three-per-cent drop

'We are well into this inevitable cyclical correction'

a Royal LePage forecast

national, international concerns

the number of residential resale...

hold

3.0 per cent

Page 2 of 103 © 2009 Factiva, Inc. All rights reserved.

Winnipeg's high-end homes hot in 2008 -

By Murray McNeill

495 words

8 January 2009

Winnipeg Free Press

B3

English

All material copyright Winnipeg Free Press, a division of FP Canadian Newspapers Limited Partnership.

All rights reserved.

THE demand for high-end homes soared to new heights in 2008 as Winnipeggers scooped up a record

number of resale properties valued at $300,000 or more.

New figures released Wednesday show 1,283 such homes were purchased last year through the

Winnipeg REALTORS Association's Multiple Listing Service.

That was a 44 per cent increase over 2007's total of 898, which was the previous record, and was more

than double the 529 purchased in 2006.

"That (2008's total) is quite shocking to me," Peter Squire, the WRA's residential market analyst, said in

an interview. "That's new territory for us."

Squire said the total included 158 homes that sold for more than half a million dollars, and nine that sold

for more than a million.

"So 2008 was definitely a year for higher-end sales," he said.

The surge in sales of upper-end homes helped propel the WRA to another record-breaking year in terms

of the dollar volume of sales -- $2.4 billion compared to the previous record of $2.23 billion set in 2007.

Not only was 2008 the second consecutive year that sales eclipsed the $2-billion mark, but the seventh

consecutive year they surpassed the $1-billion level.

A slowdown in buying activity in the fourth quarter prevented unit sales from surpassing the 13,000 mark

for the second year in a row. They were down three per cent from the previous year -- 12,630 compared

Page 3 of 103 © 2009 Factiva, Inc. All rights reserved.

to 13,079.

December's unit sales were also down three per cent from a year earlier -- 504 compared to 522 . But

that was still a big improvement from October and November, when sales were down 18 per cent and 25

per cent respectively.

The December and 2008 resale-market results were the second housing-related announcement in as

many days. On Tuesday, Royal LePage Real Estate Services released its 2009 resale-housing market

forecast. It predicted Winnipeg will be one of the only major cities in Canada to see an increase in both

unit sales -- it's forecasting a modest one per cent gain -- and average selling prices -- it's predicting a

four per cent improvement -- in 2009.

Squire and WRA president Darlene Clare said a number of factors helped fuel the demand for higher-end

homes in 2008.

Soaring property values meant most move-up buyers were getting a bigger buck for their existing homes.

That, coupled with low interest rates, enabled them to purchase more expensive move-up properties, they

said.

And not only were there more move-up buyers, there were also more empty-nesters selling their

spacious, higher-end properties and moving into condominiums or more modestly-sized houses.

Clare also noted there was another big influx of new immigrants to the province in 2008, some of them

professionals with the means to buy higher-priced homes.

murray.mcneill@freepress.mb.ca