Exceptional month for board’s Multiple Listing Service®

A sale of a home for $2.025 million on Wellington Crescent and another $1.25-million home sale in Pritchard Farm Properties helped boost April MLS® dollar volume to a best-ever benchmark for the month, reported the Winnipeg Real Estate Board.

The Pritchard Farm Properties (East St. Paul) and Wellington Crescent homes both sold for $50,000 above their MLS® list price. 

But, this was not uncommon for many MLS® listings in April as 47 per cent of all residential-detached properties sold above list price, according to the WREB.

Fifty-nine per cent of all residential-detached sales sold at or above list price. 

The WREB reported that April dollar volume sales jumped ahead by 11 per cent to $173 million when compared to the same month in 2005.

 “It is another exceptional month for dollar volume with a home in Winnipeg for the first time selling for over $2 million,” said Walter Boni, president of the WREB.

“What is quite remarkable to me is how you can have two house sales in an MLS® market where the highest-priced home is 100-fold of the lowest one that sold for $20,000.”

But, the WREB president said that the rash of upper-end home sales and many homes sale prices being driven upward by multiple offers hasn’t detracted from the affordability of the 

local market.

“While prices have gone up dramatically in the past few years, there were still 21 per cent of all house sales under $100,000 and another 12 per cent sold in the price range from $100,000 to $129,999,” he added.

April MLS® sales were down from the same month last year by five per cent to 1,096 units. 

Year-to-date MLS® sales are off last year’s activity by less than three per cent at 3,342 units, while dollar volume is up 15 per cent to $513.8 million. 

MLS® listings rose 10 per cent last month to nearly 5,000.

Residential-detached sales in April 2006 were most active in two price ranges between $130,000 and $200,000 with close to 40 per cent of total sales activity. 

The average days on market for April 2006 was 21 days, two days quicker than last month and two days off the pace set in April 2005.