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Winnipeg Free Press
09-07-2025
- Business
- Winnipeg Free Press
Direct flight to Costa Rica incoming
Costa Rica will be a flight away from Winnipeg every week this winter. Beginning Dec. 19, WestJet will run a direct flight to the Central American country from the Manitoba capital. Service will continue every Friday until April 25, 2026. A one-way trip to Liberia, Costa Rica, for Dec. 19 started at $545, a Tuesday search elicited. The non-stop route was slated to last nearly 6 1/2 hours in the air. WestJet has never directly connected Winnipeg to Central America before. The route is part of the Alberta-based airliner's winter 2025-26 schedule. WestJet is also touting a nine per cent increase in its direct flights between Winnipeg and Cancun, Mexico — to 12 times weekly — and an 11 per cent increase between Winnipeg and Puerto Vallarta. The latter Mexican destination will be reachable from Winnipeg 10 times per week, WestJet announced. Direct flights to Cancun and Puerto Vallarta will begin Oct. 26. The pair join 21 other destinations with non-stop WestJet flights from Winnipeg this winter. WestJet has upped its sun destination flights from the Prairies city by 14 per cent, when comparing year over year, a company news release reads. The addition of a flight to Costa Rica, and expanded service to Mexico, shows WestJet's confidence in Winnipeg's market, said Winnipeg Airports Authority president Nick Hays. June breaks record for city home prices Residential detached homes and condos reached record-breaking prices for June in Winnipeg. The average residential detached home cost $473,131 last month — higher than any previous June, per the Winnipeg Regional Real Estate Board. An average condo clocked in at $291,647. In June 2024, the home types cost $437,367 and $273,303, respectively. Meanwhile, home sales in Winnipeg and surrounding regions continued to surpass last year's numbers while home listings lacked pace. The WRREB tracked 1,671 sales in June, up six per cent from the prior year. The stat, however, is three per cent below the five-year average (an average that includes record-shattering years sparked by the COVID-19 pandemic). Home listings were down 10 per cent from 2024, contributing to the current sellers' market. Buyers could choose from 3,716 active listings in June. Overall dollar volume of sales in June surpassed $707 million — a 14 per cent jump from June 2024. An average two-bedroom apartment rents for $1,769 in July, a new report by and Urbanation shows. The rent is a 3.8 per cent year-over-year decrease. One-bedroom apartment rent, at $1,450, was a marginal 0.5 per cent hike from the previous year. — Free Press staff
Winnipeg Free Press
17-06-2025
- Business
- Winnipeg Free Press
Bidding wars heat up
First, Noella Delorme tempered her expectations. A home's listing price might read $275,000. To her, that was code for upwards of $320,000 and a stressful bidding process against others. 'I'd kind of write it off,' she said. MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS FILES Increased demand for houses in Winnipeg combined with a lack of inventory has lead to bidding wars across the city. The 28 year old has found house hunting in Winnipeg to be a daunting experience. In several neighbourhoods, the average house sells above list price — 112.2 per cent of list price in East Kildonan, for example. This spring was the busiest since the COVID-19 pandemic, Winnipeg Regional Real Estate Board tracking shows. In May, more than half of homes sold — 52 per cent — went above asking price. A home in South Osborne, on Jubilee Avenue, recently sold for nearly $150,000 over asking price. Five weeks ago, Delorme paid $26,000 more than list price for a home in North Kildonan. 'I felt like that was still pretty conservative,' she said, adding she sized up the home, listed for $265,000, with her real estate agent. It was her sixth time bidding since February. The homes she eyed sold, regularly, for $50,000 to $100,000 more than list price, she said. After feeling defeated, she took a month away from house hunting to 're-calibrate.' When she returned, she implemented a new strategy: focus on homes below her budget with the expectation prices would rise via bidding war. 'Every buyer is going to have to take an approach that they're comfortable with,' said Michael Froese, the Winnipeg Regional Real Estate Board's president. Monday Mornings The latest local business news and a lookahead to the coming week. 'They may have to make concessions on the house (or) where it is… when you're looking into highly competitive neighbourhoods or highly competitive price points.' Increased demand has collided with a lack of inventory, leading to bids across the city. By the end of May, Winnipeg had 2.04 months' worth of inventory, Froese said. Meaning, if houses stopped being put up for sale, it would take roughly two months to sell everything available, given demand. Roughly three months' worth of inventory allows for a balanced market between buyers and sellers, Froese said. At least 1,400 homes would need listing to create a balanced market amid current demand, Froese estimated. 'We're still quite a ways away from achieving that,' he noted, adding the listing-to-sale ratio usually rises in the winter. Froese, a practising real estate agent, cited several reasons for the low inventory: homeowners are holding onto places longer than expected and children are staying at home longer; pandemic-era supply chain snarls delayed construction, causing a ripple effect; and slow permitting for new builds. 'Despite the prices rising, we still have (an) affordable major market in Canada.'–Michael Froese, Winnipeg Regional Real Estate Board president Meantime, demand is booming. Millennials have entered the market, noted real estate agent Catherine Schellenberg. Manitoba accepted many highly skilled immigrants in recent years, added Froese. 'Despite the prices rising, we still have (an) affordable major market in Canada,' he said. 'We have… also a very stable economy.' Historically low interest rates help, as does a growing population that's generally employed, he said. (Winnipeg had 815,599 residents by July 1, 2023. The population could grow by 62,300 people by 2028, a 2024 city report projected.) Most Winnipeg buyers seek homes in the $350,000 to $500,000 range — and that's where bidding most commonly occurs, Froese said. West Fort Garry joins East Kildonan as the city community with the highest average sale price above listing (at 112 per cent of list price). River Heights, Crescentwood and North Kildonan follow at 111 per cent. Citywide, sale prices have averaged 100 per cent of list prices from March to June. In the five years preceding the COVID-19 pandemic, the average hovered closer to 98 per cent. Not all sales end in bidding wars. Some houses may sit on the market or sell for less than asking. Such homes may be areas with more stock available or are listed at a luxury price point, Froese said. Properties that require renovations may also sit for a while, Schellenberg added. She's watched the market shock prospective home buyers — from first-time purchasers to downsizers, to people moving from larger metropolitans, like Toronto. Froese said some buyers have to shift to condos and attached homes, like row homes, to meet their budgets. 'I had to almost get uncomfortable and just put a lot of money towards (my) home,' said Nadine Meilleur, recalling her 2024 house search. She bid on five homes; most sold for $40,000 to $70,000 above asking price. She didn't want to compromise on a neighbourhood, and having three bedrooms for her children was important. It was a discouraging experience at times, she said. 'I had to almost get uncomfortable and just put a lot of money towards (my) home.'–Nadine Meilleur on her 2024 house search It's ultimately the sellers' choice on how to price their home, said Schellenberg, who's president of the Manitoba Real Estate Association. Real estate agents tend not to under-price properties, though they obey the seller unless the price is 'ridiculously low or ridiculously high.' On the buying side, Realtors must share historical information of similar homes with clients, letting them know what to expect, Schellenberg said. Sellers may look beyond bid prices when making a decision — there are possession dates and terms of offers to consider. Some jurisdictions, like Ontario, offer a more transparent bidding process where sellers can share submitted bid prices with possible buyers. It strays from the blind bidding process in Manitoba; bidders don't know the contents of others' proposals. Schellenberg said she doesn't see the practice changing any time soon. Manitoba's Real Estate Services Act doesn't mandate any bidding process for real estate transactions, noted Erika Miller, communications manager of the Manitoba Financial Services Agency. 'The Act just legislates the Realtor's conduct expected in all situations – that is, to be fair and avoid all deceptive dealing,' Miller wrote in an email. Schellenberg believes competition will always be present: 'It's just on a bigger scale. Now we have more people at the table shopping.' Last May, home sales increased four per cent while listings were down 11 per cent year-over-year, real estate board data show. The average price of a residential detached house was $459,320, up eight per cent year-over-year. Gabrielle PichéReporter Gabrielle Piché reports on business for the Free Press. She interned at the Free Press and worked for its sister outlet, Canstar Community News, before entering the business beat in 2021. Read more about Gabrielle. Every piece of reporting Gabrielle produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press's tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press's history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates. Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
