Single-family detached home (houses) sales fell flat in Saskatoon during the month of January, finishing with just one hundred and fifteen firm sales, lower than December by nearly two-dozen units and well off of the one hundred and sixty-four properties sold in January of 2009. The inventory of available houses edged higher by thirty-one units from the previous month to three hundred and eighty-six homes. Lower sales and a larger inventory pushed the absorption rate (months of inventory) up nearly a full month to 3.4 and while remaining on the low side of “normal” reached its highest level since April of 2009. Active listings remained well below levels seen last year when buyers had six hundred and eighty-eight single-family homes to choose from.
After a strong finish to 2009 house prices moderated on a month-over-month basis by all three measurements that we tracked, but continued to show gains year-over-year. The average selling price of a house tumbled nearly thirty thousand dollars from last month, falling below $300,000 for the first time since March of last year but maintaining annual gains of just over six thousand dollars. The median selling price was down seventeen thousand dollars on the month to $283,000, not quite six thousand dollars higher than it was at the close of the same month last year. The three-month average inched lower by four thousand dollars to reach $308,633 and recorded a gain of over seventeen thousand dollars on a year-over-year basis.
The average price per square foot paid for a Saskatoon house also fell, though not as sharply as the other measures. Saskatoon home buyers paid $248 per foot in January, down five dollars from the month before, and just two dollars more than the average in January 2009.
Sales of Saskatoon condominiums also slipped from the month before but managed to eek out some modest year-over-year gains as a total of fifty-eight units traded, just four fewer than December, and fourteen properties higher than the same month in 2009. Active listings finished lower by just three units when compared to the previous month with just two hundred and fifty-two available homes, down from three hundred and sixty-three a year ago. Months of inventory remained steady from one month to the next, and year-over-year at 4.3.
The price of Saskatoon condos slipped lower in all three categories. The average sale price came in at $214,072 losing more than fourteen thousand dollars from the previous month, and down a little better than six thousand dollars from January 2009. The median price slid nine thousand from last month to $213,700 to show a loss of roughly $6K from a year earlier. The weakest month for condos prices last year was October, and as that month fell out of the three-month average calculation this measure managed an upward push to $229,423 to show a gain of nearly five thousand dollars from last month and an increase of just under two thousand dollars on the year.
The average price paid per square foot for a Saskatoon condominium was higher than last month by three dollars reaching $227, a gain of fourteen dollars from the previous January.
Remember, averages and cost per square foot numbers can provide some useful insights into pricing trends but they’re not as useful when engaging in an actual transaction. If you’re buying or selling you should be seeking current information on active listings and recent sales, which are most comparable to your property in terms of location, size, features and amenities.
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.
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Norm Fisher
Royal LePage Vidorra
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