The best sales month in Winnipeg Regional Real Estate Board history was in April 2021 with a total of 2,055 sales. Trying to eclipse this record is a tall order, particularly when sales in April 2022 totalled 1,461 — a 29% decrease.
However, when you compare April 2022 performance to the 5-year average, it shows a 6% increase overall and the second highest sales total for this month. Despite being down 16% from April 2021 at $579 million, MLS® dollar volume was still well ahead of the same month in previous years.
Contributing significantly to this total — and one of the highlights of this month — is the continued rise of prices in single-family homes and condominiums. Both reached their highest monthly sales averages ever at $447,421 and $261,802 respectively.
“While 2022 is the second consecutive year where we are experiencing double-digit percentage increases in single-family home prices, they are well below the national average the Canadian Real Estate Association reported of over $800,000," said Akash Bedi, 2022 president of the Winnipeg Regional Real Estate Board.
Single-family homes made up 70% of all MLS® sales in April, with the condominium property type second at 15%. Single-attached and vacant land are well behind with each representing 4% of total MLS® sales. As for dollar volume, the two leading property types, due to higher prices, made up 89% of total MLS® dollar volume in April 2022.
“The price acceleration for a number of property types is continuing in 2022," said Bedi. “It has to do with the supply/demand imbalance where listings are deficient in meeting the brisk demand."
What does this mean for you? At this point, it appears that some MLS® areas that experienced a rapid rise in prices over those in 2021 are now seeing sales slowing down. Combined with the rising cost of financing the purchase of a home — with another Bank of Canada overnight interest rate increase expected next month — and other neighbourhoods lacking new listings, there is little chance of generating sales equivalent to the record sales experienced in 2021.