A recent report based out of Vancouver on the news sometime over the Christmas holiday showed that usually within 2 years immigrants buy homes. They stay focused on the prize and the big picture. There is a huge need for agriculture workers right now, if you are so concerned, go work for nothing. Economics drives it all – putting a stop to immigration is only going to hurt those small businesses that rely on paying lower wages. Our whole capatalistic society is based on a pyrimid.

FYI I aint your honey and am not blonde but would be extremely offended by your comment if I was

Companies do have a choice!But they prefer to pay low wages because there is such an abundance of cheap labour in Canada.Due to rise in immigration.Anyways these poor buggers will never buy a house, you simply cant save money when your living expenses are higher than your earned wages.If you cant understand that then you must be a blonde.So wake up honey and help put a stop to low wage immigration surplus and write to your local mla.

This country was built on the backs of immigrants who are usually the only ones desperate enough to do many of the jobs Canadians are unwilling to do. Lots of these companies don’t have a choice as they can’t find enough workers here.

The cycle continues each generation. You can’t honestly say that either your parents or grandparents or great grandparents were not immigrants.

What did they do to make you successful?

Quit kidding yourselves the big recession is coming and the only ones who will be working will be the low paying jobs.Enjoy it while you can.

No question that we need to see some income growth if we’re going to grow a healthy first-time buyers market. This is my biggest concern. How do new entrants get in? These people have no equity and generally don’t have the biggest incomes.

http://broadband.bnn.ca/bnn/?id=2238&vid=25698

Lemme look at this closer… it looks like from Nov 07-07 Saskatoon prices increased by 53%, Regina by 41% and Saskatchewan as a whole by 48%. It looks like you’re right, we must be up accross the board throughout the province.

http://www.crea.ca/public/news_stats/statistics.htm

Coming back to my original comment: if Saskatchewan wants to remain competitive, the rising cost of living should be a concern to all industries. Especially since our economy is at full employment and if companies want to grow they’ll likely have to attract people here and pay them wages sufficient to buy houses and start a life.

You know, I have no idea what the average was for Saskatchewan last year but I’m under the impression that some of our small communities have also experienced significant pressure. One of my agents was just telling me that prices in Cudworth basically doubled last year.

This story from today’s Star Phoenix.

As I think about this I look at average sales prices as per the Canadain Real Estate Assocition. As of November of 2007, the average sale price in Saskatchewan was $193,000 compared to Manitoba at $173,000. That’s pretty similar (and far superior to the alberta average of $353,000) and leads me to believe that its just Saskatoon and Regina that are seeing significant inflation. If this is the case, maybe our core economy which is rooted in the resources and in rural Saskatchewan will be fine. Anyway just some random thoughts spurred by your stats.

The great diversity of Saskatchewan’s export market, both in goods as well as trading partners, has helped to protect the province from challenges such as currency fluctuations between the Canadian and U.S. dollars.

“Of all the provinces in Canada, we are the province least reliant on the U.S. market. The U.S. market is still clearly important to us, but we sell more to other countries percentage-wise of any province in Canada,” says Botting.

“China has emerged as our second largest export partner. We’re one of the few jurisdictions in the world that can say they have a trade surplus with China, because of the demand for potash. On a gross export volume basis, we are the largest traders to India of any Canadian province, primarily through our export of lentils and pulse crops.”

“Pakistan is one of our fastest growing markets of all countries on a percentage basis across all export sectors. Their consumption of Saskatchewan goods over the past decade has increased 98 percent,” says Botting.

“We’ve seen growth of over 25,000 percent in the last 10 years in short-line farm equipment manufactured and exported to the former Soviet States. The market share of Saskatchewan-made farm equipment in Australia and South America is also dominant.”

Over the past 10 years, STEP has also established new export markets in Kazakhstan, the Ukraine, Central Asia, the Middle East, Latin and South America.

good post. A recession in the US is possible this year and Can + US economies are tied together pretty well. With that said, I believe Eastern Canada will suffer more because of this compared to the West. Western Canada has the resources the emerging countries of China and India want. Their middle classes are growing at an big rate every year. Just take a look at Saskatchewan’s resources and the wants by the world and you will see why I am bullish about saskatchewan’s future.

On a housing note, I’m from Edmonton and after checking through your MLS listings, prices of comparable properties in certain areas (area 3) are now almost equal to those in Edmonton.

I think Alex would suggest that the whole lot of you go to hell in a hand bag, but I’m just guessing. Most of us don’t mind an investor who wants to offer decent rental accomodations to someone who chooses not to, or is unable to purchase a home.

Johny and Northstar,

I’ve actually heard some interesting arguments which predict a total collapse of the western economy, but what’s the point in going there? Doesn’t matter what you do with your money if that happens. It would all be worthless.

As far as Saskatchewan is concerned, you guys should dig up a copy of that special section of Trade and Commerce (Winter, 2007). To read it, you’d think Saskatchewan is the land of milk and honey. There are various thoughts put forward as to why Saskatchewan is in better shape than most provinces as we move forward.

I didn’t think Oracle’s post even dignified a response. I agree, it was ridiculous. There is an ugly time ahead as the result of level of inflation and I think saskatchewan may be hit harder than some other provinces but I wouldn’t suggest stockpiling gold and food just yet…

J.

If Saskatchewan is a sweet spot right now, it is a position which Alberta undoubtedly has held for a few years prior to 2007. Just look at the numbers Calgary in 2005 and 2006. We are missing the opportunities because we can get past what we want to happen. If we concentrate on what is happening and try and see it from the eyes investor looking at Saskatoon, we may not like it, but at lest we open our selves to the same opportunities they have. It’s not about liking were the market is going. Since I already own a home here, this latest boom has improved equity position. I am not trying to hurt anybody by saying that, just stating a fact. If I sell my home I gain little because I have to buy back into the same market and there are some costs involved. However if I leverage my existing home I can buy a revenue property. I guess that make me an evil investor, not because I am adding a property to the rental marker, but because I would also be speculating on that properties future value. Here is the kicker, should I invest in Saskatoon or a city like Winnipeg the average price is well below the national and I have also heard good think about lately. Winnipeg has not seen the drastic effects of the boom like we have? Norm, you seem to like Regina, but it doesn’t have the water supply for growth that other cities have and most of the newly found resources are in the northern part of the province. Maybe Alex has an opinion on this one.

where all the people who call me a pumper are. I get pi$$ed on for saying I think the market is going to $287,000 by May (with factual reasons), yet Oracle says this:

“OK gentlemen,

2008=Recession

I know thats not what you want to hear.

The market will crash.

Foreclosures etc.

Good luck”

which is obviously a non-factual bash, yet none of you have posted about that. Just more proof that some of you who claim to be impartial are actually not.

P.S. I think Oracle’s last post holds some weight. Just not in 2008. Maybe in a few years after the super cycle has peaked. Not so doom and gloom as well, but definately a depression.

I was actually president of the Saskatoon Real Estate Board when Harry was hired for the job so I had the pleasure of offering it to him. A few of my colleagues suggested I apply but I wouldn’t have that job at twice the money. No matter what decisions are made, some portion of the membership hates you for it. Someone is always lying in wait to clobber you for a mistake.

Harry is a tough guy though and seems to take it all in stride. He’s an excellent operator and has my full support.

Having said that, if he ever publicly said, “don’t buy a house right now” he’d be tied and quartered, I’m sure.

you have a good head on your shoulders. I nominate you as the new EO of SRAR, cause I know you want it badly. Just kidding. Thanks for your honesty.

For the record, I agree with you 100% and I would be most pleased if we never saw the same kind of explosion which we experienced in 2007. This kind of growth is “unhealthy” and I don’t believe that another run up in values would be sustainable, unless of course, people keep flowing into this province carrying bags of money. Otherwise, we need solid income growth to keep our market healthy.

FYI, Scotiabank and RBC are on the record as saying that “Saskatoon is overvalued” and some agents actually think we’ve seen enough. We’re not all shouting “buy, buy, buy!”

George,

With due respect to the EO of the Saskatoon Region Association of Realtors, we must keep in mind that this “prediction” of another wild ride is made on behalf of an organization which represents the interests of Realtors. The National Association of Realtors, the US organization continues to pump sunshine on a monthly basis even though many of their markets are in the tank. Through some statistical manipulation they are actually managing to call 2007, “the second best year on record.” Tell that to the thousands that can hardly give their homes away.

Having said all of that, it’s also important to be realistic and keep our eyes open to what’s going on in Saskatchewan. I just read a special section about Saskatchewan in the winter issue of Trade and Commerce magazine. It outlines all of the things which are happening here from agriculture, to export, to resources, etc.

“Saskatchewan has everything that the world needs right now. We’re in the sweet spot!” says Dale Botting, CEO and president of Saskatchewan Trade and Export Partnership.

I’m not rushing out to buy real estate personally, but I wouldn’t sell my home for more than its market value right now.

Yes Saskatoon has experienced a crazy 2007 and I totally agree that predictions based from this are a shot in the dark at best. What I’m concerned about is self-fulfilling prophecies. With a lot of hype from banks, real estate agents, builders, and others with vested interests, it could cause the same kind of panic buying come spring.

It’s one thing to hope for a prosperous city with lots of opportunities for it’s citizens. It’s quite another to be rooting for another explosion in real estate market which would do more damage than good. It’s the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. There is a gap, and it’s widening.

If the lower to middle-class people follow the market blindly and listen to the people who are profiting from this madness, nothing is going to stop it. Like I’ve said before, we’re all accountable for our own actions.

What do you mean when you say, “what the hell are all the home buyers waiting for?” I see a pretty active market. In December, unit sales were up 34% over last year and dollar volume increased 95%. Both of those numbers were even higher in November.

I still maintain that the sharpest investors have come and gone. It takes a lot of jam to “invest” in something that has risen 50 points in a year. Regina, my man. Regina!

To answer your question about investors. I think alot of them have their money in Calgary and Edmonton right now. If those cities prices go up some of investors will sell there and buy here. We have seen this before. Listening to Gormley this morning, we are THE province this coming year.

Your 2nd question, right now there is not much choice on mls. 160 houses with almost half that are in less than desirable neighbourhoods. Not saying westside is bad, there are some great areas, but some of these other neighbourhoods, I would not walk at night, nevermind buy a house.

On your third point, I agree, anybody can give their predictions but nobody knows until after the fact what will happen. But that is the beauty of this blog, you can voice your opinion right or wrong. People who read this blog can then form there own ideas and go from there.