Saskatoon real estate sales took a rather significant turn this week, falling to their lowest level since early May with just sixty-five homes sold, down from an exceptionally strong number of one hundred and fourteen the week before. Unit sales still managed to come in a higher than the same week last year when only fifty-three homes changed hands. On a brighter note, the week came to a close with three hundred and sixty firm residential sales reported for August, up from two hundred and fifty-four for August 2008, and well above the five-year August average of three hundred and seventeen Saskatoon homes sold. With just one more reporting day in August, it seems doubtful that we’ll see the same record breaking performance that we saw in Julybut we will almost certainly come close to our peak sale levels of 397 homes sold in August 2007.

New Saskatoon MLS listings also took a bit of a dip, though not nearly as dramatically as the slide in unit sales. Agents offered ninety-one houses and condos for sale, ten fewer than last week, and down thirty properties when compared to the same week last year.

Click the image for a larger version of the graph.

Total active residential listings managed to fall slightly finishing the week at 1152, down just thirteen from last week, but well off of last year’s 1676 homes. Single-family home stock remained steady at six hundred and seventy-six while condominium inventory picked up five properties to finish at three hundred and eighty-five. Losses in other categories (duplexes, semis, etc.) brought the marginal overall decline.

In prices, forty-seven price changes were recorded over the course of the week. An additional twenty-two Saskatoon home sellers pulled the old, “I’m out, no, I’m in” trick by canceling an existing listing and bringing the home back on with a new MLS number.

Prices softened slightly by all three measures this week with the overall average sliding just over thirty-five hundred dollars to $278,932. The six-week average slipped less than a thousand dollars, remaining just twenty-three hundred dollars lower than it was for the same week last year. The four-week median price slipped fifty-five hundred dollars to end at $274,500, about five thousand dollars below last year’s number.

Click the image for a larger version of the graph.

The average underbid on Saskatoon homes that sold for less than the asking price fell again to $8,609, down just about a thousand dollars compared to last week when it was $9,605. That’s a discount of just 2.5%, nearly half of what we were seeing just a few weeks ago.

Seventy seven percent of sellers who took a deal below their asking price managed to close without dropping more than ten thousand dollars.

Overbid sales nearly disappeared with just two buyers offering to pay more than the asking price (one just barely), compared to eleven the week before.

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.

Real estate geeks can follow our daily updates on Twitter @Norm_Fisher.

Our Saskatoon home search tool offers MLS listings represented by all real estate brands, presented with more detail than you’ll find anywhere else. Check it out here.

Norm Fisher
Royal LePage Vidorra

It was a week that may have brought pleasant memories of better days to local home sellers as Saskatoon real estate agents reported one hundred and fourteen house and condo sales to record the biggest week this year; if fact, the biggest week since late April of 2008. Unit sales finished twenty-three higher than last week, and more than doubled compared to the same week in 2008when just fifty-four Saskatoon homes traded hands.

New listings held steady at one hundred and one properties, down just one home from last week, but thirty-three units fewer than were listed over the same period last year. This week was one of just three in the past twenty months during which the number of unit sales exceeded the number of new listings.

Click the image for a larger version of the graph.

The active inventory of Saskatoon MLS listingsresumed its slide, which was temporarily stalled last week, and fell nearly fifty units from 1213, to finish the week at 1165 properties. Active listings are down roughly thirty percent on a year-over-year basis, dropping five hundred and two units from 1667 last year at this time. As of today there are six hundred and seventy-six single family detached houses for sale, approximately thirty-eight percent fewer than were available last year at this time when the inventory of houses climbed to 1,067. Condominium inventory sits at three hundred and eighty today, twenty-two percent off of last year’s number of four hundred and eighty-eight.

Fifty-six home sellers adjusted their asking price through the course of the week and fourteen of thirty-one canceled or withdrawn listings came back to the system as a new listing, most sporting a new price.

In spite of brisk sales activity and falling inventory the average selling price of Saskatoon homes maintained some steadiness, inching up just slightly from $281,095 last week to $282,464. The six-week average fell by approximately twice as much slipping to $282,459 from $285,337 the week before, and remained down from the same week last year by roughly seven thousand dollars. The four-week median took a bounce and reached its highest point in a year, increasing five thousand dollars from last week to $280,000, just five hundred dollars below the number recorded at this time in 2008.

Click the image for a larger version of the graph.

While the underbid chart looks similar to last week’s, overbidding made a remarkable comeback in just one week as eleven sales were reported above the seller’s asking price, by $9,605 on average. Most of the overbid sales were in the $3,000-$5,000 range, but one new home sold near $650,000 at $66,500 above the asking price, driving the average higher. Perhaps more interesting to me is the fact that eight of the eleven overbid sales come from one Willowgrove condo development. Given that it took sixteen months to sell thirty-one of thirty-five units available at this development, it seems uncanny that eight properties should be reported sold in a single week, and somewhat mind boggling that all eight sales should come in above the asking price.

Another eight properties sold at the asking price, and ninety-five sellers negotiated an offer below their list price. The average underbid on properties that sold for less than the list price slid slightly lower, falling from $10,734 last week to $9,605, an average discount of roughly 3.3 percent of the asking price.

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.

Real estate geeks can follow our daily updates on Twitter @Norm_Fisher.

Our Saskatoon home search tool offers MLS listings represented by all real estate brands, presented with more detail than you’ll find anywhere else. Check it out here.

Norm Fisher
Royal LePage Vidorra

Following one of the quietest weeks that we’ve experienced over the past couple of months the Saskatoon real estate market picked up a bit of steam again as sales of single-family detached houses and condominiums bounced back to finish the week with ninety-one homes sold. That represents an increase of fourteen properties compared to last week’s production, and a more impressive gain of thirty-two units when compared against the same week last yearwhen just fifty-nine homes changed hands.

New listings remained steady this week with one hundred and two properties being offered for sale on the Saskatoon MLS system, up just one from last week, but down by fifty-five properties from the same period in 2008 when one hundred and fifty-seven Saskatoon homeswere listed.

Click the image for a larger version of the graph.

After eight consecutive weeks of losses the inventory of residential listings refused to slide further and finished the week at 1213 units, up one from last week’s close. Still, this year’s active inventory is twenty-two percent lower than the 1555 residential properties that were available at the same time last year.

Through the course of the week, forty-nine home sellers adjusted their asking price in hopes of attracting a buyer before fall sets in. Additionally, seventeen of twenty-nine canceled or withdrawn listings made a second appearance on our system wearing a “new listing” flag.

The average selling price of a Saskatoon home remained steady on a week-over-week basis at $281,095. The six-week average took a small gain from the week before to finish at $285,337, not quite seven thousand dollars shy of last year’s $292,285. The four-week median held firm at $275,000, coming up just seven hundred dollars short on a year-over-year basis.

Click the image for a larger version of the graph.

The average underbid on properties that sold below the asking price inched up to $10,734, from $9,173 the week before. That represents an average discount in the range of 3.7%, about a half of a percentage point higher than last week. The percentage of sellers who managed to secure an offer within $10,000 of the asking price rose from sixty percent last week to seventy-two percent this week. Discounts of $25,000 or more returned to the chart after being absent last week for the first time that I can recall as four percent of Saskatoon home sellers gave up a pretty big chunk of change in exchange for a sold sign.

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.

Real estate geeks can follow our daily updates on Twitter @Norm_Fisher.

Our Saskatoon home search tool offers MLS listings represented by all real estate brands, presented with more detail than you’ll find anywhere else. Check it out here.

Norm Fisher
Royal LePage Vidorra

Short weeks following a long weekend almost always produce fewer home sales, and this week was no exception for the Saskatoon real estate market. Unit sales of single-family houses and condominiums slid to seventy-seven properties, down twenty-five sales from the previous week, and reaching their lowest level since the second week of June. On the other hand, this same week in 2008was one of the top-ten losers for the year with firm sales of just thirty-five properties, so seventy-seven sales actually looks pretty good.

New listings were another story altogether as local agents brought one hundred and one Saskatoon homesto the market, an increase of ten units over the previous week, and seventeen fewer homes than were added during the same period last year.

Click the image for a larger version of the graph.

In what’s starting to look like a near definite trend, the “active” inventory of Saskatoon MLS listings continued its downward trek falling to 1212 properties, slipping just nineteen homes from last week, but more than twenty percent lower than it was at this time last year when it sat at 1555. As of this morning, we have 723 houses, 395 condos, 25 semi-detached homes, 14 mobiles, 11 vacant lots, 32 duplexes, and 12 properties, which apparently, are best described as something “other” than those aforementioned housing types.

In 2008, the inventory of active listings continued to grow aggressively for another nine weeks to peak at 1756. In 2009, active listings peaked much earlier at 1528and have been trending lower since late May. Demand, and general interest in the Saskatoon housing market seems to remain remarkably strong, so agents are starting to hear more complaints from home buyers about a poor selection. Premium homes that are in good condition and realistically priced, can be expected to attract interest fairly quickly. While I continue to feel that the market is somewhat fragile, it has a reasonably good feeling of balance to it. Almost every transaction involves a negotiation, and neither buyers nor sellers are displaying an air of cockiness. It’s the kind of market that I enjoy working most. I hope that listings start to level off some and that we don’t return to a major imbalance of supply and demand in the other direction.

In pricing news, forty-eight adjustments were recorded throughout the week and nineteen of twenty-two canceled or withdrawn listings re-appeared as a new listing, most sporting a new, lower price.

Sale prices took a bit of a downturn as the average selling price of a Saskatoon home slid nine thousand dollars on a week-over-week basis to $281,400. Following six consecutive weeks of gains, the six-week average finally let up, sliding four thousand dollars from last week to $283,736, down from $296,934 for the same week in 2008. The four-week median came down just under a thousand bucks to $275,000, off thirteen thousand dollars from this same week in 2008.

Click the image for a larger version of the graph.

The average underbid on properties that sold below the asking price took a pretty sharp drop, falling to just $9,173 from $13,550 the week before. That represents an average discount in the range of 3.2%, about 1.5% lower than what we’ve been seeing most weeks. Sixty-six percent of all sellers managed to strike a deal within ten thousand dollars of their asking price, and for the first time in a long while there wasn’t a single-sale that was discounted by twenty-five thousand dollars or more. Overbids were almost as rare with just two properties attracting offers above asking price, with an average overbid of just $1275.

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.

Real estate geeks can follow our daily updates on Twitter @Norm_Fisher.

Our Saskatoon home search tool offers MLS listings represented by all real estate brands, presented with more detail than you’ll find anywhere else. Check it out here.

Norm Fisher
Royal LePage Vidorra

Home sales showed no signs of slowing down this week as Saskatoon real estate agents reported one hundred and two single-family detached house and condominium sales to the MLS system, bringing about the third strongest sales week of 2009, and the fourth consecutive week of rising sales. The number of homes sold increased just four units from the previous week, and showed gains of twenty-two when compared to the same week last year.

The pace of new listings entering the market continued to slow as one might expect at this time of year sliding eleven units from last week to ninety-one, and down sharply from the same week in 2008 when one hundred and thirty-nine Saskatoon homeswere offered for sale.

Click the image for a larger version of the graph.

Active residential real estate listings took another slide this week as unit sales exceeded new listings for the first time in 2009. An additional fifty-one properties expired without a sale, most as the calendar turned to the month of August. This is fairly typical of month end, and throughout the year we’ve seen many of those month-end expired listings come back on the market during the first week of the following month, although that didn’t happen last month.

Total active residential listings are down eighteen percent from the same week in 2008 when they reached 1500 properties. Today there are 741 single-family detached houses and 393 condominiums showing an active status. During the last week of July 2008 there were 976 single-family homes and 418 condos for sale, so clearly, the inventory of houses has seen the greatest downward trend falling twenty-four percent in recent months, while the condo inventory has slid just six percent.

The average selling price of a Saskatoon home bounced back this week reaching $290,542, more than seventeen thousand dollars higher than last week. The six-week average edged higher on a week-over-week basis to $287,927, falling short of last year’s number by just eighty-five hundred dollars and reaching its highest point since the first week of November 2008. The four-week median climbed to $275,960, a gain of six thousand dollars over the week before, but remained down by twelve thousand dollars from the same week last year. The year-over-year declines are actually starting to look quite slight when compared with the much larger gaps we were seeing over the past few months.

Meanwhile, fifty-eight sellers adjusted the asking price that they’d initially put on their home, and an additional fifteen properties were canceled and re-listed on the Saskatoon MLS system, most at a new price.

Click the image for a larger version of the graph.

The average underbid on properties that sold below the asking price grew again reaching $13,550, up from $12,014 last week. This represents an average discount of 4.5% from the list price, approximately.3% higher than last week. Larger average discounts were driven higher by a few extremely large cuts to the asking price, while a slightly larger number of sellers actually found a buyer willing to pay a price within ten thousand dollars of the asking price.

See a Google map displaying the boundaries of Saskatoon real estate “areas” 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.

Real estate geeks can follow our daily updates on Twitter @Norm_Fisher.

Our Saskatoon home search tool offers MLS listings represented by all real estate brands, presented with more detail than you’ll find anywhere else. Check it out here.

Norm Fisher
Royal LePage Vidorra