2025 ‘story of demand, of strong demand’

While Winnipeg continues to be a seller’s market for homeowners, it’s now a renter’s market, too, as supply went up and demand decreased in the past year, a new report says.

More than $6 billion in house sales were made in the Manitoba capital in 2025 — a 10 per cent jump from 2024, which was a 20 per cent increase from 2023 — and 15,180 total sales (a four per cent increase over 2024), according to Winnipeg Regional Real Estate Board data released Thursday.

“What we saw in 2025, really, was a story of demand, of strong demand, the entire year,” said Michael Froese, 2025-26 WRREB president.

As a result, the price of local homes went up. The average price of a residential detached home was $451,852 in 2025, seven per cent more than 2024. The average price for a condo was $281,927, a three per cent jump.

While the federal election and the threat of tariffs from the U.S. government created uncertainty that stalled housing markets in Vancouver, Toronto and other large Canadian cities, Winnipeg was largely unaffected, Froese said.

“Where, in other markets, demand slipped away, went to the sidelines, Winnipeg still kind of soldiered on — and the reason for that is primarily that we’re still largely affordable,” he said.

Demand was highest in the spring, as Canada’s key interest rate declined 50 basis points, and pushed housing prices up, Froese said. Later in 2025, the market cooled, but December saw an unusually “healthy appetite” for homes, he said.

There were some year-over-year declines across Manitoba: the number of homes sold in Gimli dropped by 12 per cent, nine per cent in Morden and Winkler, and four per cent in Niverville and Richtot.

Froese said there were simply fewer houses to sell in those areas. Niverville is cooling off after a population boom in recent years, while people are more likely to settle outside of the capital city as working remotely has become more common.

“Remote working, it’s not a rarity anymore, it’s actually sought after. So selling those family cottages … people don’t have to commute into the city, they can work out there,” he said.

Meanwhile, as apartment rental supply has flooded Manitoba, the average cost of rent has gone down but at a slower rate than much of Canada.

December numbers from rentals.ca found the average rent in Winnipeg was $1,662 monthly, down 1.5 per cent from December 2024. Most provinces saw their average rent drop, but Manitoba had the lowest rate decrease (at 1.7 per cent).

Declines in population growth impacted the last year of rent prices across Canada, which are currently the lowest they’ve been since 2023.

While Manitoba’s relative affordability has stopped rent from dropping too steep, it’s still feeling those same effects, said Giacomo Ladas, associate director of communications at Rentals.ca.

“Manitoba’s population is continuing to grow, but it’s at its slowest pace in almost two decades … And, obviously, we’re seeing a rising unemployment rate, and all that factors in with rental demand growth, it just does,” he said.

To compare, rent dropped 5.7 per cent in Alberta, 6.8 per cent in British Columbia, and 3.8 per cent in Ontario. Saskatchewan’s rent went up 3.9 per cent.

Meanwhile, Winnipeg has logged a windfall of new units ready to rent, but often at a higher price tag. Property owners are getting creative to attract a smaller number of prospective tenants, Ladas said.

“Frankly, they’re offering two months of free rent, they’re offering gift cards, free parking, free internet,” Ladas said.

“What this means is that it’s a little bit more of a renter’s market, where they can take more time to find an apartment. Because there’s a lot more options, prices are getting better, property managers and rental housing providers need to work a little bit harder to get that demand back.”

Ladas expects more of the same in 2026, but noted the rental market is still recovering from skyrocketing costs country-wide from 2020 to 2023.

“These rental prices are still quite inflated from just five, six, years ago. If anything, this is more of a correction that we do think needs to continue in order to restore affordability.”

malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca