CCI held its second virtual National Leaders Forum and Conference May 28-29. The next one in the fall will be virtual as well, but we can all look forward to the expected in-person event in the spring of 2022.

As was the case for the conference in the fall of 2020, there was a diverse set of topics covered with ample opportunity to ask questions of the presenters. What follows are some of my lessons learned.

The following reports highlight the accomplishments of CCI Manitoba’s Committees from the past year and summarizes the plans for the
coming year. Note that you need not be a CCI Board Member to join one of our committees. If you are interested in volunteering for one
of our committees, please email us at ccimanitoba@cci.ca.

We encourage you to submit suggestions for improving the Provincial Condo Act to us via https://cci-manitoba.ca/resources/the-condominium-act-suggestions-for-improvement. We have started posting these ‘suggestions for improvement’ in our quarterly Condominium News and Views. In case you missed the improvement suggestions in the prior editions, have a look at the Fall 2020, Winter 2021 and Spring 2021 editions at https://cci-manitoba.ca/members-only/newsletter-archive

The Province has a useful website with a guide to the Act and links to the Act itself, and the associated regulation and various related forms. The website link is
https://www.gov.mb.ca/condo/. 

CCI Manitoba Chapter recently had a discussion with representatives from the Winnipeg Regional Real Estate Board WRREB about various issues related to buying, occupying and selling condos. You may have experience and opinions on these topics and if so, we encourage you to let us know via email ccimanitoba@cci.ca or via our Condo Conversation Corner portal on our website https://cci-manitoba.ca/resources/condo-conversation-corner. What follows is a summary of those discussions.

“Spring is in the air, I can feel it everywhere. O Yeah, spring is in the air?” I am excited! I am really excited and I hope you are as excited as I am. It is a wonderful feeling. Being cooped up through this pandemic has driven me a little stir crazy and I am excited to get outside and enjoy another great Manitoba spring and summer. With restrictions being relaxed, hopefully we will have a spring and summer like never before.

IMPRESSIVE CONDO SALES IN 2021

There’s a saying that many of us are familiar with: what a difference a year makes.

Well, the passing of one year has made a huge difference in condo sales. Even though sales in March 2020 were decent, the solid numbers from one year ago were blown away by March 2021 numbers. Once all the dust had settled, March 2021 – there were 397 new listings this year compared to 329 the year previous - this proved to be the best-ever month for condo sales in Winnipeg, with 288 listings being sold.

Here are some new items and others concerning previous newsletter articles, Lunch-n-Learns, webinars and Conversations in previous Newsletter editions. If you want to contribute to the discussion, you can make a submission to https://cci-manitoba.ca/resources/condo-conversation-corner.

Whether it improves the sustainability of your condo operations, reduces waste, increases energy efficiency, reduces water consumption or just beautifies the environment surrounding your property, we’d like to hear from you - just send us an email with a subject line of “CCI Green Condo Page”. We hope to hear from you soon. Please send any comments or suggestions to cci.mb.news@gmail.com.

We are coming off a spectacular year in 2021 where condo sales skyrocketed 39% from 1,847 in 2020 to 2,572 in 2021. This is a clear indication of preferences shifting with first-time buyers in particular finding condos a more affordable housing option which they can manage. Even with the supercharged demand for condos in 2021 the annual average sales price only went up a modest 2% to $244,957.

While we didn’t receive any new submissions from our members in the past few months, we did come across some recommendations from a report from the Canadian Institute of Actuaries that looked at reserve funds and reserve fund studies across all Provinces and Territories. The Executive Summary on pages 4-5 of the report are recommended reading for all condo unit owners and especially for their directors. What follows is a review of the report and some of the highlights.

Here are some items in relation to prior newsletter articles, Lunch-n- Learns, webinars and Conversations in prior Newsletter editions. If you want to contribute to the discussion, you can make a submission to https://cci-manitoba.ca/resources/condo-conversation-corner.

No matter which way you cut it, the number of sales is phenomenal. Compare it to the best previous year – 2014 – and it blows it away with nearly 400 more sales, as 963 condominiums were sold during the first six months of that year versus 1,376 this year. Percentage-wise, the first half of 2021 still works out to be 43 per cent better than sales from seven years ago!

Welcome to Fall, my favourite time of year, so why does it still feel like summer? The geese are practising I hope and will not leave for a long while yet. The leaves are turning and the fall colours are beautiful and as I write this report on a sunny and warm day in the first week of October, the grass is still green and the temperature is expected to be 29 degrees today. What a blessing! October is a time for giving thanks.....thanks for our family, friends, our health and how blessed we are to live in Manitoba.

CONDO REAL ESTATE BLOG: WITH THREE MONTHS TO GO BEFORE THE END OF THE 2021 SALES YEAR, THE CONDO MARKET REMAINS HOT.