TORONTO REAL ESTATE IN 2021

2021 was a fairly tumultuous year in all ways possible and real estate was no exception. Hot on the tail of the volatile 2020 and the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic, there were many different opinions on just how 2021 would deliver. And although the second half of 2020 ushered in record-breaking month after record-breaking month, many in the real estate community thought this could not conceivably continue at this pace.

Among the many were heavy-hitters, the CMHC and its arrogant CEO Evan Siddall, who aggressively predicted a rapid decline for all types of real estate of anywhere from 8% to 18%. Thankfully, they turned out to be very wrong and were compelled to eat crow with an embarrassing statement early in the year admitting their error.

“That said, we never pretended to have an crystal ball. Nor are we all-knowing on housing. We meant to contribute to a discourse, even though it was hard to be precise about future. In hindsight, we could have made that clearer.” – Evan Siddall, former CEO of CMHC

CMHC’s analysis and its constant doom & gloom rhetoric undoubtedly and wrongfully influenced many economist as well as misguided many buyers and sellers. One can only wonder how many billions of dollars were lost as a result of their blind ineptitude and stubbornness. But they were hardly the only ones. Many of the big banks including CIBC and BMO fumbled in their estimation of the potential for real estate in 2021.

“Even the governor of the Bank of Canada is telling us, listen, don’t expect any growth basically over the next six months. The party’s over. You can’t have a o% increase in the economy with the housing market continuing to boom.” – Benjamin Tal, Chief Economist – CIBC