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Jan 14, 2022 • January 14, 2022 • 3 minute read • Join the conversation 
Real estate for sale signs on Betsworth Avenue in the Charleswood area of Winnipeg on Sunday, Dec. 13, 2020. Photo by Kevin King /Winnipeg Sun
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According to the Royal LePage House Price Survey released Friday, the price of a Winnipeg home shot up almost 10% in the fourth quarter of 2021, continuing a trend that seems unaffected for the COVID-19 pandemic over the last 21 months.
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The aggregate price of a home in Winnipeg increased to $357,200 as compared to the fourth quarter of 2020. Broken out by housing type, the median price of a single-family detached home increased 14.7% to $390,800, while the median price of a condominium increased 16.1% to $233,600 during the same period, the survey showed.
“This is something we’ve been tracking for almost two years since the pandemic began in the spring of 2020,” said Michael Froese, broker and manager of Royal LePage Prime Real Estate. “We really started to see price appreciation month over month. It’s been continuing for two years so I’m not surprised by the numbers.”
Inventory shortages caused a lot of buyer fatigue in the fourth quarter, especially among first-time homebuyers, Froese said, and he expects that pent-up demand will carry over into this year.
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“It’s expected to continue into 2022 but at a more-moderate pace,” he said.
Nationally, the aggregate price of a home increased 17.1% year-over-year to $779,000 for the same quarter. Canada’s real estate market has sustained another year of record prices, as strong buyer demand continues to outpace supply in almost every market from coast to coast.
“In its simplest form, it’s supply and demand,” said Froese. “Looking at the demand, it’s been two years where home ownership has had a huge ‘marketing campaign’. Our homes have become our libraries, our classrooms, our gyms, our coffee shops. The importance of home has certainly been stressed over the last two years.
“Factor that in with Canadians’ savings rate has been at an all-time high because there’s not as many places to spend it due to the pandemic. You also have to factor in that interest rates are at historic lows and the federal government has been pumping billions of dollars into the economy. Cash for a lot of Canadians – although not all – has been relatively accessible and they’ve got to spend it somewhere and so they’re investing in homes.”
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Froese noted that the city’s condominium segment is seeing strong price appreciation, as low supply of detached homes continues to drive demand for more affordable units.
“At the same time, there have been supply issues where there hasn’t been supply (of single-family houses) to satisfy that growing demand. And supply, unfortunately, is one of those things that doesn’t get solved overnight.”
Froese expects that trend to continue into the spring.
In December, Royal LePage issued a forecast projecting that the aggregate price of a home in Winnipeg will increase 6.0% in the fourth quarter of this year, compared to the same quarter in 2021.
According to the Winnipeg Regional Real Estate Board, December Multiple Listing Service (MLS) sales of 926 brought year-end total sales to 18,575, a 16% increase over 2020. December’s dollar volume of $320.2 million elevated the year-end dollar volume total to move above the $6 billion dollar mark to $6.25 billion. This new level is 28% more than the $4.9 billion transacted in 2020. It represents a one-year increase of over $1.35 billion.
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“We’ve reached a new level that we never would have thought we could have two years ago,” said Winnipeg Regional Real Estate Board MLS market analyst Peter Squire, adding that their forecast for 2022 is due out next month. “I’m speaking for both 2020 and 2021. They’ve been two incredible years. In 2020, we took out a record year of 2019 by about 2,300 MLS sales and then we did another back to back. In 2021, we beat that by over 2,500 sales.”
The average price for a single-family home went up 11% in 2021″and we haven’t seen that for a very long time,” said Squire.
“(Condominiums) became a very attractive affordable option because of the difficulty and the rise in the single-family prices along with multiple offers and challenges in that side,” he added. “First-time buyers in particular were looking at condos as a more-affordable alternative.”
Twitter: @SunGlenDawkins
Winnipeg highlights include:
– Aggregate price of a home increased 9.6% year-over-year to $357,200 in Q4 of 2021; forecast to increase 6.0% to $378,600 in Q4 of 2022
– Median price of single-family detached home increased from $340,700 in Q4 of 2020 to $390,800 in Q4 of 2021
– Median price of a condominium increased $201,200 in Q4 of 2020 to $233,600 in Q4 of 2021
– Royal LePage House Price Survey
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