Market growth and activity in the Canadian housing sector will trend downward this year amid the sustained economic impact of the coronavirus outbreak, according to a recent study by Moody’s Analytics.
In its “Canada Housing Market Outlook: Tough Times Ahead” report released last month, Moody’s said that any pre-pandemic forecasts will have to be essentially scrapped.
“Shelter-in-place orders and social distancing have brought house hunting to a virtual halt while layoffs, the collapse in oil prices, and the plunge in equity prices
have kept prospective buyers at bay,” Moody’s said. “The COVID-19 pandemic comes at a terrible time for Canada’s economy. Trade and investment were already struggling to make gains as the U.S.-China trade war and Brexit weighed on global demand. The pandemic soured this already-weak outlook almost overnight.”