The Winnipeg real estate market is keeping its momentum into the last part of 2021 and staying red hot.
According to October’s Market Report released by the Winnipeg Regional Real Estate Board, October’s home sales helped beat several records.
“October this year was an amazing month. First off, it was only beaten by last year, and we had a major surge going on in the second half of 2020 because of the pandemic, and we were making up for sales lost in the spring,” said Peter Squire, vice president of external relations and market intelligence at the Winnipeg Regional Real Estate Board.
“October 2021 is our second-best month ever. Our best month in terms of dollar volume with well over $500 million, which again says a lot for a latter month in our year.”
A new record of the most annual MLS sales has been set at 16,411, with October contributing more than 1,500 sales. It’s an 18.3 per cent increase over the same period in 2020 and a two per cent rise over the 16,033 sales transacted by the end of 2020.
In context, in a pre-pandemic October, Squire said there would have only been around 1,200 sales.
“We are not a seasonal market. You can sell a home at any time of the year,” noted Squire. “Certainly, this year is bearing that out with a lot of activity going to the latter part of the year.”
BUYERS OR SELLERS MARKET
Squire said it’s prime time to cash in on the market with records still being broken.
“We need more listings. We are still in a seller’s market,” said Squire. “From a seller’s point of view, we are still exceptionally strong.”
Squire said the average price of a home in the city is around $380,000, up around 11 per cent from 2020.
“I think there’s still plenty of opportunities for sellers to take advantage of that brisk demand,” he said.
While the second and third quarters proved challenging for buyers, Squire believes it isn’t all bad news.
“As we get to the slower months, which are November, December, I think there should be more opportunity to have more of a chance because they are still going to be involved in multiple offers.”
ALL PROPERTIES BENEFITTING
Winnipeg Regional Real Estate Board data shows single-family home sales in coveted Winnipeg neighbourhoods like Southdale, East Kildonan and Waverley West are still very strong.
Squire, however, said many other property types are also seeing the benefits of a hot market this year.
“It’s happening in all property types whether it be not just the condominiums, but vacant lands have set new records, we’ve seen it in townhouses, in duplexes and even some commercial properties.”
According to Squire, October’s 228 condos sold is well ahead of last year’s record.
“So condos have managed to stay ahead of last despite how strong those months were in 2020.”
Squire said that although condo prices are rising, it still presents a cheaper option than a single-family home.
HOLDING STRONG
As 2021 reaches the latter part of the year, Squire said the market shows no signs of slowing.
“There’s nothing I really see on the horizon that shows the Winnipeg market will slow down that much,” he said.
“It may not be able to stay pace with another record year in 2021, but I never count it out because there will be more first-time buyers getting back into employment.”
Squire said interest rates will still be historically low but could inch up as early as spring, tempting buyers to purchase earlier in the year.
“So that will spur on some buyers to get into the market where they might have held off.”
Overall, Squire said 2022 is looking like another strong year.
“I’m still optimistic that 2022 is going to be a really solid year.”
TORONTO – One expert predicts Ottawa‘s changes to mortgage rules will help spur demand among potential homebuyers but says policies aimed at driving new supply are needed to address the “core issues” facing the market.
The federal government’s changes, set to come into force mid-December, include a higher price cap for insured mortgages to allow more people to qualify for a mortgage with less than a 20 per cent down payment.
The government will also expand its 30-year mortgage amortization to include first-time homebuyers buying any type of home, as well as anybody buying a newly built home.
CIBC Capital Markets deputy chief economist Benjamin Tal calls it a “significant” move likely to accelerate the recovery of the housing market, a process already underway as interest rates have begun to fall.
However, he says in a note that policymakers should aim to “prevent that from becoming too much of a good thing” through policies geared toward the supply side.
Tal says the main issue is the lack of supply available to respond to Canada’s rapidly increasing population, particularly in major cities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17,2024.
OTTAWA – The Canadian Real Estate Association says the number of homes sold in August fell compared with a year ago as the market remained largely stuck in a holding pattern despite borrowing costs beginning to come down.
The association says the number of homes sold in August fell 2.1 per cent compared with the same month last year.
On a seasonally adjusted month-over-month basis, national home sales edged up 1.3 per cent from July.
CREA senior economist Shaun Cathcart says that with forecasts of lower interest rates throughout the rest of this year and into 2025, “it makes sense that prospective buyers might continue to hold off for improved affordability, especially since prices are still well behaved in most of the country.”
The national average sale price for August amounted to $649,100, a 0.1 per cent increase compared with a year earlier.
The number of newly listed properties was up 1.1 per cent month-over-month.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
MONTREAL – Two Quebec real estate brokers are facing fines and years-long suspensions for submitting bogus offers on homes to drive up prices during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Christine Girouard has been suspended for 14 years and her business partner, Jonathan Dauphinais-Fortin, has been suspended for nine years after Quebec’s authority of real estate brokerage found they used fake bids to get buyers to raise their offers.
Girouard is a well-known broker who previously starred on a Quebec reality show that follows top real estate agents in the province.
She is facing a fine of $50,000, while Dauphinais-Fortin has been fined $10,000.
The two brokers were suspended in May 2023 after La Presse published an article about their practices.
One buyer ended up paying $40,000 more than his initial offer in 2022 after Girouard and Dauphinais-Fortin concocted a second bid on the house he wanted to buy.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
