Market Update for the Week of October 23

With the high stakes of the upcoming US presidential election on November 3rd, people are getting nervous about what they will be waking up to. If you’ve been holding off purchasing property or investing until after the election because of the uncertainty, here is some information you might want to consider.

When Donald Trump won the presidential election in 2016, it caused shockwaves around the world. No one expected him to win, but win he did, and what was going to happen next was anyone’s guess. Democrats freaked out, and the old “moving to Canada” refrain appeared on Twitter, right on schedule. But those millions of Democrats moving to Canada never materialized. The stock market took a hit the day after the election but jumped back up the following day. In the short-term, absolutely nothing changed.

In fact, 2016 ended up being a record year in real estate in Canada. This winning streak continued for the next few years, only to be interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. And since then, the housing market in Canada has rebounded to a remarkable degree!

With all that in mind, conditions are very different than they were four years ago. Political division in the United States has grown exponentially. COVID-19 badly hit their economy. And the current election seems to be one of the most chaotic and negative they’ve ever had.

In Canada, however, things have not changed quite as much (COVID-19 notwithstanding). The federal government has moved to a minority rather than a majority situation, but the same party is in power. While there have been some issues that divide us, it’s nothing like what is happening to our immediate south. COVID-19 is much more under control than it is in the US, and the housing market is still red hot across the country. So, those are all stabilizing factors moving forward into the end of 2020.

Regardless of who wins the US election, the impact on Canadian real estate will likely be minimal. We have our own issues right now, including recovering from COVID-19. As more challenges mount throughout 2020 and beyond, savvy real estate investors will adapt, seeing opportunities and grabbing them, regardless of who is in the White House.