increases, prices rise, and instead of cooling the market as one might expect, rising prices are creating a panic to buy now before prices grow even higher.

So how have we adapted to this incredible maelstrom of opportunity?

What hasn’t changed, and in fact is even more vital to the sales process, is the need to facilitate connection through means other than the traditional visit to presentation centres. During these uncertain times, we have adapted new ways to connect people with their dreams of homeownership.

We’ve created videos and 3D tours, enabling people to experience new homes without touring model homes and sales centres in person.

This year has seen marketers convert from printed to digital brochures that potential purchasers can download. Websites have taken on a heightened importance, facilitating online touch screens, broker portals for sellers to access assets to create their own marketing materials, consumer outreach webinars that allow us to reach an even greater number of people, online broker presentations, sales tools such as Docusign and Contact, and inventory management systems that have enabled people to digitally buy a home online.

Strong branding

We’ve evolved marketing that is carefully strategized and planned. And certainly, the role of creative is as important as ever, in the creation of strong brands that rise above the clutter and compel people to action.

Signage and traditional advertising are still part of the lockdown marketing plan, with the goal of getting people to register. Communicating information to registrants through electronic direct mail (EMD) has seen a huge increase this past year, as we drip project information through a series of targeted EDMs.

We’ve learned how important it is to adapt to changing circumstances, and when it comes to marketing new real estate, the industry has done a stellar job in doing exactly that. From online meetings to personal appointments to virtual tours, pre-construction housing has continued to thrive throughout the pandemic. With a raging market, smart marketing and adaptation to online selling, it seems that nothing can put out this fire.