Saskatoon real estate market maintains momentum: SRAR
The Saskatoon Region Association of REALTORS® (SRAR) released the residential real estate statistics for March 2010 today, accompanied by this release.
Saskatoon’s real estate market maintained its momentum throughout the first quarter. Unit sales were up 28% with 361 homes being sold compared to 282 in March 2009. Year to date, 775 properties have sold, up 10% from 2009 when 704 properties changed hands. The average days on the market dropped to 30 with some areas taking as little as 22 days.
Click the image for a larger version of the graph.
The average residential selling price in March was $282,615, up 6% from the same month last year when it was $266,620. Year-to-date, the average selling price is $282,270, up 3% from 2009 when it was $274,555. The highest numbers of sales so far this year were in the $300,000 to 350,000 price range.
Click the image for a larger version of the graph.
Listing inventory remained steady with home buyers having 1045 properties to select from at the end of March. REALTORS® listed 738 homes in March up 11% from 2009 when 662 were placed on the market.
Click the image for a larger version of the graph.
In areas surrounding Saskatoon unit sales were up 49% with 97 properties selling compared to 65 in March of 2009. Year to date, 168 properties have sold in these areas, up 22% from 2009 when 138 properties had sold. The average selling price in these areas was $260,054, up 16% from March 2009 when it was $224,328.
The Saskatoon and area market is steady and is expected to remain so throughout spring and summer. Slightly higher interest rates may affect some first time buyers who are close to the line when qualifying for financing to purchase a home. Conditions in Saskatoon are very favourable for strong real estate sales and development.
City lot sales for 2010 have already exceeded the City Land Branch goals and expectations. Saskatoon leads the nation in population growth and job creation. Many businesses regularly express interest in relocating to this city and in-migration in general is becoming more commonplace. All indicators point to 2010 remaining a solid market environment in Saskatoon.
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
13 comments so far. We'd love to hear your thoughts.
April 1st, 2010 at 8:23 PM
The numbers indicate prices are up about 20k from last year and yet that seems to conflict with my own observation of prices. It seems to me that prices of houses are up 50-80k. I noticed the inventory is heavily concentrated in the more expensive houses so are there likewise a higher proportion of sales in the lower-end house category?
April 1st, 2010 at 11:30 PM
I take it that SRAR did not attend Garth’s presentation. Ha ha.
A little bit of everything in his talk. I really liked what he had to say about tax avoidance. Seems like he is bullish Canadian financials, commodities,energy, value retail and health care for the long term. And emerging markets ( Asia)My financial advisor has me in this stuff so I was happy for a second opinion.
Very bearish for Canadian real estate.
I still can not believe some of the houses that sold for over a million dollars in BC. They were basically tear downs. A person can say what they want about Saskatoon housing being a bubble, a little overvalued or priced right and I am fine any way. But if Vancouver is not in a housing bubble right now, I don’t know what is or ever will be a housing bubble.
Great presentation, I’d give it 9/10.
April 2nd, 2010 at 8:29 AM
Hi Doug,
My take on Turner’s presentation was about the same as yours though I probably expected to hear more about housing than we did. I have to say that while he was generally bearish about real estate he definitely seemed a little reluctant to predict anything that resembled a good bleeding in this area and acknowledged that Saskatchewan has a lot going for it in the years ahead. I had drink with a few of our friends including two fairly recent home buyers, a couple that have a home they’d like to sell but probably won’t be in a position to do so for a few months, and another Realtor. None of them looked particularly concerned about the future.
Peter,
Interesting observations.
Taking a closer look, I could point out that condos sales are up 70% over the previous March (66 to 111) and single-family home sales increased 21% from 193 last year to 234. Certainly this change in the share of sales for condos is dragging the average down some.
I’ve looked hard and I can’t find anyway in which I could conclude that prices are up 50-80K. When I break it down between condos and houses, here’s what I see.
The average price of a condo moves from $215,256 last March to $221,530 this March. I’ll point out that the average size of the units sold dropped by 50 feet this year. I think you could make a compelling case that the average condo that sold for $215,256 last year could fetch $230,000 today.
Houses went from $286,634 last March to $311,060 this March. The average size of a house that sold was down just a touch to 1178′ from 1206 last year. Let’s be generous and compare at $315ish.
Another factor we could look at is “where” did these sales occur. This year, I see a higher share of sales occurring in Area 1 (27% vs. 21% last year) and a smaller share of sales in Area 5 (19% vs. 25% last year). The other three areas show just marginal changes in their share of total sales.
However, the median price of a house is $305,000 this March up $30K from last March. The median price of a condo was $225,000 this March, up from $199K last March.
Here’s a bit of a strange tidbit that I haven’t quite got my head around. The median sale price of a house in Area 2 last March was $278,500. This year, it’s an insane $341,000. The average sale price moved up less than $25K to $345,000.
April 2nd, 2010 at 10:11 PM
I’m one of the recent home buyers that Norm mentioned. I’m not overly worried here in Saskatoon. We purchased for the long run, didn’t overspend etc. but of course, only time will tell.
I know so many young people that have purchased within the last year, that spent their max mortgage amount, 35 year period, and can’t even tell me the interest rate or how long their term is. Nor do they even care to know. I think it’s those type of people that could end up in trouble no matter what the market is like. They have no idea the effect that interest rates will have on their monthly payment. Well they don’t really have any idea about anything really. I think Garth would refer to them as “Sheeple”
I quite enjoyed the presentation last night. There was a lot of information for someone like me who’s quite new to all of this to think about.
April 3rd, 2010 at 1:18 AM
Mike,
Sounds like you put a lot of thought into your decision.
That’s a bit scary that some young people have chosen to go in with their eyes closed. I expect that they will care a bit more as rates rise and they’ll definitely “get schooled.” Hopefully they’ll be able to work their way through it.
It was good to meet you last night.
April 3rd, 2010 at 2:06 PM
“Saskatoon real estate market maintains momentum: SRAR”
Actually, looks like sales were exactly on par with 5 year average…
Cover-All bankruptcy causing loss of 400 high paid manufacturing jobs in Saskatoon continues a trend of CNH and various potash companies cutting some fairly good jobs around Saskatoon. While total job numbers are about the same, it is naive to think these well paid manufacturing and resource jobs are being replaced with further $30 to $40 an hour positions. More likely low paid retail vacancies are being filled that were sitting vacant during the boom back in 2008.
April 3rd, 2010 at 2:08 PM
“Actually, looks like sales were exactly on par with 5 year average…”
That is for March, for January and February, Saskatoon sales were below 5 year average.
Will be interesting to see if sales drop now that mortgages are becoming harder to qualify for as much, and a bit more expensive.
April 3rd, 2010 at 2:38 PM
Finally, interestingly, Saskatchewan average weekly wage have just now finally exceeded the national average, by $4 a week, not sure if the extra $200 a year justifies an average house price of $280,000 +
Also, interesting that during all the “boom” talk, the average weekly wage in Saskatchewan was still below that national average…
April 3rd, 2010 at 4:31 PM
Nick,
I think you have to gauge saskatoon real estate with more than just wages. Rental’s are a premium in the city due to the university and also people would just rather live in Saskatoon more than any other city in Saskatchewan, “It’s sad, but true”
April 3rd, 2010 at 6:06 PM
Nick,
You’re right. Real estate prices rose on the promise of jobs and income and I believe that’s pretty normal.
Hard to beat the income growth in Saskatchewan over the past few years. We were 8% below the national average at the end of 2006 and home prices were still 15% below the national average in January, probably more than that now.
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/070226/t070226c-eng.htm
http://www.crea.ca/public/news_stats/statistics.htm
April 7th, 2010 at 9:23 AM
Norm, your data analysis is great. I’ve been wondering if there’s any data about WHO are the buyers. Are they from outside of Saskatoon or within, first time home buyers or just people up-sizing…
April 7th, 2010 at 11:16 AM
Thank you Cindy. I would love to provide that info, but no, it’s not available. I may be able to dig up some national numbers at some point but there is nothing local
April 15th, 2010 at 7:57 PM
Some observers have said that prices in 2006 and previous years were depressed due to outmigration at that time. As a result, once the outmigration slowed and people began moving to Saskatchewan some of what we saw was a gradual increase of prices toward national averages.
2008 data show personal disposal incomes in Saskatchewan, BC, Ontario all above $28,000. Of course Alberta is well out in front of everybody.
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