Year-to-Date Statistics Positive Across the Board
The real estate market is either very, very good....or really, really suspect...depending on which headlines you choose to read.
It's difficult to decide what's really happening from the sound bites, but the numbers on the resale market for the first four months of the year paint a fairly rosy picture. Statistics for the first third of the year are up from comparable numbers last year, and last year recorded the fourth best resale numbers in the past 20 years and the best dollar volume ever through the MLS.
"Our numbers continue to support our Forecast Breakfast predictions." said President David MacKenzie. "In January we predicted that sales would be up .2% year over year and home prices would increase by the same amount. And the January through April activity bears that out and then some."
The April MLS listing inventory, the number of properties available for sale in Winnipeg, rose almost 36%. So buyers had more properties to choose from than last April, which indicates more balance in the marketplace.
Listings entered into the MLS system were also up 23% over last April with the addition of 2,837 properties this year.
Sales followed suit. The number of sales processed in the month was up close to 4% from last April, with 1,273 sales recorded. And dollar volume was up 8.8% at $352.3 million.
The April numbers helped maintain positive year to date market stats. 8,336 listings have been entered on the MLS system since January 1st, up 25% from last year,and 3,538 sales have been recorded, up 4% from the same period in 2014.
The January through April dollar volume is up 6.5% at $962.4 million.
President David MacKenzie was positive about the market activity in the first 4 months, "We often say that real estate is local with national averages and trends meaning very little. Our market is OUR market. And even within our own market, activity is local. What's trending in Island Lakes will not necessarily be mirrored in the North End. I know of some MLS areas where offers are few and far between while in other pockets of the City, multiple offers are still happening."
He went on to say that in April, 22% of residential-detached homes sold for more than list price, 8.5% sold at list, while 69% sold below list.
For condos, almost 11% sold above list...18% sold at list...and 71% sold below list.
The most active price range in April for residential-detached homes was $250,000 - $299,999 followed by the $200,000 - $249,999 range.
Average days on the market was 27, compared to 26 last April. The highest priced residential-detached sale fetched $1,590,000 and the least expensive was $8,000.
The most active price range for condos was $150,000 - $199,999 followed closely by the $200,000 - $249,999 range. Days on market for condos was 49, compared to 38 last year, with the highest priced condo going for $630,000 and the lowest priced sale at $72,500.