No shortage of luxury homes

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Courtesy of MLS This 9,000-square-foot home at 761 Wellington Cres. is listed for sale at $2.8 million.

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]j[ (BORIS MINKEVICH/WINNIPEG FREE PR)

Not only has Winnipeg set a new standard for the most million-dollar-plus homes sold in a single year -- nine and counting -- but there's also a record number of them still for sale.

According to new figures released Tuesday by WinnipegREALTORS, there were 19 such properties listed for sale last week on the Multiple Listing Service. (That number has since dipped to 18 with the sale of a $1-million-plus condominium within the last few days).

Industry officials said even at 18, that's the most that's been available at any one time in the city's history.

And it shows how far Winnipeg's resale homes market has come in the last five or six years, they added. Not only are there more big-buck homes up for grabs these days, but more people willing to buy them.

"Before, nobody wanted to have the most expensive home on the block," veteran Winnipeg real estate agent Dave Mackenzie said in an interview.

But now, with million-dollar-plus homes becoming more common, "it's easier for people to justify it," he added.

Peter Squire, WinnipegREALTORS' residential market analyst, agreed.

"There's been an attitude change," Squire said, adding Calgary, Toronto, and Vancouver have lots of million-dollar-plus properties, so why not Winnipeg, as well.

Mackenzie and WinnipegREALTORS president Deborah Goodfellow said a number of other factors are fuel ling the mini surge in million-dollar-plus listings and sales.

One is six consecutive years of double-digit price increases, which means well-maintained homes that were once worth $700,000 are now worth in excess of $1 million. Another is that a lot more million-dollar-plus homes have been built in the Winnipeg area in the last 10 years, they said, and now some of those properties are coming up for sale.

The good news for buyers is that these properties are popping up all over the city, Mackenzie said, which means a person doesn't have to move to Tuxedo or Wellington Crescent to live in some of these high-priced digs. "In every quadrant of the city there is now the potential of finding million-dollar-plus homes."

A quick check of the list of available properties bears that out. Sure there are at least four Wellington Crescent properties -- two houses and two condos. But there are also million-dollar-plus homes on such streets as Woodhaven Crescent, River Road, Henderson Highway and Hermitage Road. They range from a $1.1-million, five-bedroom, 6,000-square-foot home at 300 Hosmer Blvd. to an eye-popping five-bedroom, 9,000-square foot mansion at 761 Wellington Cres. that's listed for $2.8 million. The two most recent million-dollar-plus properties to change hands were the condo that sold a few days ago -- the address and selling price were not available Tuesday -- and a show home in the new Waverley West subdivision that sold last month for $1.29 million.

That transaction tied the previous record of eight million-dollar-plus sales set in 2008. And the condo sale broke the record.

Mackenzie, who is the listing agent for the $2.8-million Wellington Crescent mansion, said he wouldn't be surprised to see at least a couple more of the homes sell before the end of the year.

He and Goodfellow said it's hard to predict how long it will take for a home in that price range to sell in Winnipeg.

The Waverley West show home was one of 1,151 properties that sold last month through the local MLS. Although that was 17 fewer than in August of last year, when 1,168 residential properties changed hands, it was still the fifth best August on record for unit sales and the best on record for dollar volume of sales.

murray.mcneill@freepress.mb.ca

Looking for a nice little place to call home?

Here is a list of the million-dollar-plus homes that are currently listed for sale through WinnipegREALTORS' Multiple Listing Service:

Address List Price Sq. ft. # of bedrooms MLS number

#200, 1 Wellington Cres. $1,100,000 3,900 *N/A 2914352

#400, 1 Wellington Cres. $1,100,000 3,200 *N/A 2914359

945 Wellington Cres. $1,250,000 4,900 4 2914493

6 Ruskin Row $1,275,000 6,233 5 2906585

River Heights $2,200,000 6,503 6 *N/A

761 Wellington Cres. $2,800,000 9,000 5 2909898

300 Hosmer Blvd. $1,100,000 6,000 5 2912977

18 Dumbarton Blvd. $1,179,000 3,235 3 2904205

1685 Lee Blvd. $1,179,000 5,893 4 2912752

45 Hermitage Rd. $1,199,000 3,200 4 2916183

Headingley $1,200,000 3,000 4 *N/A

25 Hermitage Rd. $1,250,000 2,620 4 2908062

4 Dovewood Crt. $1,250,000 3,490 4 2913303

4286 Henderson Hwy. $1,699,000 3,748 4 2907270

180 Woodhaven Cres. $1,495,000 3,900 5 2915458

1330 Kelburn Rd. $1,250,000 4,700 5 2915614

292 River Rd. $1,150,000 4,000 4 2911546

435 River Rd. $1,250,000 2,850 3 2914299

*Not available / Source: WinnipegREALTORS

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition September 9, 2009 B6