Although overall sales on the MLS this past month were down 6% from the same month last year, they were still well above the 10 year average for February. 2016 February sales were somewhat of an anomaly, as this was the only time over 800 sales were reported.

Condos have been off to a brisk start. Year-to-date sales are up over 30%, and there’s no shortage of available condo listings, which should allow this pattern to continue.

Residential detached home sales on the other hand are below February 2016 numbers, and this is what brought February 2017 overall MLS numbers below those of February 2016. A large part of this minor slow-down is due to less detached listings being available, and less being entered onto MLS this past month (new additions were down 9%).

An interesting phenomenon is the number of sales over $1 million this past month. There were seven - five of which were new homes to be built. The City of Winnipeg growth fee which is applicable to permit applications submitted after May 1st clearly caused some buyers to move their purchases up to avoid the additional $5/SF cost. This was the case across the new home market in my experience - the first 2 months of the year are generally quiet, but the showhomes have been unseasonably busy and we’ve been writing a number of new build contracts for those looking to avoid the growth fee.

Both the growth fee and the stricter mortgage qualification rules introduced in October of this past year have brought some interesting challenges to our market, but the overriding driver of housing demand continues to be immigration. Census data released this past month revealed that Manitoba is growing at a faster rate than the national average.

The most active segment of the residential detached home market this past month was homes between $250,000 and $299,999 at 21% of total sales. Sales between $200,000-$349,999 accounted for 51% of total residential detached sales. The average number of days to sell a detached home was 34 days, which is 3 days faster than February of 2016. Clearly a little less inventory made for easier competition among listings for the available buyers.

The most active price range for condos was between $150,000 and $199,999, representing 36% of total condo sales. The average days to sell a condo was 45 days, which is 3 days quicker than February of last year. Just like in the residential detached market, there are fewer condo listings than at this time last year, resulting in quicker list to sale timelines. Of note is that it takes longer to sell a condo than a single family home on average.

If you have any questions at all or would like to have a chat about what all of this means to you, give us a ring at 204.987.9800

Cheers!