10th month of $100-million-plus sales: average price increased by 10.8 per cent

The average residential MLS® selling price in Winnipeg increased by 10.8 per cent in  October to $118,362, according to the Canadian Real Estate Association.

“Consecutive $100-million-plus months of MLS® sales activity speaks volumes about the strong market we have been 

experiencing this year” said Winnipeg Real Estate Board president Cliff King.

“We have also gone over 10,000 MLS® sales and anticipate with two months to go in our statistical information, we will surpass 11,000 units in total sales for the first time since 1987.” 

As of November, 10,953 sales were registered by the board.

November was also the 10th straight month that over $100 million in MLS® sales were recorded by the WREB.

The national MLS® average residential price for October was $232,410. This shattered all previous average price records for the month, and represents an increase of 7.3 per cent from October 2003. The average price surpassed the previous record set in May 2004 by one per cent.

The average price in October surpassed all previous monthly records in British 

Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and Prince 

Edward Island, and set a record for the month of October in all other provinces.

National residential sales remained at historically strong levels in October but continued to recede from the peak reached in March 2004.

The seasonally-adjusted existing home sales via MLS® numbered 36,263 units in October. This represents a decline of 3.8 per cent from September.

Monthly MLS® sales increases in 

Alberta and Nova Scotia were more than offset by declines in other provinces.

Seasonally-adjusted new MLS® listings fell to 61,443 units in October. This represents a decrease of 1.7 per cent from the previous month. 

Sales in October declined by more than new listings, causing the national market for existing homes to become more balanced than in any other month since May 2001.

In Winnipeg, active listings were up 20 per cent in October over the same month last year. Year-to-date listings as of the end of November are up 9.1 per cent.

The seasonally-adjusted national MLS® dollar volume was $8.4 billion in October, a decrease of 1.6 per cent from September.

Dollar volume set a new record for the month of October on a national basis and reached its eighth highest monthly level on record.

Dollar volume records for the month 

of October were also set in the provinces 

of Alberta, Ontario and Prince Edward 

Island.

With the market becoming more balanced, year-over-year price increases are expected to remain in single-digit territory over the rest of the year and in the range between three and five per cent beginning in the spring of 2005.

CREA cautions that average price information can be useful in establishing trends over time, but this does not indicate actual prices in centres comprised of widely 

divergent neighbourhoods or account for price differentials between geographical 

areas.