Sorry, I missed you up there. I don’t have easy access to statistical data but I would be surprised if there weren’t some y-o-y declines in the early 90′s but it has been a pretty steady upward climb since then. Up until the past few years it was pretty much always slow and steady here.

Thanks for that.

Ozzie was a real booster for Saskatoon just a couple of years ago, but alas, it appears that he and his flock are finished with us for now.

A qutoe from this article. “We are also very concerned about Saskatchewan, where volumes are slowing, inventory is soaring and prices are bound to reverse sharply.”

Heather, was your spray-foam done through the exterior, or did you gut the home? We also have an older home with balloon framing, and there’s virtually no insulation in the upper walls. Our eco-rebate deadline is looming, so we’re looking to get something done soon.

Captcha’s got a solid vocabulary: assuage with

No matter what the SRAR says, prices are down YOY.

Now the tables have turned and for many specs who bought 2nd or 3rd properties it is

“Sell now or be forever priced in”

That’s because real estate only goes up! Don’t you know that? Buy now or be forever priced out of the market!

Just out of curiousity, do you know when this last did happen? Just as a guess, I’m thinking it was probably the early 80′s, but it may have happened around 1991 as well.

Welcome. Thanks for joining in.

Don,

“Is there a way to checking the time and price of latest selling of a property?”

An agent could tell you that if it traded on the MLS. If not, you could run a title search at http://www.isc.ca for ten bucks. You’ll get the date of the last transfer and the stated “value” on the title almost always reflects the most recent selling price.

Louise,

“Am I seeing that chart right? First time in five years that monthly yoy prices are down?”

You’re seeing that right. To the best of my recollection this is the first time it has happened as long as I’ve been in the business (1993).

We used Superior (twice now… main floor and basement). They were great about showing up when expected, calling when delayed, and returning phone calls, which always makes me happy. The trimming of the foam wasn’t perfect either time (I had to hack away at quite a lot of it myself before drywalling… and it’s messy), but overall I was very pleased with the work. It was the perfect solution for our old house, which has 2×4 walls, and lots of awkward little crevices that would be a pain to try to insulate and vapour barrier in the conventional way.

By the way, you can buy DIY spray foam kits, but for anything over a couple hundred square feet, they will cost just as much as having these guys do the work (which for me was $4/square foot for 3 inches of foam). Bonus; it improves racking resistance (and our balloon-framed house had a little bit of sway to it before the foam), and we noticed that hearing outside noises seemed to be reduced with spray foam vs. the fiberglass.

Heather

http://www.normfisher.ca/images/teamblog/averageprice0309.jpg

A whois on canada.com, the host of StarPhoenix reveals why the news they publish is arms-length Conservative spin:

Registrant Name: Canwest Publishing Inc.

Organization Info:

Peter deGroot

300 Carlton Street

Winnipeg, MB R3B 2K6

CAN

Phone: 1 905 6452090

Fax..: 1 905 6452093

Email: webnames@canwest.com

There’s really no reason anybody should trust the paper knowing that they’re owned by Canwest. They are to Canada what the CNN was to the United States. A tool to leverage media illiterate Canadians.

Northstar,

Do you suppose an argument from taxpayers that fair-value rules for their investments and houses don’t work when the markets are inactive, so they should be relaxed too?

Didn’t think so.

Is there a way to checking the time and price of latest selling of a property? Thanks.

Laura,

it seems steady on our end. alot of tax incentives for renos. new construction has slowed dramatically. i feel for all the fly-by-nighters that came to make hay while the shines.

Heather,

can i get a reference for that spray foam? (that is if you will refer them).

captcha: mortgage do

Just drive around and see how many people are putting in new windows and siding. It’s rather refreshing, really, considering how many homes have had little to no maintenance done to them in thirty years. (I’m living in one now).

Whether it’s a wise move or not, it’s still nice to see well maintained property.

You couldn’t be more right!!

I love the first paragraph of that article:

“The Financial Accounting Standards Board, pressured by U.S. lawmakers and financial companies, voted to relax fair-value rules that Citigroup Inc. and Wells Fargo & Co. say don’t work when markets are inactive.”

Wait a minute. How come fair-value rules are fine in an active market, but not in an inactive? Fair-value is fair-value to me. This is all smoke and mirrors. It’s only adding to the problem.

“The market is liking this news a bit too much for me.”

+1.

Robin,

If there is any justice you shall have a special place of honour at the banquet.

Cory,

Regina does appear to be getting a bit of a spring bounce. Prior to that, an since the summer, the general trend has been down for some time. Here are the averages over the past 13 months.

March 08 – $234,504

April – $255,736

May – $245,391

June – $250,157

July – $253,349

August – $253,620

September – $244,164

October – $236,126

November – $229,319

December – $237,012

January – $213,167

February – $232,514

March – $244,888

They’re a little erratic because many of these month have well under 20 sales, so they’re really susceptible to skewing. In March of 2008, 53 of 266 sales were condos. In ’09 condos were 37 of 252.

At 926 active listings, you guys have just a 3 1/2 month supply while Saskatoon is around 5 months.

Bookrat,

I did seriously laugh out loud when I read your comment. Apparently Saskatonians are not particularly strong with averages. We actually did a media release in January to explain to the public how averages work.

http://tinyurl.com/cxwoq3

Stinky,

Interesting point. SRAR’s “mission” begins with “To represent the real estate interests of its members” and it is a realtor organization.

http://www.thestarphoenix.com/Business/Housing+market+stable+March+SRAR/1454635/story.html

“Sales numbers are on par with 2005 and 2006.”

“Saskatoon REALTORS® listed 662 homes in March, that number on par with 2008.”

So you’ve got listings equivalent to a bubble year, and sales equivalent to an average year.

: “Where are we going?” “HIGHER!!!”

I also chuckled at this: “The average residential price is derived by taking the month’s dollar volume of homes sold and dividing that number by the unit sales number.” Norm, did you appreciate the lesson in basic math? I know you liked it when you got it from me.

I know Regina is not your jurisdiction, but wondering if you have heard anything in regards to the market’s performance here lately? The Association of Regina Realtors released their March report which saw sales increasing from the previous few months, but down from 2008, in addition to rising inventory. However average prices are still rising.

I’m just wondering if the same phenomenon you note as happening in Saskatoon, a disproportionate decline in the percentage of condo sales in recent months, is the reason for this increase in average selling price, or if its a case of increasing demand as evidenced by the increasing sales level.

Again, sorry for the off topic question but I was just curious if you’ve heard any industry talk about the Regina market’s performance which appears to be stronger than the Saskatoon market lately.

“Or there’s always renting out, how does 1 bedroom, stainless, maple, granite,laminant for $725 sound?”

SOLD! Er; rather, RENTED! Beats my current 1-bedroom rent of 1,000 bucks! (Yes, I’m getting hosed, and I know it. Also included in that rent is all the noise and water shut-offs as a result of them installing sprinklers in a concrete building! Hooooraaay!)

http://tinyurl.com/dkrmxf

“The changes to so-called mark-to-market accounting allow companies to use “significant” judgment when gauging the price of some investments on their books, including mortgage-backed securities. Analysts say the measure may reduce banks’ writedowns and boost their first-quarter net income by 20 percent or more.”

One has to wonder about allowing these companies to use their “judgement” when valuing these “assets”, when it obvious that their judgement over the past decade has been less than stellar.

The market is liking this news a bit too much for me. So everything is all good now? After all, what could possibly go wrong…