Condo sales lone bright spot

Enlarge Image 

Condo sales were up 12 per cent for the first five months of this year, while sales of single-detached homes were down by the same amount from the same period in 2008, Winnipeg realtors said.

And the big chill didn't end with sales of existing detached homes.

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. said single-family housing starts were also down by 27.2 per cent for the same period, while multi-family starts were down 77.8 per cent.

That bucked the trend at the national level, where Canada saw an increase in new-home construction from April to May. CMHC said the annual rate of housing starts increased to 128,400 last month from 117,600 in April.

That chilling trend here was particularly evident in May, when Multiple Listing Service sales were down 13 per cent to 1,367 properties, and total housing starts down 67.8 per cent to 136 units. That included no multiple-family starts for the month, which is the first time that's happened since May 1995.

While those weaker numbers are bad news for the local economy -- fewer starts and fewer home sales usually mean fewer sales of things like building materials, furniture, appliances and landscaping products -- industry officials said the situation is far from bleak.

"Sales in May 2009 were more restrained than in the last few years, but that does not mean the MLS market performed badly," the realtors association said in a statement. "It just indicates the market has come back down to earth and is more balanced compared to the heady run Winnipeg enjoyed" over the previous five years.

Manitoba Home Builders Association president Mike Moore also said last year was one of the better years in recent memory for single-family housing starts in Manitoba.

"This is really just taking us back to the numbers of eight years ago... which some would say is a normal Manitoba year," he said.

Moore said new-home sales have also been improving in the last two months, which should translate into higher single-family starts later in the year.

And residential building permit activity, considered a good indicator of building intentions, was also up by 5.3 per cent in April, according to Statistics Canada figures issued last week.

"People are still buying," Moore said. "They're just a little more cautious and a little slower about doing it."

Winnipeg Realtors president Deborah Goodfellow said the fact condo sales are running 12 per cent ahead of last year's pace shows some segments of the resale market are humming along quite nicely in spite of the recession and the negative impact that has had on consumer confidence.

Winnipeg Realtors figures show there were 576 condos sold through the MLS during the first five months of this year. That compared with 511 during the period last year.

The hottest selling condos were in the $100,000 to $149,000 price range. They accounted for 230 of the 576 sales. The second hottest sellers were those in the $150,000 to $200,000 range, with 140 sales.

Officials with one of the city's busiest condo developers -- Sunstone Resort Communities -- said lower-priced units have also been their best sellers this year.

Sunstone president Michael Evans and vice-president and general manager Bill Coady said the fastest sellers in the company's Sky Waterfront development under construction on Waterfront Drive have been priced between $220,000 and $240,000.

The ones priced at $330,000 to $550,00 have been a little slower to move, but are still selling, they said.

"I think at that price range, people are being a little more cautious because of what happened in the equity markets," Coady said. "But I would say that's going to work itself out."

Evans said about 84 of the 109 units in the first phase of Sky Waterfront have been sold, and the first phase should be complete by the end of this year.

Construction of the much smaller second phase -- only about 30 units -- should get underway this summer, he said. That will consist mainly of the smaller, more moderately priced units.

murray.mcneill@freepress.mb.ca

Starts, sales

both drop

sharply

Winnipeg's new and resale-homes markets took an early vacation in May, with housing starts and sales of existing homes both down sharply from a year earlier.

New Homes Market (Winnipeg Census Metropolitan Area):

136 -- Total housing starts in May of this year

422 -- Total starts in May 2008

67.8 -- Percentage decline

136 -- Number of single-detached starts in May of this year

198 -- Number in May of last year

31.3 -- percentage decline

0 -- Number of multi-family starts in May of this year

224 -- Number in May of last year

649 -- Number of starts for first five months of this year

1,233 -- Number of starts for same period last year

47.4 -- Percentage decline

540 -- Number of single-detached starts for first five months of 2009

742 -- Number for same period last year

27.2 -- Percentage decline

109 -- Number of multi-family starts for first five months of this year

491 -- Number for same period last year

77.8 -- Percentage decline.

-- Source: Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.

Resale Homes Market:

1,367 -- Number of Multiple Listing Service (MLS) sales in May of this year

1,564 -- Number in May 2008

13 -- Percentage decline.

$278.3 million -- Volume of sales for May of this year

$319.7 million -- Volume of sales for May 2008

13 -- Percentage decline

4,606 -- Number of unit sales for first five months of this year

5,253 -- Number for same period last year

12 -- Percentage decline

$928.3 million -- Volume of sales for first five months

$1.02 billion -- Volume for same period last year

9 -- Percentage decline

12 -- Percentage increase in condominium sales for first five months of this year

12 -- Percentage decline in sales of single detached homes for first five months

-- Source: Winnipeg Realtors

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition June 9, 2009 B4