Remote work and how it’s shaping where people are now buying homes in Ontario

This article is the fifth in Global News’ Spring Housing Buzz series, where we will investigate a number of different areas related to the spring real estate market in Ontario.pandemic, but as the nation continues moving toward a “return to normal,” more and more employers have begun instituting return-to-office policies., recent Statistics Canada data shows a combined 25 per cent of working Canadians are working either completely remotely or in a hybrid setup.

According to data from the Barrie and District Association of Realtors, the average sales price of a home in Barrie ballooned by roughly 90 per cent between 2020 and 2022 to just over $1 million before falling about 25 per cent from record highs in 2023. Nationally, the downtown office vacancy rate hit a record high of 19.4 per cent to end 2023, according to data from commercial real estate and investment firm CBRE. For context, a “healthy” office vacancy rate would fall between 10 and 12 per cent.Among employers, 24 per cent of those surveyed preferred a mix of home and office, 37 per cent preferred to be mostly in the office and 34 per cent preferred working mainly from home.

Closest to the GTA, Hamilton saw a lot of people settling in the region from Toronto during the height of the pandemic and Golfi says that trend is continuing. Real estate broker Matt Lee said Kingston is a great retirement community but during the height of the pandemic, he was “selling homes for older people” who were moving to be closer to their children and grandchildren, “which generally meant they were moving back towards the city.”

People were already looking for more affordable places to live “and maybe a shift in lifestyle” when the pandemic hit and “accelerated that extremely,” he said. Since then, however, what used to be “hot everywhere” is now just hot in pockets.

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