There is a quarterly update on Winnipeg housing by CMHC.. Thursday, February 20/2020 Winnipeg Sun/Chris Procaylo/stf
The overall resale market in Winnipeg for housing remains balanced according to the latest Housing Market Assessment update from the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation.
The seasonally adjusted sales-to-new listings ratio was 55.3% in the third quarter of 2019, a slight adjustment from the previous quarter. Over the same period, resale market activity remained strong as seasonally adjusted sales increased 2.5% while new listings were up 4%.
The market has been buoyed by strong population growth stats coupled with low mortgage rates that have helped keep overvaluation of the market place in check.
This means the vulnerability rating for the city’s real estate market has dropped from moderate to low.
“We are currently seeing balanced market conditions in Winnipeg,” said Heather Bowyer, a senior analyst for CMHC. “When we have a balanced market we generally see more stability than we would if we were in other markets, like buyers’ markets or in some of the other markets out west like Calgary or Edmonton where there is a different kind of rental market there.”
Year over year, the average MLS price dropped by 0.3% in Winnipeg to $297,604, compared to the same quarter of 2018.
The HMA takes into consideration four pillars when doing its quarterly reports: overheating, price acceleration, overvaluation and overbuilding.
Winnipeg scored a low vulnerability in three of the four categories with the only moderate score coming in overbuilding. Inventory levels in both single-detached and multi-family units both remain above historical values.
According to the report, the majority of the completed and unsold units in the quarter were single-detached homes (48.8%) while condominium apartment units represented 38.8% of the inventory. Meanwhile apartment vacancy rates in Winnipeg also remained strong at 3.1%, according to the October Rental Market Survey, which is well below the threshold for overbuilding.
“One of the things we look at in regards to overbuilding is what’s going to happen if we have an elevated level of starts, is that going to contribute to overbuilding in the area?” said Bowyer. “We’ll also look at the demand for these units, as they get absorbed, they come out of the inventory, so we would expect to see in Winnipeg, demand increase as our inventory fall. If this were the case we would see overbuilding mitigate into the next several quarters.”
jaldrich@postmedia.com
Twitter: @JoshAldrich03
