Spring comes early for housing market as February sets record number

Real estate sale signage is shown. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Richard Buchan)

The spring housing market came early, according to the president-elect of the Winnipeg Regional Real Estate Board, after the latest numbers from February were released.

There were 885 sales—up 11 per cent from February last year—all while listings were down 15 per cent. The total dollar value of all the sales hit $348 million – a 27 per cent jump from last year.

As well, February 2025 set the single-month record for the highest residential detached average price at $438,092 – about $3,000 more than the previous record set in May 2022.

“We really saw an accelerated market in February,” said Michael Froese. “Here in Winnipeg, we have had very low inventory for quite some time, and not enough inventory to satisfy the demand. In February, it might have been, maybe there was a sense of urgency from impending tariffs, which are, of course, on again, off again. But there was certainly an urgency to the market.”

Froese said this is the kind of activity that Winnipeg sees during the spring months, and the recent sales will tee up what to expect for the rest of the year.

“So March is always kind of a busier month and usually is the beginning of the spring market. But I think we saw that a little earlier this year. So yes, this trend is expected to continue through the spring months. We’re hoping that more inventory can come to the market to meet the demand, but we need a lot of it in a hurry to slow down any price increases.”

While he anticipates prices will go up slightly as we approach summer, the only wildcard right now is what is happening in the United States.

“There’s this asterisk of pending tariffs and (Donald) Trump and a tweet that could change the world… But even if the April 2 tariffs do come, we don’t expect that to have a huge impact in the short term.”

For those who are looking to enter the market either as a buyer or seller, Froese said the best advice he can give is to find a realtor who knows the local market.

“These are broad-stroke statistics. But when you go into neighbourhood by neighbourhood, price point by price point, also housing type by housing type…each one of those markets specifically is really important because not every neighbourhood and not every price point follows these statistics. So getting that expert guidance is extremely important.”