Every sector of Saskatchewan's economy has gotten used to certain conditions during the time of COVID-19, and in real estate some of the changes the pandemic brought on might outlast the pandemic itself. Real estate agents are not expecting market conditions to shift overnight.

"The prices haven't seen a big increase but the number of sales have increased," said Josh LeBlanc, who works with Coldwell Banker Choice in Estevan. "We were super worried at the beginning of the pandemic about what was going to happen. It turned out to be great, people were able to save lots of money for down payments."

A rise in first-time buyers was one of the defining factors of what turned out to be a very buyer-oriented market during COVID-19. Many people came out of rental situations despite the economic turmoil caused by the virus. 

"We're seeing a lot of confidence in the housing community," said LeBlanc. "We're also seeing a lot of confidence in commercial real estate right now. I think we're headed for a rebound. I think this whole lifting of masks is going to make it easier to do our jobs and get some more sales done here before the busy season."

The timing of restriction removal in Saskatchewan could hardly have been better for real estate agents, as they enter a time in which they typically sell a lot of homes. That, coupled with an expected rise in consumer confidence, could make this a busy second part of the summer. 

"This is amazing," LeBlanc said. "Realistically, if we wanted to go into a house, we had to sign a waver, sanitize our hands and wear a mask and adhere to any other instructions if there were immunocompromised individuals in the homes or anything like that. To finally have those restrictions lifted, it's another level of things we have to worry about that are lifted off our shoulders."

According to LeBlanc, the biggest change for the real estate community, however, is the ability to have open houses again. As provincial public health orders are all removed, they'll be able to resume those shortly. 

"For the last 18 months, we haven't been able to do what we call realtor open houses," LeBlanc said. "We would go from house to house to house every week when it was listed and check out the host. To have that is going to benefit a lot of buyers going forward."

LeBlanc added one benefit of the pandemic was helping he and his fellow agents see the importance of professional photography and video to show off a home.