Posted on
May 15, 2010
by
Norm Fisher, Royal Saskatoon Real Estate
The Saskatoon real estate market remained steady this week as agents reported firm sales on eighty-five houses and condominiums, up just two from last week but down by ten homes when compared to the same week last year.
Meanwhile, new listings in the same categories fell back to 153, a drop of ten from the previous week, but ahead the numbers from the same week in 2009 by eighteen.
Click the image for a larger version of the graph. 
The inventory of active residential listings on the Saskatoon MLS system pushed higher again this week to break 1,300 units for the first time since July 18, 2009. As of this morning, there were 1,303 residential properties listed for sale, a solid gain of nearly fifty properties compared to last week, but more than 200 fewer than were available at this time last year. The stock of Saskatoon homes includes 453 condos and 782 detached single-family homes. Detached houses have clocked the largest recent gains moving up sixty units in the past couple of weeks. Given the upward momentum that is evident on the active listings graph it seems likely that listings will peak later this year than last. It was the week of May 23 (next week) in 2009 when inventory reached its high point for 2009 with 1528 listings. After that, it fell steadily for the balance of the year. Given the change this year, we may be talking “up over last year” in just a few weeks if the current trend continues.
Click the image for a larger version of the graph. 
Cancelled and withdrawn listings were softer this week with thirty-one homes being removed from the system. Twenty of those later re-appeared with days on the market reset to zero. A whopping seventy-three price changes were recorded this week, the largest number I can recall for quite some time. All but one brave soul took their price south while the lone holdout raised theirs by more than fifteen percent to take it well above the $500,000 mark, even after nearly thirty days on the market at the lower price. You sir, have guts. We wish you well.
The steady upward trend that we’ve seen in prices over the past several weeks came to an end as the average selling price of a Saskatoon home fell over thirteen thousand dollars from last week to $292,009. Still, the six-week average managed to inch higher stalling just below 300K to gain roughly eight hundred dollars on last week and beating last year’s number by nearly 20K. The four-week median fell one thousand dollars from last week to finish at $285,000 and recorded a gain of $15,000 year-over-year.
Click the image for a larger version of the graph. 
Six of eighty-five Saskatoon home sellers managed to bag a deal at an amount greater than their asking price, by $3,515 on average. Once again, the average overbid amount was skewed higher by one deal that showed a five-figure overbid. Seven sellers got their asking price and seventy-two signed an offer below asking by an average of $8,018 or about 2.7% of the list.
Click the image for a larger version of the chart. 
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Norm Fisher
Royal LePage Vidorra
