The total dollar volume of home sales in the Winnipeg metro region reached a record $437 million in July, a 10% increase from a year earlier.
Winnipeg Realtors reported 1,440 home sales in the month, gaining almost 5% from July 2018 and just 3% below the record high for any July, set in 2014.
As further evidence of the heating-up market, year-to-date sales gained 4% year-over-year to 8,263 homes, with a dollar volume of $2.5 billion dollars.
Homebuyers were offered greater choice in July with new listings up 10% compared to a year earlier and inventory rising 15% with 6,083 homes available to buy at the end of the month.
“The strong numbers in both sales, dollar volume and listings in July is a reflection of buyers taking advantage of lower mortgage rates, a fabulous choice of an abundant supply of listings, and some very attractive affordable housing options beyond just single family homes and condominiums,” said Ken Clark, president of WinnipegREALTORS®.
He noted that the Bank of Canada lowered the rate used by the mortgage stress test to qualify for a mortgage from 5.34% to 5.19%, which further aided the housing market.
Higher-priced condos in demand
Looking at property types and price points, there were notable increases in sales of higher-priced condos and, to some extent, single-family homes. This helped boost the total dollar volume of sales to its record high in July.
The rise in sales of pricier condos means the is the average year-to-date sale price matched that of 2018 at $240,000. The single-family home year-to- date average sales price of $328,718 is up less than 2% compared to the same period last year.
“We have reason to be optimistic of achieving a good MLS® result in August given the positive trend over 2018 and the wide array and diversity of listings on the market,” said Clark.
