Winnipeg Real Estate News

WINNIPEG REAL ESTATE MARKET POSTS RECORD IN APRIL

By Alexandra Paul

The city's real estate market surged ahead in April, posting the highest sales and dollar volumes ever for this month of the year, the Winnipeg REALTORS Association said Monday.

As well, REALTORS handled three separate sales of residential properties worth $1 million or more. One Tuxedo-area home traded hands for $1.25 million.

The record-setting month saw sales up eight per cent over last April, dollar volumes up 28 per cent and an impressive $273 million in sales, a statement said.

For comparison, April 2004 posted sales of $124.4 million, association statistics showed.

"We had a really good rebound in April," said association spokesman Peter Squire, who crunched the monthly sales numbers in a market analysis released Monday. The postings are up over March when sales dipped.

Winnipeg's real estate bull market started in 2003 and there's no indication it's slowing down, judging by the latest numbers, the association said.

"It's our best April yet," Squire said.

Listings were up six per cent over this month last year. Most of the sales, 22 per cent, were in residential houses in the middle market range, $160,000 to $199,000.

The next busiest sector was in high-end properties over $300,000. They accounted for 17 per cent of sales in April.

Interestingly, sales of homes $100,000 and under now represent less than 10 per cent of the city's real estate market.

"The inventory is down. Homes that used to go for $70,000, $80,000 or $90,000 are worth $100,000 or $120,000 today," Squire said.

The subprime real estate crash in the United States hasn't touched Western Canada, Squire said.

He added Canada's real estate market is largely immune to the subprime mess, thanks mostly to differences in the structure of our national economy and our relatively conservative banking system.

CIBC Predicts House prices will double

Fears of a decline in future house prices sparked by demographic changes in Canada are greatly exaggerated, says a report released Wednesday by CIBC, world markets.
The report, 'Much ado about nothing';Canadian House prices not based on Demographics Alone, says house prices in the country will double in the next 20 years.
 

"Despite downward pressure from demographic forces, on average, we expect house prices in Canada to double in the next 20 years," said Benjamin Tal, senior economist, CIBC World Markets. "Fears of a decline resulting from the downsizing and increased liquidations of houses by seniors and the falling number of first-time buyers are highly exaggerated."
 

Prices in Canada's bigger cities, however, will likely increase even more-and at a much faster pace," he said.
"In the large cities, (in Canada), they will more than double because we see that most immigrants go to large cities. We see most economic activity happening in big cities. That's the reality of the next 20 years where big cities will be the major economic engine of the country," said Tal.
The CIBC report looks at population growth between two cycles of housing prices, from 1987 to 2006, and from 2007 to 2026.
 

Betweeen 2007 amd 2026, the projected 167,000 net decline in the number of first-time buyers (Canadians between the ages of 25 and 44) is marginal, at best, said Tal. Since this age group is by far the largest contributor to overall housing demand, accounting for almost 68 percent of all home sales, this relatively modest downturn will not significantly impact housing demand.
 

Canwest News Service-Winnipeg Free Press April 19, 2007