Winnipeg's Real Estate Market: Where do we go from here?
By SCOTT MOORE, REALTORMarch 16, 2016I was recently interviewed by Point2Homes about my predictions for Winnipeg's real estate market. Here is an excerpt.
Point2Homes: In recent months, there have been a lot of debates about the state of the Winnipeg real estate market. What is your take on these debates and how do you see the market’s overall performance?
SM: There’s always lots of speculation and opinion, but the facts are clear: the market here is continuing to improve year-over-year! We’re not seeing the same rates of growth as we used to here, but, we all know that the market was just correcting to be in line with the rest of the country, and you can’t expect gains of near double to continue indefinitely. Looking forward, the Conference Board of Canada released info just today predicting 2.5% growth in the economy, and ranked Winnipeg 4th best in Canada among the 13 largest metropolitan areas, and I think this is very favorable. On the ground, the market also feels really hot so far in 2016. We’re seeing offer nights with lots of offers on the table, properties selling in a day, everything feels really robust right now. It will be interesting to see how the numbers shake out as 2016 progresses.
Point2Homes: The CMHC issued recently a warning on Winnipeg’s high inventory. How is the inventory impacting the market?
SM: There was definitely more inventory in 2015! Buyers had a lot more choices and could take more time to make their purchase. But hot houses in good areas still sold quickly; it was just slower in the houses that were at less of a premium—houses that needed work; houses in less optimal locations; houses that were overpriced—that were a lot tougher to sell than they would have been a few years ago. Winnipeg also has a huge appetite for new homes in new developments and there’s been lots of inventory there. As the deals get better on new homes, that sector pulls buyers out of the resale pool.