Negative as well as positive effects of COVID-19 on Canadian economy

#Canada; CanadianEconomy; #CanadaLife; #Covid19Pandemic

Ottawa, Jun 23 (Canadian-Media): COVID-19 pandemic has affected every facet of Canadian life, from how and where we live, to how we shop, eat and work, media reports said.

COVID-19 Pandemic. Image credit: Twitter handle

While  COVID-19 had drastically affected Canada's economy, the pandemic has also brought some positive effects.

The housing market which has been strongly hit by the pandemic with mortgage delinquencies are projected to rise, while prices are forecast to drop.

The Physical distancing requirements on the real estate industry due to the pandemic introduced in March, the retailers could not host open houses, and buyers were concerned about the future proving this year to be the worst April for home sales in almost 40 years, and May was only slightly better.  

Although the sellers were badly affected by the lower price of the housing market, it provides an opportunity for buyers to take advantage of this.

Lenders were prompted by the COVID-19 to cut mortgage rates to record lows which were also a welcome development for buyers.

Moreover, current owners are also being benefited by the current lower rates. Interest is skyrocketing right now as is evident from Lowestrates.ca, a comparison website for mortgages, insurance, and loans

As regards the commercial real estate, there has been a small shift away from the standard downtown office towers due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Many people are reconsidering if they want to live and work in dense urban areas if they don't have to.

The effect of the pandemic on public transit is seen in its rapid decline in ridership. But on the other hand, there had been a significant surge in bike sales and bike lanes are experiencing a boost.

Even car ridership has increased due to a partial recovery of oil prices as well as the safety and security felt by consumers in their own self-contained travel bubbles. This has given rise to higher demands for cars.

Yet another or Canada's sector, the real estate sector that has been hit hard by the pandemic, According to new numbers released last Friday retail sales had fallen by more than a quarter in April, their biggest plunge on record.

Pandemic's biggest success as far as Canada's economy is concerned, is visible in online shopping, with online sales have been more than doubled in April, and now makeup almost 10 percent of everything sold in Canada, the biggest proportion on record.​