It may be cold but the housing market in Winnipeg is heating up with two straight months of sales above their year-ago levels.
February saw a 6% rise year-over-year with 724 sales reported by Winnipeg Realtors and year-to-date sales are 8% above the same period of 2018.
The first two months of 2019 also beat the 5-year average by 3% and was just 2% shy of the record high of 2016.
“While early in the year and a cold one at that, it does show buyers are making necessary adjustments to mortgage regulation rules to complete a transaction,” said Winnipeg Realtors’ president Kenneth Clark.
There was a rise in listings in February, with 1,447 new listings taking the total active inventory to 3,735, 10% above 2018 levels. This also continued a trend from January.
“Some of the increase in listings, most notable in January with a 19% increase in new listings coming on the market, is that sellers are feeling more confident about taking their next step in the local housing market,” added Clark.
Single-family sales lead
Single family home sales of 505 increased 6.5% in February when compared to February 2018. There was a notable increase in sales of this property type outside the city of Winnipeg.
Condominium sales were up as well with 107 sales, a 5% increase over February 2018 and 10% greater than the 5-year average of 97 sales.
Prices remained relatively affordable with the average price for single-family detached homes at $327,045 while condos averaged $231,691. More than half of all condo sales in February selling for under $200,000 and nearly half of single family homes selling for under $300,000.
“The combination of a wide choice of affordable properties to purchase in our local market gives us an advantage over more expensive housing markets in the country,” said Clark. “However, our first-time buyer market in 2018 did experience a noticeable drop off in sales activity so any relief from the federal government’s budget would be welcome here too.”
