Most Regina houses selling for $300,000 or more
Posted: October 6, 2011
Regina home prices appears to settling in well above $300,000 this year and closing the gap with the national average and our sister city to the north, according to the latest report from one of Canada’s largest real estate firms.
The Queen City saw the average price of a detached bungalow rise eight per cent to $316,500 from $293,000 in the third quarter of 2010, while the average price of a two-storey home rose 9.5 per cent to $300,000 during the same period, said the Royal LePage house price survey released Wednesday.The price of a standard condominium in Regina averaged $198,000 in the third quarter, up 7.3 per cent from $184,500 last year, the survey said.
Mike Duggleby of Royal LePage Regina Realty said the average selling price of residential properties in Regina is still below $300,000, but the best-selling homes, like bungalows, are definitely in the $300,000 range or higher.
“If you take all housing categories and combined them on average, year to date in the city, we’d be at $284,000 and change,” Duggleby said. “You can still get bungalows in slightly less desirable neighbourhoods for under $300,000. But if you’re looking at a three-bedroom bungalow in nice neighbourhood, you’re at $300,000-plus these days.’’
The area of Regina seeing the largest increase in average price was the north, where the average price of bungalows jumped 15.6 per cent to $312,000 in the third quarter. Two-storey house prices in the north increased 13.4 per cent to $270,000. The most expensive houses in Regina are in the south, where prices average $321,000 for bungalows and $330,000 for two-storey houses.
While that’s still below the national average house price of about $350,000 and the average in Saskatoon of $335,000, Regina is catching up, Duggleby said.“We’ve been slowly catching up to Saskatoon’s average price for a year-and-a-half (to) two years now. The gap is shrinking.’’
Nationally, the average price of a home in Canada increased between 5.7 and 7.8 per cent in the third quarter of 2011 compared to the same period last year. The average price of a detached bungalow was $349,974, a standard two-storey home was $388,218 and a standard condominium was $239,300, according to the survey.
Royal LePage said that the rise in price defied expectations and suggested that record-low interest rates and a fairly stable Canadian economy have bolstered consumer confidence.
However, the third quarter of 2010 was a relatively weak period for housing prices, which makes the increase this year appear rosier than they are and may mask a decline in prices in the months ahead, it said.
“The strength in Canada’s national housing market conceals signs of predictable softening in some regions,” Phil Soper, president and chief executive of Royal LePage Real Estate Services, said in a statement.
“A broader slowdown is expected in the months ahead, but fears of a U.S.-style correction are completely unfounded.”
Vancouver had the highest priced homes in the country during the third quarter of 2011 and was the only city in the survey where the average bungalow or two-storey home cost more than $1 million.
Halifax, Montreal, Toronto, Saint John, N.B., and Ottawa all saw prices increase between 4.4 and 10.4 per cent.
In Alberta, the volume of homes trading hands increased, but prices stayed soft, the survey found. Detached bungalows in Calgary fell one per cent in the third quarter.
Victoria was similarly weak, with detached bungalows and standard two-storey home prices falling two and 1.1 per cent respectively.
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