Saskatoon is growing, living the good life and planning for the future
Apparently, we have it pretty good in Saskatoon, at least compared to most.
Housing starts are rocking the charts once again and you can’t go anywhere in this town without running into some massive non-residential construction project. They’re everywhere.
According to the City of Saskatoon’s most recent population estimate, roughly 223,200 people were calling Saskatoon home as of June 30, an increase of approximately 5,000 from a year ago. That “estimate” is pretty consistent with Statistics Canada’s most recent numbers for Saskatchewan that indicate our provincial population grew by more than 16,000 in the past year to reach its highest point ever.
One can only assume that our ability to continue expanding employment is a driving force in that growth.
New entrants need not fear a sudden adjustment on the lifestyle scale. We know how to have a good time. We know how to blow the dough. A new study (via JenCT), published in the Sask Trends Monitor for June says household spending between 2006 and 2008 grew at three times the national average in Saskatchewan. We found a way to increase spending by an average of 7.3 percent during each of those years as the value of our homes skyrocketed. Credit was cheap and easy to come by. It still is, really.
Now before you start wagging your finger and talking your neighbours down for their financial recklessness, you should know that another new study (via Larry) says that the household net worth of those living in Saskatoon saw a huge increase over the past year, that our household debt is well below the national average and that we’re looking pretty good when it comes to our investment portfolios.
On the surface, this appears to be one recession the people of Saskatchewan won’t soon forget.
Generally speaking, would you say your family is better off or worse off than it was five years ago? I would love to hear your thoughts.
I’m always happy to answer your Saskatoon real estate questions. All of my contact info is here. Please feel free to call or email.
Norm Fisher
Royal LePage Saskatoon Real Estate
8 comments so far. We'd love to hear your thoughts.
July 15th, 2010 at 9:58 AM
Hi Norm,
The increase in population is a good thing of course, though it still blows my mind if this population is moving into new houses. Though the people that I know that are buying or building new houses aren’t the ‘do it on thier own’ people by any stretch of the imagination.
Being a singleton 5 years ago (at the age of 27), if I had the job I have now paying what I get paid now, I would be able to afford a fairly decent single family home, or a really nice really large condominium. That being said, 5 years ago I was getting $16 an hour as opposed to the $24 I make now. (age 32)
Reality for me is that I am indeed priced out of the local housing / condo market in part to the fact that I have a car loan of about $340 a month. Add to that the skyrocketed housing prices in the city / province (anywhere in proximity to an actual city where I could find a job), I am indeed priced out forever until I hook up with someone with a second income.
Love being able to subscribe using the RSS feature Norm!
July 15th, 2010 at 11:13 AM
Jesse,
Nice to hear from you. Of course, I’m delighted to hear of your big income spike. Didn’t take you long to increase your market value by 50%!!
It is tough to buy on a single income but I have no doubt that you’ll own your own home before too long.
July 15th, 2010 at 12:22 PM
For first time home buyers, no matter they just arrive or have lived here in the city for years, there’s no way for them to say it’s now a good time. Though the salary jumped, it’s not as much as the house price. So even if they can afford, they have to put on more loans. Some young people are now working one full-time professional job and two part-time jobs to pay the bank. I’m not sure if they are happy, though they are living in their “Dream homes”, which were really just an average house 5 yrs ago.
The majority are probably happy, since they already own a home…
July 16th, 2010 at 12:53 AM
I’m happy renting for 400 a month, I live stress free!
July 16th, 2010 at 6:35 AM
Rascal,
Sweet. Don’t give that up any time soon.
July 16th, 2010 at 8:25 AM
I am envious of the $400 a month rent…good find!
July 16th, 2010 at 11:21 AM
Well, I guess I’m one of the lucky ones that bought into the market at the right time…. My lifestyle has increased dramatically over the last 5 yrs…. Although I’m not surprised. I moved back to SK from Vancouver in 2004, and I for one could not believe the change in attitude that I witnessed in SK from the time I had moved away (back in 1996). When I left, everyone I graduated from engineering with had moved away, mostly west (with the exception of a couple of people). And most couldn’t wait to leave…..
We had bought a condo in vancouver in 2001 and decided to keep it and rent it out when we moved back to SK (just in case we decided to move back to Van when I finished grad school). And since houses were so cheap here I couldn’t justify renting out a house I could buy for $130,000. So we kept the condo in Vancouver until 2007 and sold it so that we could build a new house here. I was able to land a dream job with a local uranium company that will remain nameless.
So in the last six yrs we went from having a condo in vancouver with quite a large mortgage to having 2 houses here each with relatively small mortgages. We couldn’t have done that without the changes that have happened here recently……
As far as the additional people, I don’t think that we are growing at an uncontrollable rate….. it’s been consistent, at a reasonable pace. I spent some time in Ft. McMurray and the growth that they went through was absolutely ridiculous…. we don’t ever want to see that happen here and with our economy being quite balanced, I don’t think we will.
July 16th, 2010 at 11:28 AM
I would have to say life is pretty good for my wife, 2 kids and myself. Great country, great city, we are all healthy and very happy for the most part.
The last 5 years have been very kind to us in relation to household wealth ( other than 2008) We invest a little in RRSP, RESP’s and I have a pension but the biggest gain without a doubt has been house equity. This seems to follow the nation as most households have their wealth in their homes. Which, for a number of reasons, is not a good thing.
I do have to say that I do not know how first time buyers can do it these days. We are in Willowgrove and the highest our debt climbed was 205k when we bought a van last summer. That is including the mortgage. When the wife gets back to work we will make just under 10k a month, netting about 6k. She is one mat leave right now. But we have student, car loans, day care, house payments and other expenses to look forward to that will eat up that money pretty quickly each month.
I don’t mean to sound like I am complaining, I’m not, just telling my story. We have things pretty darn good.
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