WinnipegREALTORS® Press Release, June 7, 2013

WINNIPEG – With April starting a recovery from a poor first quarter, May did one better by setting an all time monthly MLS® dollar volume record of $412 million. It is only the second time dollar volume for monthly sales has exceeded $400 million. May MLS® sales finished strong too! They were 5% ahead of the 10-year average and fourth best for the month of May.

Most noteworthy however are condominium sales with a 23% increase over the same month last year and a 9% improvement in the first five months of 2013 over the same period in 2012. Helping drive this upward trend in condominium sales is more existing supply and new ones coming on the market. The inventory was up 31% going into May 2013 and it maintained a 27% gain at the end of the month compared to May 2012. Affordable listings were clearly evident with 40% of all condo sales happening in the $150,000 to $199,999 price range.

Overall MLS® inventory is healthy with a 14% increase in May new listings from May 2012 and the same increase in total listings at the end of the month.

May MLS® unit sales are down 3% (1,550/1,605) while dollar volume eked out a marginal gain ($411.9 million/$411.4 million) in comparison to the same month last year. Year-to-date MLS® sales are down 9% ( 4,951/5,434) while dollar volume has decreased 4% ($1.28 billion/$1.33 billion) in comparison to the same period last year.

“ Our better second quarter MLS® results so far is bringing us back to a year more in line with what we expected,” said Richard Dettman, president of WinnipegREALTORS®. “This improvement bodes well for June and we can be thankful for more affordable condominium offerings alleviating some of the fall off in residential-detached or single family sales.”

“The tale of two property types is well at play this year with condominium sales almost the exact reverse of single family homes,” said Dettman. “The former are up 9% while the latter are down 10%. All levels of government need to be mindful of the actions they take to facilitate or inhibit one of the most important economic engines in the country.

The most active residential-detached price range in May was the $250,000 to $299,999 one with 24% of total sales followed by the $200,000 to $249,999 at 18%. For condominium sales, the $150,000 to $199,999 price ranges dominates by a wide margin at 40% of total sales with the higher price range of $200,000 to $249,999 a distant second at 18%.

The average days on market for residential-detached sales was 22 days, 4 days faster than last month and 2 days better than May 2012. Average days on market for condominium sales was 41 days, 12 days slower than last month and 13 days off the pace set in May 2012.

Established in 1903, WinnipegREALTORS® is a professional association representing nearly 1,800 real estate brokers, salespeople, appraisers, and financial members active in the Greater Winnipeg Area real estate market. Its REALTOR® members adhere to a strict code of ethics and share a state-of-the-art Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) designed exclusively for REALTORS®. WinnipegREALTORS® serves its members by promoting the benefits of an organized real estate profession. REALTOR®, MLS® and Multiple Listing Service® are trademarks owned and controlled by The Canadian Real Estate Association and are used under licence.