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The threat of higher fixed term mortgage rates became a reality this morning as the Royal Bank and TD Canada Trust announced significant hikes. The Laurentain Bankfollowed suit and it’s believed that other major lenders will quickly fall in line.


Effective tomorrow, the posted rate for a five-year closed mortgage climbs by six-tenths of a percentage point with all three lenders, the largest one-day rate hike since 1996. Shorter-term fixed rate mortgages will also increase as much as four-tenths of a percentage point.


Fixed term mortgage rates are impacted by five-year bond yields, which have been climbing in recent months. Still, as early as just last week major lenders have been aggressively competing for market share. Just last week, the TD dropped its ten-year fixed rate to its lowest point ever, 4.99 percent. Today's announcement represents a sudden and sharp change that seems to have taken the market by surprise.


All three lenders are currently offering promotional rates on their five-year fixed product that range from 4.54 percent to 4.59 percent, but effective April 19 when new mortgage rules take effectbuyers selecting terms of less than five-years, fixed or variable, will be required to qualify using the five-year posted rates. A Saskatoon home buyer who qualifies for $300,000 in mortgage debt based on the current posted rate of 5.25 percent amortized over 25 years, will see their maximum allowable mortgage drop to $283,000 at the new rate, assuming it’s still in effect on April 19.


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

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Saskatoon real estate week in review: March 22-26 2010
The black line continued to climb developing what’s beginning to look like a fairly steep pitch as Saskatoon real estate agents reported ninety-four firm house and condominium sales to the local MLS. That figure represents an increase of fourteen homes compared against the previous week, and a gain of thirty properties compared to the same week last year.


New listingsof Saskatoon homes remained stable on a week-over-week basis with 132 properties being offered for sale, up from 113 for the same period in 2009.


Click the image for a larger version of the graph.


Total active MLS listings (residential) continued to build some numbers breaking the one thousand mark for the first time since total inventory fell below the four-figure level during the week of October 19-23last year. The inventory line on our chart appears to be following a growth trend that is similar to 2009, albeit at lower levels. At this time last year there were a total of 1,422 active residential listings available on the Saskatoon MLS system compared to 1,016 today. As of this morning, we have a total of 595 single-family detached houses and 368 condos showing an active status. Nearly all of the gains were in the house category, which moved higher by forty units over the course of the week (a hefty increase for one week) while the condo inventory moved by just one. Last year at this time, those numbers were at 877 and 459 respectively.


Click the image for a larger version of the graph.


Cancelled and withdrawn listings were at twenty-four units once again with fifteen of those home sellers immediately changing their minds and re-listing, making it completely impossible to ascertain accurately how many days it takes to sell a house in Saskatoon. Forty-seven Saskatoon homes saw price adjustments this week.


The average selling price of a Saskatoon home bounced back again to finish the week at $289,405, up nearly fifteen thousand dollars over the previous week. The six-week average moved lower to $285,964 falling roughly seventeen hundred dollars from last week to finish about seventeen thousand dollars higher than it was during the same period in 2009. The four-week median slid nearly eight thousand dollars over the week to $271,000 to trump last year’s number by twelve thousand dollars.


Click the image for a larger version of the graph.


Overbidding activity dropped just a bit from last week as eight Saskatoon home buyers offered more than the seller was asking by an average of just $2,481. Nineteen home sellers managed a deal at their full asking price while sixty-seven buyers negotiated a final firm deal with an average drop of $7,263, a discount of about 2.4% of the asking price.


Click the image for a larger version of the chart.


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

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Lake Placid Developments CEO Michael Lobsinger appeared before Saskatoon City Council last night and made an appeal seeking resurrection of a deal his company had made with the city to purchase “Parcel Y” in Saskatoon’s Central Business District. Lake Placid had plans to build River Landing Village, an upscale hotel and condominium development. That deal died on October 30 of last year when the company failed to meet the payment deadline for the land following a number of extensions granted by the city. Lake Placid ultimately faced challenges in securing financing for the project after the global economy went south and lenders tightened the purse strings.


So, what has changed and why should we care?

Well, most importantly, the money is reportedly in the bank according to Lake Placid’s new partner, Dr. Karim Nasser who also attended the council meeting and provided assurances that he has the goods to immediately deliver up full payment for the parcel and to see the project through to its completion. Dr. Nasser is best known to be a respected professor and a generous philanthropist having donated $12 million dollars to the University of Saskatchewan. That kind of gesture should provide some assurance that the guy has access to cash. People don’t often give $12 million bucks away, and those that do probably feel some measure of confidence that money won’t be a big problem for them in the future. I think this guy is the real deal.


Also on hand at last night’s meeting was Manilo Marescotti, vice president of development for Marriot Hotels. Mr. Marescotti has indicated publicly that Saskatoon is a “development priority” for the upscale chain of hotels, and more importantly, that the chain is keenly interested in this particular development. This also strikes me as good news, and if I may say so, a darned good fit for this awesome project.


So what’s a city council to do?


After all, they did give Lake Placid its very “last chance” back in August of 2009 with a pay up or get lost kind of ultimatum, and who can blame them for that? At almost every given moment through the final months of the last chapter, Lobsinger claimed that Lake Placid was just days away from coming through with the cash. He said it like he believed it. I suspect he probably did. Still, council could only stand behind the guy for so long before they all started to look like clowns who had completely misread the situation. They finally dropped Lake Placid like the proverbial hot potato and brought Parcel Y back to the drawing board seeking new appraisals and beginning preparation for a new “request for proposals.” They had little choice at the time.


But…but…here he his again and this time he apparently has the cash!


I say, “Take the money baby! Take the money and run!”


Why?


1. Well, for starters, Saskatoon could really use another $200 million dollar project right now, and apparently cash is still hard to come by, at least at the quarter billion dollar level.


2. We’ve been trying hard to get something going on this land for a long, long time. Starting the process from scratch could easily take another 3 years, if someone else steps forward who wants to take a bite of this one. If it fails again, you and I could be long gone before this parcel sees further improvements. We’ve already jumped through the hoops to make this deal fly. What realistic benefit could we see by turning this opportunity away? It seems like a big risk to float given the history of “Parcel Y.”


3. Lake Placid has an ultra cool plan that has already been approved for the site and it appears that they’re ready to turn some dirt. In the world of $200 million developments, it doesn’t get much better than that.


4. The other guys don’t appear to be lining up to stake a claim. I mean, for goodness sakes, 200 million dollars doesn’t grow on trees, ya know?


5. Michael Lobsinger deserves this project. I know he really pissed us off when he kept promising to show up with the cheque but this is what we ought to expect from passionate people who put everything they have into really big ideas. They get so deeply invested that they can’t accept that they might fail. This is the kind of brain that you must have to get huge projects like River Landing Village off the ground. This is the kind of spirit and determination that it takes to crack tough nuts and do big stuff. Those failed promises weren’t lies. They were the words of a committed man who had already invested millions of dollars and hundreds of hours. Lobsinger is the kind of person who has the ability to believe even when he’s facing of the worst kinds of adversity, and that’s exactly what he faced when we fell into what many have called “the greatest financial crisis since the great depression.” And, while we were busy kicking him back to Calgary, telling him that the deal was dead, and that he’s a deadbeat, he was still getting up every day looking for $200 million dollars. He still believed that he could pull this thing off. That takes a lot of guts! There’s a certain coolness factor to that, so I love this nearly perfect ending.


Sure, let’s make them pony up with today’s fair market value. Let’s have a look at those books and make darned sure these people can pull this thing off. Let’s double check, and heck; let’s even have our smartest accountants count the cash. If and when we’re satisfied that they can do it, let’s let them go build us a village.


More from the Star Phoenix


Developers tout plan


Lake Placid still in contention for River Landing development


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 Vidorra

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Saskatoon real estate week in review: March 15-19 2010
Perhaps it’s the threat of higher interest rates just around the corner; maybe it’s marginal qualifiers eager to beat the mortgage rule changes coming soon. Regardless of the reason, Saskatoon real estate sales continued to gain some traction this week as local agents reported eighty single-family home and condo sales to the MLS, up from sixty-six last week, and fifty-eight for the same week in 2009.


New listingsalso came on strong as 135 Saskatoon home sellers brought their property to the market, the second highest number for any week this year. That total represents an increase of twenty-two properties compared to last week and a gain of two when measured against the same week last year.


Click the image for a larger version of the graph.


Total active MLS listings (residential) continued to grow, stopping just short of breaking the one thousand mark at 976 units including 555 single-family homes and 367 condominiums. The inventory grew by forty-five properties over the course of the week but still sits roughly thirty percent lower than it was at this time last year when 1,394 residential properties showed an active status on the Saskatoon MLS system.


Click the image for a larger version of the graph.


Cancelled and withdrawn listings came in at twenty-four with thirteen of those homes immediately relisted, most at a lower price. Additionally, fifty-one home sellers adjusted the asking price of their home in hopes of attracting a buyer.


Selling prices continued to swing rather wildly as entry-level condos came on strong. The average selling price of a Saskatoon home this week was $274,625, down nearly $22K from last week when it hit $296,339. The six-week average managed to slip about sixteen hundred dollars on a week-over-week basis to $287,680 but showed a gain of roughly $21,500 when compared to the same week in 2009. The four-week median moved higher by $3,600 over the course of the week to close at $278,603, up $25,000 from the same period last year when it dropped to its annual low of $253,500.


Click the image for a larger version of the graph.


Overbidding activity was consistent with last week with nine of eighty sales going for more than the asking price by an average of $4,250. Six sellers hit their goal number. Sixty-five of the reported sales showed a sale price below list by an average of roughly 2.6% or $7,089.


Click the image for a larger version of the chart.


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

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The final quarter of 2009 saw softer sales and growing inventory “put a damper” on rising house prices in Saskatchewan, according to RBC’s March 2010 Housing Trends and Affordability Study. While housing affordability “eroded mildly” on a national level, Saskatchewan showed “substantial improvement.”



The big bounce in resale activity that took place during the spring and summer of 2009 in Saskatchewan showed signs of letting up late in the year, just as more properties were listed for sale. This put a damper on price increases recently, which allowed affordability to improve further in the province. In the fourth quarter of 2009, RBC measures fell between 0.1 and 1.1 percentage points (for condominiums and townhouses, respectively), in most cases extending the sharp declining trends since about the middle of 2008. Nonetheless, the cost of home-ownership remains historically high in Saskatchewan, with the unprecedented surge from late-2006 to early-2008 only partly reversed. This might not be cause for concern, however, considering that housing prices that prevailed prior to the boom were likely depressed by unfavourable migration flows, which have since turned around. Housing affordability in Saskatoon also improved, though far more modestly when compared to the whole province.


Read the full report 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

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Premier Brad Wall announced today that government funding is being made available for both a public and catholic elementary school to be built in Saskatoon's Willowgrove. The two schools will cooperate in a joint venture that has them sharing a building.


The Willowgrove area has grown rapidly and is particularly popular with young families so the need for schools has also grown quickly. Presently, students living in Willowgrove are bused to various east-side locations. Area residents hope that construction contracts may be tendered by early 2011 with construction being completed by 2013 or 2014.


Related post: Completion of Willowgrove school likely delayed - 10/14/2009.


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 Vidorra

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Saskatoon real estate week in review: March 8-12 2010
The promise of spring was delivered through warmer weather and a higher volume of home sales as Saskatoon real estate agents reported sixty-six house and condo deals to the multiple listing service, picking up thirteen units over the previous week and seventeen compared to the same week in 2010.


New listingsfell back to earth to bring the red and the black line on our graph significantly closer together. Absent of the block of condo listings that caused last week’s number to swell, local agents brought 113 Saskatoon houses and condos to the MLS, forty-two fewer than last week and just eight fewer than were introduced over the same period in 2009.


The inventory of residential listings available to Saskatoon home buyers continued to grow as it always does at this time of year moving higher by twenty-eight properties from the week before to finish at 931, down roughly thirty percent from the same time last year when total inventory sat at 1,343. The majority of the gains were in single-family homes, which picked up twenty units to finish the week with 525 listings for sale, still 300 fewer than could be found at the same time last year. Condo inventory picked up seven over the course of the week to close at 353, down from 431 last year at this time.


I don’t have a great deal of certainty as to where this market is ultimately headed, but one thing seems clear, sellers are not “running to exit the Saskatoon real estate market” as someone suggested in a previous post. Active listings are growing, but that’s a normal function of a healthy spring market. Note that inventory growth is more or less mirroring 2009. It is not following the more aggressive path of growth that we saw in 2008 that brought us to over 1,800 listings. Next, look to the red line on the first graph in this post to see how new listings of Saskatoon houses and condoscompare to last year and you can clearly see that we are well below the numbers of homes that were offered for sale early in 2009. Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing particularly stellar about what’s going on in our market, but there is no objective analysis, in my opinion that might lead us to conclude that a significant gap is growing between supply and demand. That is not to say that it won’t move in that direction as lending rules tighten, particularly if rates do start to rise, only that it isn’t happening now. This is just one of many attempts to weave a tale of doom well in advance of its arrival.



Cancelled and withdrawn listings were quite low at just fifteen homes, while eight of those properties immediately came back waving the new listing flag. Forty Saskatoon home sellers adjusted their asking price with all but one positive thinker moving lower, rather than higher.


A good handful of sales above the $450,000 mark helped the average price paid for a Saskatoon home bounce back over thirty thousand dollars this week following two weeks of slides, stopping just short of $300K at $296,339. The six-week average inched up to $289,328 to gain thirteen hundred dollars over last week and finishing ahead of the same week last year by roughly fourteen thousand dollars. Far more entry-level action caused the four-week median to take a tumble as it fell over thirteen thousand dollars from last week to $275,000, precisely fifteen thousand dollars higher than it was during the same period in 2009.


Click the image for a larger version of the graph.


Seven of sixty-six home buyers dropped an average of $4,028 more cash on the table than the seller had requested to wrap up their Saskatoon home purchase, while eight homes traded at the asking price. Fifty-two buyers managed to negotiate a deal with an average discount of 9,632, or about 3.2 percent of the list 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

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Saskatoon real estate week in review: March 1-5 2010
Firm sales of Saskatoon homes continued to follow last year’s trend line through the first week of March as real estate agents reported a total of fifty-three house and condo sales to the local MLS system to bring a gain of five units compared to the previous week and finishing up by four homes compared to the same week last year.


New listingsspiked higher as the week produced the largest number of house and condo listings we’ve seen so far this year at 155 homes, including thirty-two apartments at one address, currently being constructed in University Heights.



The inventory of Saskatoon real estate listings pushed higher for the fifth consecutive week and broke the nine hundred mark for the first time since late October of last year. Inventory appears to be producing a trend line that looks quite similar to what we’ve seen over the past couple of spring seasons. At this point, I think it’s anyone’s guess as to where that line will peak but it does look like we now have a bit of upward momentum as total listings grew by sixty-eight properties over the previous week.


While buyers are not yet clearly demonstrating the spring itch to buy, sellers are definitely getting ready for a rush that they hope will come soon. The single-family home category saw a net gain of twenty-five, while condominium inventory grew by thirty-two. The balance of the growth occurred in “other” residential categories like duplexes, semi-detached homes, etc. Today, there are 903 active residential MLS listingscompared to 1,313 properties that were listed at the same time last year.



Cancelled and withdrawn listings came in at twenty-four and eleven of those quickly returned as a new listing. Thirty-seven sellers took a different approach and simply adjusted the asking price hoping to catch the interest of an eager buyer.


Prices continued on a downward trend for the second week in a row as twenty condo sales and a handful of single-family homes priced below $200K moved the average lower by nearly thirteen thousand dollars on a week-over-week basis to $263,513. The six-week average lost a bit of ground on the week moving about sixteen hundred dollars lower to $288,052, up from $276,503 for the same week last year. The four-week median was pretty stable from one week to the next but showed a twenty thousand dollar gain from the same time last year as it closed the week at $287,970.


Click the image for a larger version of the graph.


Overbidding, which hasn’t been much of a factor to date this year was even less popular this week as just five buyers stepped up and offered more than the asking price. Those that did took a fairly reserved approach offering a premium of just $740 on average to sew up the deal. Forty-six of fifty-three sales reported a final sale below the sticker price by an average of $8,573 or 3.5 percent below asking, a larger discount then we’ve seen for many weeks. Interestingly, the larger pricier properties saw the most heat this week. Those that took overbids averaged a price of $416,640 while those that sold below the list price traded at just $240,663 on average.



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

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On February 16, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty announced new rulesthat affect mortgage lenders and borrowers starting on April 19 of this year.


One of the changes requires that buyers qualify for their high-ratio mortgage based on the “five-year fixed rate” even if their mortgage payments are actually calculated on an available lower rate. In other words, the lender must calculate and evaluate your debt service ratiosas if you were taking a five-year fixed.


For the most part, the changes were met with a “no big deal” kind of attitude but not long after the announcement questions began to surface about which five-year fixed rate would prevail for the purpose of “qualification.” After all, RBC’s posted five-year fixed rateis 5.39% today, while some brokers have offers for the same term available as low as 3.59%.


CanadianMortgageTrends.com is reporting todaythat the “chartered bank 5-year posted rate” which is currently at 5.39% will be the benchmark lenders use to determine how much house a buyer can afford.


So how might that impact the Saskatoon real estate market?


Let’s assume that you have a household income of $75,000. Let’s also assume that property taxes and/or condo fees will set you back $2,400, and that you’d like to pay this puppy off within 25 years. Mortgage calculators, enthusiastic lenders and motivated real estate agents would suggest that you could afford to service debt of $356,109. Now, bump that rate up to 5.39% and suddenly you can only afford $296,279. Any buyer who is pushing the limits of their debt service ratio at brokerage level rates must seriously adjust their expectations, if they don’t just happen to be borderline enough to fall out the bottom end of the market.


Oh, by the way. If you’ve been thinking about taking a 35-year mortgage, the same assumptions outlined above result in a $90,000 trim to the housing budget.


This suddenly sounds like a tough pill to swallow if you ask me.


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

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The Saskatoon Region Association of Realtors recently reported February 2010 results for the entire residential category of Saskatoon real estate that includes single-family homes, condominiums, semi-detached properties, duplexes, mobile homes and vacant lots. Unit sales totaled 236 properties across all of these property types, at an average selling price of $291,056. Let’s have a look at how houses (single-family detached homes) and condominiums did in comparison to the entire residential category.


Single-family detached home (houses) sales pushed higher on a month-over-month basis reaching 152 units, a gain of thirty-seven sales compared to the previous month, and topping last year’s rather lackluster performance by just five units. To nobody’s surprise, active listings also grew over the course of the month. Through February, Saskatoon house inventory had grown by eighty-three units to finish at 469, well below the 761 houses available at the same time last year. In spite of inventory growth, increased unit sales caused the “total months” of available inventory to drop to 3.1, down from 3.4 at the close of January.



Stronger demand and less selection added up to a swing in favour of local sellers as houses recorded gains which were frankly, stronger than I had anticipated. The average selling price of a Saskatoon house came in five percent higher than the previous month at $315,000, still a fair bit off of the peak, but higher than the same month last year when houses brought an average of $305,130. The median soared to $312,500 to record a gain of nearly thirty thousand dollars compared to January and thirty-three thousand dollars higher than February 2009. The three-month average selling price grew by six thousand dollars in a month to record a gain of twenty-two thousand dollars over the same month last year.



The average price per square foot paid for a Saskatoon house also grew, though not as sharply as the other measures. Saskatoon home buyers paid $255 per foot in February, up seven dollars from the month before, and just three dollars more than the average in February 2009.



Sales of Saskatoon condominiums showed greater strength through February as seventy-one firm sales were reported to the multiple listing service, up from fifty-eight the month before and eighteen more than the same month in 2009. Inventory grew by fifty-three properties over the month to 305, twenty-five percent lower than the 412 units that were available a year ago. The increase in both supply and demand pretty much balanced out and total supply of available inventory remained steady at 4.3 months.



Even though the inventory situation was far more stable for condos than houses, prices headed towards record territory as the average selling price of a Saskatoon condo spiked nearly thirty-three thousand dollars on the month to gain more than twenty thousand dollars year-over-year. The median price moved about the same amount to close the month at $245,000 and gaining about nineteen thousand dollars over February 2009. The three-month average was far less spectacular with gains of just fifteen hundred dollars for the month and growth of three thousand dollars compared to the same month last year.



The average price paid per square foot for a Saskatoon condominium was also higher than last month by nine dollars reaching $236 for a gain of thirteen dollars from the previous February.



In a nutshell, unit sales are weaker than expected given the pending mortgage rule changes that take effect on April 19. Saskatoon real estate prices, especially condos are showing more strength than I had anticipated. Considering that most people wouldn’t touch a condo with a ten foot pole at this time last year it’s a mystery to me how we could be talking about year-over-year gains of nearly nine percent today.


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

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The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation(CMHC) released it Canadian Housing Market Outlook for 2010 today predicting residential resale activity across Canada will grow by just less than five percent to 486,700 while new housing starts rise by roughly as much to 175,150. According to CMHC the average price of a resale home in Canada reached $342,231 in the fourth quarter of 2009 as sales rose ahead of new listings but Canada’s national housing agency expects price increases to lose steam as “new listings catch up to sales and more balanced conditions return.”


In Saskatchewan, a more balanced market will be driven by continued population growth, CMHC predicts. They expect the province’s numbers to grow by ten thousand in 2010 and 2011, a combined result of positive inter-provincial and international migration. CMHC sees single-family housing starts in the province reaching 3,150, up from 2,829 in 2009, and MLS sales growing to 11,500 from 10,856 last year. “Considerable choice” will see price growth of resale homes moderate as they gain just 2.3% to reach $239,000.


In Saskatoon, single-family home starts will rebound from 1,101 to 1,200 this year following a 7.6% decline in the New Housing Price Indexin 2009, the report predicts. MLS sales numbers will increase to 4,100 from 3,834 and the average resale price of a Saskatoon home will see a marginal increase from $278,895 last year to $285,000 through 2010.


Read the full report 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

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