Though the Winnipeg area saw an increase in real estate listings in November, it also saw a decline in sales compared to the year before.
This is according to new numbers from the Winnipeg Regional Real Estate Board, which found that this is the 17th consecutive month that active MLS listings in the city saw percentage gains over the previous year.
According to the board, active listings are up nine per cent from last November and are seven per cent above the five-year average.
As for sales, they are down slightly but remain close to last November. The Winnipeg Regional Real Estate Board is reporting that sales of all property types are down two per cent from the same time last year, and 16 per cent below the five-year average.
The total dollar volume of sales last month decreased by four per cent compared to last November and was 13 per cent below the five-year average.
“We’re catching up from the lack of inventory that we had during the pandemic,” said Rena Prefontaine, president of the Winnipeg Regional Real Estate Board. “So we’re actually just replenishing the stock that we used to have. For us, we feel it’s kind of a healthy amount of inventory that is out there. There are some homes still selling in a competitive multiple offer situation, but there are other homes that are not. So we still feel it’s quite a bit of a balanced budget, but maybe slightly leaning a little bit towards a buyer’s market.”
Prefontaine said the market typically slows down in November due to the weather, but adds people should not fret to put their house on the market if they’re looking to sell or buy.
“Even though our inventory is up, there’s actually less competition out there right now,” she said.
When looking at property types, there were 566 residential-detached sales across the board’s market region last month. Of these sales, 379 were in Winnipeg and 187 were outside of Winnipeg.
Winnipeg’s West Kildonan neighbourhood saw the most detached home sales in November, followed by Sargent Park. Outside of Winnipeg, Steinbach and the Morden-Winkler area saw the most houses sold.
In terms of prices, the average price for a detached home decreased by one per cent compared to last year, but is up three per cent over the five-year average. The most active price range for residential-detached homes was $325,000 to $349,999.
CONDOS AND ATTACHED HOMES
According to the Winnipeg Regional Real Estate Board, there were 120 condo sales across its region last month and 62 residential attached home sales. A total of 99 of the condos and 44 of the attached homes were sold in Winnipeg, with the rest being sold outside the city.
The average price for a condo last month was eight per cent below last year and equal to the five-year average. The most active price range was from $150,000 to $174,999, with Osborne Village seeing the highest number of condo sales.
For attached homes, the average price was four per cent above last November and eight per cent higher than the five-year average.
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.
