Home sales break another record

Another real estate sales record was smashed in October, says Wes Schollenberg, president of the Winnipeg Realtors Association.

“October’s MLS activity is more akin to an early spring month and is proof our real estate market is spread out over many months, if not the entire year,” said Schollenberg.

October sales are up 15 per cent (1,201 homes compared with 1,040 last October) while dollar volume increased 34 per cent ($210.4 million this year compared with $157.3 million last October).

Year-to-date MLS sales are running 7 per cent ahead of the same period last year (11,704 compared with 10,886) while MLS dollar volume is up 21 per cent ($1.99 billion compared with $1.64 billion last year).

“When 106 MLS listings come on the market and 99 sell, that’s huge,” said Schollenberg. “October’s $200-million-plus sales activity make it the sixth month with more than $200 million in MLS® sales. Last year we only had two and none in 2005.”

October also resulted in the fourth million-dollar-plus sale this year when a 4,808 square-foot river property near St. Vital Park sold for $1,236,000; $86,000 more than list price.

Houses in Winnipeg this year are selling on average for 4 per cent above their list price, Schollenberg said.

Another important highlight of October 2007 is the significant increase in condominium sales, said Schollenberg.

“They were nearly double the number for the same month last year,” he said.

Year-to-date condominium sales are 1,241, up 30 per cent over 2006.

“We were quite bullish on our expectations for strong condominium sales activity in 2007 but this kind of increase is even better than expected,” said Schollenberg.

“ Condominiums have clearly arrived in Winnipeg as an alternative lifestyle more people are choosing.”

Residential-detached sales in October were most pronounced in the $160,000 to $199,999 price range with 24 per cent of total sales activity, he said.

The over-$300,000 price range was a solid 10 per cent which shows a trend this year to higher end home sales, he said.

The under $100,000 price ranges only represented 16 per cent of total sales.

The average days on market for residential-detached sales in October was 24 days, one day slower than September’s pace and four days quicker than October 2006.