Winnipeg’s real estate market delivered record-breaking prices in July, even as the number of homes sold across the city dipped from last year’s pace. “Winnipeg—I’ve been doing this for 21 years—is very steady as she goes,” said Sean Kirady, a realtor with Remax One Group. “We’ve got good real estate values that generally always appreciate.” Kirady is selling the bungalow on Cordova Street in River Heights. It’s one of 29 properties he’s listing. He said business has not slowed down since the spring. “It’s still been a seller’s market, but I would say our spring was a little delayed, so the really heavy activity in April, May—we kind of got it in June, July,” Kirady said. The bungalow has an asking price of $579,900. Kirady said this same house would have fetched about five per cent less at the same time last year. “It probably would have been closer to the $540,000, $550,000 mark, I would say,” Kirady said. “But if you go back a couple more years when (interest) rates were high, that’s where we really see the difference from today. I always compare Winnipeg (prices) to a staircase. It always goes up, levels out.” Earlier this month, numbers from the Winnipeg Regional Real Estate Board found the average price of detached homes went up two per cent from last year. That number was originally $454,264. The numbers also indicated a six per cent increase over five years. Dan O’Brien, board president, said despite steady gains in pricing this year, sales weren’t as brisk as last year. “Sales were down a little bit, so actually the number of units sold was down, and that was around seven or eight per cent,” O’Brien said. “Just down over last year, which was a really extraordinary year as far as sales numbers go.” O’Brien is hopeful more homes will become available on the market in the second half of this year. “There is a little bit more selection, but it’s still not enough to facilitate all the demand,” O’Brien said. Kirady said there have been several homes sold this year that surprised him. “You see an asking price, and then you see the sale price, and they must have had eight, nine offers, and the price is two, three hundred thousand dollars over asking,” Kirady said. “That’s definitely not the norm. But those are the ones that really catch your eye, where you’re like, ”Wow, that’s crazy.’”
