Canadians Are Desperate To Buy Houses & Prices In One Major City Are Actually Going Down

Even with everything going on in the world, people still need places to live. The Canadian real estate market is still healthy, with prices continuing to rise. However, there's one major market where the cost of a home is actually decreasing.

According to research by Royal LePage, the city of Winnipeg has seen home prices across the board drop from last year.

Overall, the aggregate cost of any home in the city decreased by 1.4% in 2020's second quarter to $302,399.

The median price of a two-storey home, something that plenty of Canadians aspire to own (especially if they're starting a family), is just $330,995, a 1.5% decrease from 2019.

Bungalows saw a modest dip in median price to $287,715, a 0.8% difference from the previous year.

Condominiums in Manitoba's capital city saw a precipitous drop in their median price, falling 4.1% from 2019 down to $231,036.

The forecasted aggregate price for the end of the year according to Royal LePage is $311,000, the same as the fourth quarter of 2019.

An interesting statistic to go along with the decreasing home prices is that communities outside of the city proper have seen a surge in popularity.

Michael Froese, a managing partner at Royal LePage Prime Real Estate, attributes this to the increase in people working from home, a symptom of the current pandemic.

"For many, remote work started as a necessity this spring but it is growing in popularity and employer acceptance," Froese said in a statement, "Buyers are now looking for larger properties with home offices."

Unlike Winnipeg, higher demand in the Greater Toronto Area caused it to have the highest price increase in 2020's second quarter.

The region saw a 10% year-over-year increase in aggregate home price, bringing it up to $899,001.