It didn’t take long for the Toronto real estate market to catch up with measures to contain the spread of COVID-19.

In a scenario that is no doubt being replicated in major urban centres across Canada, sales of homes in the city dipped 68% in the first week of April while condo sales were down a whopping 80%.

This is according to statistics released by Toronto realtor Doug Vukasovic, who has also found that sellers are pretty much becoming resigned to abandoning the concept of a bidding war.

His market tracker for the first week of April showed less than 45% of the inventory on the market was priced for more than one offer — compared to most of the inventory prior to COVID-19.

Listings were also down by 31%.

“It was pretty shocking … no one was expecting to see the decline we saw last week,” he said Thursday.

He cautioned that clearly it is not a time to sell one’s home or condo — unless of course one is in a situation where another property has been purchased and a homeowner needs to sell.

“I wouldn’t be selling right now … it’s not a time to be testing the market,” he said.

Vukasovic’s weekly market tracker shows home prices haven’t dropped as dramatically as the number of sales, but he feels “it’s natural” that prices will fall depending on how long the pandemic lasts in Canada.

He said a client of his purchased a condo Wednesday and paid about 5% less than a similar one sold two weeks ago.

Asked if the time is ripe for buyers, he said they will definitely find “some better deals” in this market — particularly with homeowners who need to sell — if they’re prepared to manage through certain issues such as not being able to physically see the property in question due to social distancing measures.

But don’t expect fire sales, he warns.