Winnipeg condo glut continues despite fewer new builds

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 26/07/2016 (2829 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Winnipeg still has too many unsold condominiums even though builders have cut back this year on the number of new units being built, according to a new report from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC).

In its third-quarter Housing Market Assessment Report released on Wednesday, the federal housing agency said that in three of the four factors it considers in assessing the health of Winnipeg’s housing market — overheating, overvaluation and price acceleration — the evidence that problematic conditions exist remains “weak.”

But as was the case in the previous two quarters, there is still “moderate” evidence of problematic conditions in the fourth category — overbuilding. And as was the case before, it’s still concentrated on the condo side of the market, it added.

It noted there were 1,573 new condos under construction in the first quarter of the year, which is 11 per cent higher than the five-year average of 1,417.

Although there was also a record 2,092 new rental apartments under construction, it said “strong immigration levels are also expected to create demand in the rental market, keeping the vacancy rate from growing significantly.”

On the single-family-homes side of the market, CMHC said while the number of unsold homes is “at the threshold of overbuilding,” it hasn’t crossed the line. So it’s not a big concern.

With problematic conditions being found in only one of the four key categories, CMHC said Winnipeg remains one of five Canadian cities where there is only “moderate” evidence of problematic housing-market conditions. The same goes for the Canadian housing market.

However, there continues to be “strong” evidence of problematic conditions in five other cities — Vancouver, Toronto, Calgary, Saskatoon and Regina, it said. In four other cities, it found evidence of problematic conditions remains “weak.”