Want to live in one of Canada’s biggest modern-day boomtowns? Move to Winnipeg. Not since the turn of the century has Manitoba’s largest city grown so much and so quickly and this is great news for residents who already call Winnipeg home.

“The city’s greatest growth period was in the early 1900s,” explains Mary Pidlaski, Re/Max Realtor with Executive Realty. “Now, in the last decade, Winnipeg has experienced a similar amount of growth.”

This growth isn’t accidental. Since his election in 2014, Mayor Brian Bowman has concentrated on building up the city he loves. This is good news for the city as well as the province, considering 70% of Manitoba’s population lives in Winnipeg, which also accounts for 75% of the province’s GDP.

But what does this mean for the city’s real estate market? It means strong interest by buyers and investors, alike. In fact, the biggest problem right now, says Pidlaski, is a serious lack of inventory.

GALLERY: Top 10 Winnipeg neighbourhoods to buy in

This lack of supply means increased housing prices across the board, but particularly for single-family detached homes. In March 2018, the city’s average housing price was $327,959, a 3% increase from the city’s average housing price of $319,549 for all of 2017. While the residential, detached market is the most expensive property type, it’s also one of the most vulnerable to the recent government policy, such as the new mortgage stress test, which is aimed to slow down the nation’s housing market. So, recent price increases were a bit of a surprise considering the 7% drop in sales, when you compare the first quarter of 2018 to the 10-year average.

“The new mortgage rules have prompted people to stay where they are,” explains Pidlaski, “and this has translated into a lack of supply across the city, and particularly in the high-demand neighbourhoods.”

Quite interestingly, almost 67% of agents surveyed reported working with real estate investors. Of those investors, 14% were looking for properties to fix and flip, while 22% were looking for rental properties and another 22% were looking to “park money.” This interest, from both buyers and investors, is why Pidlaski is confident. “I’ve been in the business for almost a decade and continue to see prices rise in Winnipeg. I don’t think it’s a mistake to invest in this city.”

While not all communities are appreciating at the same pace, resident Winnipeggers should feel comfortable in the knowledge that residential real estate in the city will continue to grow. Two-thirds of realtors surveyed felt that prices would “continue to rise” in 2018, but that also meant that 67% of the agents were working with buyers whose main concern was that they “wouldn’t find anything suitable.”

That’s where MoneySense can help. This year, all but one of this year’s top 10 neighbourhoods in the Where to Buy Now 2018 ranking were well under last year’s single-family home average housing price of $340,493. (Move into the top 25, and 80% of the neighbourhoods are under this average housing price.) In fact, our overall top pick, Norwood Flats, got top marks for both value and momentum and buyers could expect to pay approximately 20% less than the city average.

But to really help you narrow down the best community to buy this year, we divided up the Winnipeg communities into two categories: The core includes all the urban, closer-to-downtown communities in the city of Winnipeg. Meanwhile,  the inner suburbs were the communities a bit further out, before reaching outer Winnipeg, which were the rural or suburban communities.

“There was a time when no Winnipegger would commute more than 20 or 30 minutes,” says Pidlaski, “but this is changing. Now, there are more and more Winnipeggers who are choosing to live in rural or suburban Winnipeg and drive 45 minutes or an hour each way to work.”

Scroll down to see the top 25 neighbourhoods in Winnipeg, as well as separate rankings for the city’s core, inner and outer neighbourhoods.

Top 25 neighbourhoods

Realtor’s Pick: River Heights

“I love this neighbourhood,” declares Catherine Schellenberg, realtor with Re/Max Professionals. “But, I live here so maybe I’m just a bit biased.” Still, there’s something to be said about living in a community that offers easy access to the city’s largest park, Assiniboine Park, as well the downtown core, plus lots of options for shopping including trendy, boutique stores.

Prices in this area can range quite dramatically from $250,000 for older, smaller homes to more than $8-million for luxury mansions along the edge of the Assiniboine River. “There’s something about the abundance of turn-of-the-century to mid-century modern homes that can be found in this neighbourhood, says Schellenberg.

Just be prepared for bidding wars. Turns out the demand for this neighbourhood is prompting home buyers to pay top dollar, even for a home that needs renovating.

We ranked the best neighbourhoods in three regions — core, inner suburbs and outer. The core is the city’s urban centre, with accessible transit and easy access to amenities. And the outer region is for buyers who either don’t need to commute downtown at all, or are willing to log some serious travel time in exchange for affordable prices and wide open spaces. Check out the map below to see how the regions break down.

Regions map