According to a story in today’s Star Phoenix, Lake Placid Developments is seeking a one-year extension on the current deadline to complete the excavation of the building site for its proposed $200 million River Landing development.

In a letter to the city, the developer requested an extension to June 30, 2010. City manager, Murray Totland will recommend to city council on Monday that the extension be granted.

Read the Star Phoenix story here.

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.

Follow our daily updates on Twitter @Norm_Fisher.

Norm Fisher
Royal LePage Vidorra

Following a week of softer unit sales, Saskatoon real estate activity picked up the pace and recorded another week of closed deals that ranked among the best we’ve seen in the past eighteen months. A total of ninety-eight homes were reported sold to the Saskatoon MLS system, an increase from seventy-three last week, and up from seventy-six for the same week last year. While condos were the popular choice last week, single-family dwellings took the lion’s share of the unit sales this week claiming seventy-three sales, against just twenty-five condominium sales.

New residential listings continued to show some weakness with just one hundred and seven homes being offered for sale, down from one hundred and twenty last week, and falling below last year’s numbers by more than fifty percent. Two hundred and seventeen Saskatoon homes were listed during the same week last year.

Total active residential listings slid to 1,467 properties by the end of the week, down for 1,495 last week, but remained at higher levels on a year-over-year basis. At the close of the same week last year, there were 1,387 residential properties offered for sale on the Saskatoon MLS system.

Click the image for a larger version of the graph.

Seventy-eight home sellers made a price adjustment this week, while a further twenty-two canceled and relisted their home, most at a new price.

Average sale prices took a bounce back from $254,737 last week to finish this week at $264,749. The six-week average price fell $2,600 from the previous week to record its third consecutive weekly decline, reaching $274,556, well off of the $308,558 recorded during the same week last year when the six-week average reached its highest point for the year. The four-week median moved in the opposite direction, increasing $1,550 over last week and reaching $269,000. During the same week in 2008 the four-week median selling price was $290,000.

Click the image for a larger version of the graph.

Buyers may have been buying but they weren’t exactly taking it easy on Saskatoon home sellers. The average underbid this week grew to $12,770, up from just $9,486 the week before. The average discount that buyer’s received off of the asking price was 4.6 percent, up a full percentage point from last week.

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.

Follow our daily updates on Twitter @Norm_Fisher.

Norm Fisher
Royal LePage Vidorra

According to the Saskatoon Star Phoenix, “Saskatoon city council's executive committee approved a new mortgage support program on Tuesday to help low- and moderate-income people get into the housing market.

“Under the program, which will replace the home start affordable housing initiative, people with a household income of $52,000 or less will be given a five per cent downpayment toward a mortgage on a new affordable housing development, if they're approved.”

The story is here.

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.

Follow our daily updates on Twitter @Norm_Fisher.

Norm Fisher
Royal LePage Vidorra

This post makes the “just for fun” category for the featured video’s surprise ending. If you start the video, please see it through to the end.

By way of Brendan King’s Twitter stream.

As a licensed Asian, I found this particular misunderstanding quite amusing and so did the other Asians in my office, but discriminatory practices are no laughing matter and fair treatment for all human beings is a cornerstone of a civilized society.

The Saskatchewan Human Rights Code was written to protect people from discriminatory practices. The following are “prohibited grounds” for discrimination under the Code;

(i) religion;
(ii) creed;
(iii) marital status;
(iv) family status;
(v) sex;
(vi) sexual orientation;
(vii) disability;
(viii) age;
(ix) colour;
(x) ancestry;
(xi) nationality;
(xii) place of origin;
(xiii) race or perceived race; and
(xiv) receipt of public assistance.

Section 10 and section 11 of the Saskatchewan Human Rights Code deal specifically with discriminatory practices in the sale or leasing of real estate.

Discrimination in the purchase of property prohibited

10(1) No person shall, on the basis of a prohibited ground:

(a) deny to any person or class of persons the opportunity to purchase any commercial unit or any place of dwelling that is advertised or in any way represented as being available for sale;

(b) deny to any person or class of persons the opportunity to purchase or otherwise acquire land or an interest in land; or

(c) discriminate against any person or class of persons with respect to any term of the purchase or other acquisition of any commercial unit or any place of dwelling, land or any interest in land.

(2) Repealed. 2007, c.39, s.4.

(3) Nothing in subsection (1) prohibits the sale, the offering for sale or the advertising for sale of a place of dwelling for occupancy by persons over 55 years of age exclusively.

Discrimination in occupancy of commercial unit or housing accommodation is prohibited

11(1) No person, directly or indirectly, alone or with another, or by the interposition of another shall, on the basis of a prohibited ground:

(a) deny to any person or class of persons occupancy of any commercial unit or any housing accommodation; or

(b) discriminate against any person or class of persons with respect to any term of occupancy of any commercial unit or any housing accommodation.

(2) Subsection (1) does not apply to discrimination on the basis of the sex of a person with respect to housing accommodation, where the occupancy of all the housing accommodation in a building, except that of the owner or the owner’s family, is restricted to individuals who are of the same sex.

(3) Subsection (1) does not apply to discrimination on the basis of the sex or sexual orientation of a person with respect to the renting or leasing of any dwelling unit in any housing accommodation that is composed of not more than two dwelling units, where the owner of the housing accommodation or the owner’s family resides in one of the two dwelling units.

(4) Nothing in subsection (1) prohibits the renting or leasing, the offering for rent or lease or the advertising for rent or lease, of any housing accommodation for occupancy by persons over 55 years of age exclusively.

The Saskatchewan Human Rights Code is here.

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.

Follow our daily updates on Twitter @Norm_Fisher.

Norm Fisher
Royal LePage Vidorra

The Saskatoon Region Association of Realtors recently reported May resultsfor the entire residential category of Saskatoon real estate, which includes single-family homes, condominiums, semi-detached properties, duplexes, mobile homes and vacant lots. Unit sales totaled 372 properties across all of these property types, at an average selling price of $276,091. Let’s have a look at how houses (single-family detached homes) and condominiums did in comparison to the entire residential category.

Following a slight decline during the month of April, total active listings of singe-family detached houses grew from eight hundred forty-seven to eight hundred and ninety by the end of the month, up from seven hundred and thirty-six in May of 2008. Unit sales showed some strength rising from two hundred and thirty-five last month to two hundred and forty-seven in May, finishing just six units higher than the same month last year. Absorption rates remained stable compared to the previous month at 3.6 months of inventory, but sat higher than last year when it was slightly higher than a three-month supply.

House prices remained remarkably stable given the buzz about improving market conditions. The average selling price of a Saskatoon house took a slight downturn from $312,565 in April to finish the month at $311,016, some $16,000 lower than it was in May of 2008. The median remained steady month-over-month at $295,000, but again, finished $16,000 below last year’s number of $301,000. The three-month average selling price gained about $3,600 over last month to close just above $300,000, well off of the number attained last May when it came close to $328,000.

The average price per square foot for single-homes showed the same kind of steadiness on a month-over-month basis, increasing just slightly from $248 to $249 but showed deeper losses compared to the same month last year, falling about eleven percent from $280 per square foot in May of 2008.

Active listings of Saskatoon condos saw a smaller increase than houses over the past thirty days, but a much higher increase compared to last year. May came to a close with four hundred and eighty condominiums showing an active status, up just five units from April, but one hundred and fifty-seven listings higher than last May when three hundred and twenty-three units were available. Sales also increased, just one unit compared to last month, but up about thirteen percent compared to last year. One hundred and eleven condos changed hands during the month of May, which made for the strongest month for Saskatoon condo sales in a year. Still, an additional month of condominium inventory is available this year, when compared to last as the absorption rate climbed from 3.3 months to 4.3 months.

Condo prices continued to display a downward trend as the average selling price for the month lost about nine thousand dollars compared to April and finished at $210,599, down roughly sixteen percent from May 2008 when it sat just above $250,000. The median selling price fell $6,500 compared to the previous month, down just $16,000 from May 2008 when it was $225,000. The three-month average fell $4,800 from last month to $215,099 and finished significantly lower than May 2008 when it reached $242,472.

The average cost per square foot for a Saskatoon condo appeared to be slightly more stable on a month-over month basis falling just $2 from April to finish at $211, but was roughly nineteen percent lower than it was when it peaked in May of 2008 at $262.

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.

Follow our daily updates on Twitter @Norm_Fisher.

Norm Fisher
Royal LePage Vidorra

The Saskatoon Region Association of REALTORS® (SRAR) released the residential real estate statistics for May 2009today, accompanied by this release.

Residential home sales remained steady in the month of May. Saskatoon REALTORS® sold 372 homes in the month of May that number up 2% from May 2008 when 363 homes were sold. Year to date 1,428 homes have sold, that number down 22% from 2008 when 1832 homes sold. May’s number indicates somewhat of a recovery in market place activity. Dollar volume for May was $103,965,000 down 5% from 2008 when $109,610,000.00 of real estate was sold.

Listing inventory continued to correct last month, REALTORS® listing 721 properties down 29% from May 2008 when 1014 properties were placed on the market. Year to date 3156 homes have been listed for sale that number down 7% from 2008 when 3406 properties were placed on the market. Home buyers had 1532 homes to select from at the end of May.

The average selling price was up from years prior to 2008.

• 2009 - $279,477.00

• 2008 - $301,957.00

• 2007 - $233,404.00

• 2006 - $162,489.00

• 2005 - $145,548.00

• 2004 - $135,532.00

Sales activity in communities around Saskatoon remained steady. REALTORS® sold 97 properties, that number up 13% from 2008 when 86 homes were sold. The average price is up slightly at $238,904.00, as compared to 2008 when the average was $233,906.00. Year to date the average price is up 5% at $241,080.00.

Summer sales and listing activity is expected to remain similar as the market continues to correct with excess inventory moving through the system. Saskatoon has been somewhat effected by the global recession but all indicators point to the local market remaining steady in the next few months.

Drop by early next week when our “Closer look at the Saskatoon real estate statistics for May” will be posted. It includes a more extensive overview of unit sales, prices and active listings of single-family homes and condominiums.

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.

Follow our daily updates on Twitter @Norm_Fisher.

Norm Fisher
Royal LePage Vidorra