“Unlike Vaughan and other suburban cities, Barrie’s development strategy and plan has been gradual, unfolding and evolving over decades to ensure sustainable and manageable growth,” Max Maccari, broker with Right at Home Realty, Barrie branch, told NextHome.

For new home development, much of the activity is taking place in the south end of the city, where townhomes and condos are the prevalent housing type, to appeal to first-time buyers and downsizers, Maccari says.

“Barrie municipal government and employees have made excellent decisions over the years, master-planning the city’s future growth,” he says. “The new housing opportunities over the next three to seven years will be sufficient to maximize Barrie’s population targets.”

John Lusink, president of Right at Home Realty Inc., says sales remain strong at the firm’s 12 branches throughout Ontario, but the pace is less frantic than it was in February and March.

“I think fatigue has definitely set in to some extent,” he says. Typical competitions often saw 10 or 15 bidders vying for a property in the early months of 2021, he says. Now three to five buyers might submit bids on offer night in many places.

But this summer may not be as slow as usual, he adds, because the province is just coming out of lockdown and some companies are starting to open up their offices. Prices may ease off from their meteoric rise, but he expects sales will continue to be strong.

The GTA real estate market has been on fire for about a year now, but latent cooling signs that have emerged in the last couple of months should last through summer.

“I don’t think we’re going to see a repeat of last year and part of that is because of the frantic pace we’ve seen since 2020,” said John Lusink, president of Right at Home Realty. “Some of the excess demand has probably been take out of the market, and from what I can see from our Right at Home stats, which I track daily, I see a decline of new incoming deals, which is very gradual but it’s there, and it signals a combination of what you see in the media about buyer fatigue and the new stress test. As people look forward to being able to do stuff, I think you’ll see a more moderate pace throughout the summer, not a repeat of last year.”

Like many real estate markets around the world, U.S. home prices have run up during the pandemic to the point of some saying it's in bubble territory.

But the whole time and for years before, Canada has said "hold my beer" as prices rocket through the stratosphere in a number of major markets.

The situation has gotten so bad for first-time buyers that many may have given up. Ontario is home to markets with the biggest recent run-ups. A survey by Right at Home Realty found 74 per cent of younger Ontarians aged 18 to 34 say they may never be able to afford a home where they currently live.

Though the dust has yet to settle on the full impacts of COVID-19 on the housing market, one survey suggests the mass exodus from cities to the suburbs and beyond is exaggerated

“While the work-from-home outcome of the pandemic is undoubtedly impacting the housing market, we believe calls for a significant exodus from larger city centres and drastic shifts in the urban housing dynamic during and post pandemic are overstated,” says John Lusink, president of Right at Home Realty Inc.

The future of work, of course, remains up in the air. Some employers expect their employees to work remotely at least part of the time once the pandemic ends, while others expect them to return fulltime to the office. Until those decisions are carved in stone, even people who’ve thought about moving out of the city to a smaller municipality are willing to staying put.

“Having worked in this industry for 35 years now, I have seen one group among the 18-34 age group able to get into the market, and that’s thanks to assistance from parents who are able to do it, and certainly low-interest rates don’t hurt, but you do have to have a good job,” said John Lusink, President of Right at Home Realty

“It’s challenging all around. If it’s their first time purchasing, and with mortgage qualification rules tightening up yet again, it is discouraging and tough for young folks, so I empathize greatly with them.” Asked if easing mortgage qualification rules, including rescinding the 200 basis point stress altogether, for younger buyers might help them get a foothold in the housing market, Lusink noted that the rules exist for a reason, and as a parent himself he’s glad they do.