House prices in city rise

February 14, 2009
Winnipeg Free Press
Written by: Bill Redekop

Most of Canada hit by further decline

Winnipeg's housing market continued its contrarian ways in January, with prices climbing by 9.4 per cent compared to January 2008. For Canada as a whole, prices dropped 10 per cent.

In fact, home sales in Winnipeg last month set a dollar-volume record of $96.5 million, according to Canadian Real Estate Association data released Friday.

"We had a tougher October, November, but bounced back in December, and in January we had a strong dollar volume," said Peter Squire, Winnipeg Realtors Association market analyst.

Manitoba's economy is still on solid footing, Squire said. "It's diverse, it's stable and resilient in a lot of ways. We haven't been taking the big hits like other provinces have," he said.

Earlier Winnipeg home prices didn't shoot up as they did in Calgary and Victoria, so there doesn't seem the need for a major correction like in those and other markets. "If anything, we're still catching up to other markets," Squire said.

January home prices fell almost 13 per cent in Calgary, and 14.5 per cent in Victoria, compared to a year ago.

Also, housing is more affordable in Manitoba. Fifty-four per cent of Winnipeg homes sold for under $200,000 in 2008.

"In Calgary, there's nothing under $250,000," said Squire.

The average price on single-family home sales in Winnipeg all last year was $206,000. That was down slightly, to $190,000, in January, 2009.

Winnipeg's very tight rental market is also funnelling more and more buyers into the real estate market, Squire said.

Nationally, the total number of resales was down 41 per cent from January 2008. In Winnipeg, resales dropped six per cent.

"We really won't know how our year is going to be until the spring market, our busiest time of year," Squire said.

bill.redekop@freepress.mb.ca