Steinbach continues to be one of the hottest housing markets in the province. Peter Squire of Winnipeg is a market analyst for the Multiple Listing Service in Manitoba. He says home sales in Steinbach and area for the first half of the year are on par with 2011. Squire explains, "We're at 289 sales compared to 290 last year, so basically identical. Listings are similar, well over 400 listings in both years, so a pretty high conversion rate. No MLS area in Manitoba is that close to Steinbach in terms of numbers of listings and sales. You would have to combine some areas in the city to get to that level.  If you took the whole north of Winnipeg, it would approximate the same number of sales as Steinbach."

The average house price in Steinbach this year is just over $230,000.00 up from $219,000.00 last year. Squire notes, "That still compares very favourably with some areas of Winnipeg where in the southwest it is up to $340,000.00 as an average and southeast Winnipeg is around $310,000.00. In Steinbach, that affordability is a real helpful and motivating factor for people looking to buy in that area."

Squire says he expects the federal government's latest move to reduce the maximum amortization of mortgages from 30 to 25 years, effective this month, may have some impact on first time home buyers. But he adds all indications point to the market staying strong in the second half of the year. He says, "In terms of my forecast(for this year), we're a little ahead of forecast. We're up against an extremely impressive year in 2011 that nearly eclipsed our all time sales record of 2007, we only missed it by about 11 sales, and we also had a dollar volume record last year, going over $3 billion dollars for the first time, so we're ahead of last year but not by a lot, more in dollar volume than in sales. We've still got six months to go and we're pleased with how the year is progressing."