How Do People Actually Afford to Build a Home in Winnipeg?

BY Scott Moore, Group Leader & Realtor | May 29, 2026

One of the biggest misconceptions in Winnipeg is that building a new home is only for people sitting on huge amounts of cash.

This is because the deposit structure on a new build requires a lot more cash upfront than buying a resale home and this can be really intimidating. Many buyers feel like building a home is out of reach. 

But the truth is that most people don’t have the cash upfront either! Most people use the equity in their current home to make it work. Here’s how:

Why New Build Deposits Feel So Much Harder

Let me explain.

Say you’re buying a resale home for $750,000 with 10% down.

Typically, that will look something like:

• $20,000 deposit when the offer is accepted

• remaining $55,000 due at possession

The key here is that the remaining down payment usually lines up with the sale of your current home, so buyers use the proceeds from their sale to complete the down payment.

So this buyer really only has to come up with the $20k in cash, which feels do-able. The rest comes at possession from the sale of their current home. 

Now let’s look at the same $750,000 purchase as a new build.

Most builders need the full 10% deposit upfront — which is understandable as they are about to start on an expensive build on your behalf. That means that you have to provide:

• the entire $75,000 before construction starts (usually when conditions are removed)

For most people, that’s not sitting in a savings account. Many people might have that amount of money in an RRSP - but the tax hit to remove it doesn’t make sense. 

The solution is to draw the equity from their home - which makes it all work pretty seamlessly. 

How Equity Financing for a New Build Works

Here’s the good news: if you already own a home, you can probably use the equity in your current property to fund the new build deposit. This is how most people do it and the process is pretty straightforward. A lender will:

1. Appraise your current home

2. Determine how much equity you have available

3. Set up a temporary loan or line of credit against that equity

That money can then be used for the builder deposit. Later, when your current home sells, the loan gets paid back from the sale proceeds.

You’re basically advancing yourself the equity from your future sale.

Timing Matters

Heads up - this type of financing usually takes a few weeks to even a month to organize so this is not something you want to figure out at the last minute after signing a build contract.

If you’re considering a new build, we recommend you have a conversation with a lender ASAP. 

What if you don’t own a home yet? 

If your build price is under $600k, Discovery Homes only asks for a 5% deposit - so $30k. 

For most people, this still isn’t an easy amount to save up, but it’s probably only $10k more than you’d need for your deposit if you were buying resale so not wildly different. 

Also- remember that your deposit forms part of your equity so this money doesn’t just go away - it’s an investment. 

Once you’re in your brand new home, a few years will go by really quickly. Soon, you’ll have built some equity and even better, the home will have appreciated. Winnipeg has one of the most reliable real estate markets in Canada and over the last five years, homes have appreciated by close to 30%.

From there, you’ll be able to draw out the equity from your home and rinse and repeat this process on building a bigger home down the line. 

In my opinion, this is a great 5 year plan!

Final Thoughts

Having a brand-new home is awesome! It’s built to accommodate your family, it's energy-efficient, everything is brand new and worry-free and it's beautiful! 

Don’t feel like building a dream home is out of reach! If you own your home, there’s a pretty good chance you can access enough equity to make the deposit work. Once that’s take care of, it's pretty much the same process as with buying a resale home. 

If you’re thinking about building and want help understanding how the financing side actually works in real life, the team at The Moore Group can help walk you through the process from start to finish. Give me a shout today at 204 995-7355 to discuss.