BC Northern Real Estate Board: “Not business as usual”

“While we don’t know when this unprecedented period will end, markets will be boosted by pent-up demand and historically low-interest rates when it does,” stated BC Real Estate Association Chief Economist Brendon Ogmundson in a release. “The ultimate strength of the recovery will depend on how long the economy remains effectively shut down, as well as the efficacy of federal and provincial measures to bridge households through the financial difficulties brought on by the pandemic.”

Kinsley shares that optimism, stating that she thinks the market will rebound.

“But maybe we’ll take a couple of little nuggets of stuff can be done virtually, but really real estate should be done face-to-face, it’s a face-to-face business.”

According to Kinsley, much of the real estate industry has shifted to offer up virtual tours of homes in response to social distancing as homeowners aren’t wanting to have their house shown, and in turn, those in the market aren’t looking to view homes in person right now.

Despite the current state of real estate, Christine Buemann, a mortgage broker with The Collective Mortgage Group, says people have used this time to renew their mortgage or refinance their home.

“Because of all this economic crisis that happened, in turn, rates went really low for a little while. They rebounded back up and now they’re starting to inch back down, so we’re seeing a ton of people who want to potentially make changes or stretch out their amortization, lower their payments while they can, in an attempt to make ends meet.”

Buemann adds that she’s seeing a number of people who are using this time to get pre-approved, which has her feeling like there will be a rebound in the market when life begins to return to that of what we knew.

by Ethan Ready

BC Northern Real Estate Board: “Not business as usual”

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