RSS

Saskatoon real estate week in review: July 19-23 2010
Sales of single-family detached homes (houses) and condos showed some strength this week as Saskatoon real estate agents reported eighty-eight firm sales across all areas of the city, a gain of fourteen compared to the previous week, but short of last year’s performance by ten units.


While unit sales pushed higher, new listingsmoved in the opposite direction for the second consecutive week. Agents brought seventy-seven single-family homes and thirty-three condominium listings to the Saskatoon Multiple Listing Service® this week for a total of 110 new listings, down five properties from last week, but up eight from the same period last year. Still, this was one of the three slowest weeks for new listings since late March when the spring rush really began.


Click the image for a larger version of the graph.


The active inventory of Saskatoon real estate listings continued to show some stubbornness maintaining a near straight line since delivering its first significant drop for the year at the close of June. This morning, there are 1368 active listings in the residential category of the Saskatoon MLS®, a drop of just six compared to last week and higher than it was at this time in 2009 when buyers had 1290 properties to choose from. This morning, buyers will find a selection of 808 single-family homes and 479 condominiums for sale. The balance of the inventory is made up of semi-detached homes, duplexes, mobile homes and vacant land. Most of the year-over-year active inventory gains can be counted in the condo category, which has risen from 406 at this time last year. At the same point in 2009 there were roughly 790 single-family homes available on the Saskatoon MLS®.


Click the image for a larger version of the graph.


Cancelled and withdrawn listings fell to just twenty-nine with sixteen of those immediately returning to the system bearing a new MLS® number. Additionally, forty-eight Saskatoon home sellers made an adjustment to their pricing strategy hoping to meet a buyer before the summer months are behind us.


Home prices continued in that up and down pattern that we’ve seen over the past couple of weeks. This week, down took its turn as the average price paid for a Saskatoon home tumbled twenty-five thousand dollars compared to last week to settle at $279,306. The six-week average took another solid step down dropping more than five thousand dollars from last week to settle at $290,315 and reaching its lowest point since the week of April 5-9, just seven thousand dollars higher than it was for the same week in 2009. The four-week median price of a Saskatoon home followed the other two measures and finished lower on a week-over-week basis by five thousand dollars as it slipped to $275,000. The four-week median price remains up by five thousand dollars on a year-over-year basis but is down by fourteen thousand dollars from its peak weeks in May and June.


Click the image for a larger version of the graph.


Overbidding continued to be a rarity with just two Saskatoon home sellers reporting a sale price that was greater than the list price by an average of $2,724. Seven sellers managed to get every penny they asked. Seventy-nine of eighty-eight sales required an earnest negotiation with the buyer bagging an average discount of $9,287, or roughly 3.3 percent 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.


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

Read

Saskatoon real estate week in review: July 12-16 2010
Saskatoon real estate sales fell back to a level that has become about average over the past few months. Local agents reported firm sales on fifty single-family homes (houses) and twenty-four condominiums for a total of seventy-four units sales, a drop of sixteen compared to last week, and eighteen fewer than were reported during the same week last year.


New listingsalso slid lower as Saskatoon home sellers offered up seventy-four single-family homes and forty-one condominiums for a total of 115 listings, a drop of nine from the previous week and a gain of just one when compared with the same week in 2009.


Click the image for a larger version of the graph.


A few weeks ago, the total number of residential listings available on the Saskatoon MLS® reached its highest point for the year at 1427 units. Coincidentally, that number pretty much matched the levels we saw in both 2008 and 2009 for very same week. Of course, in 2008 and 2009 inventory levels headed in different directions after that week and the obvious question that came forward was, “Which of the two paths will this year’s inventory follow?” Just a few weeks later, the answer seems to be “neither.” We did see a bit of a drop as listings that expired at the end of June came off of the system, but since then the total number of Saskatoon homes for sale has remained steady. This week, total inventory finished at 1374 units, up just one from last week and higher than it was at this time last year by sixty-four units, or roughly five percent. As of this morning there are 810 single-family homes and 484 condominiums showing 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 forty-three with just twenty of those actually staying off the market. Twenty-three returned on the same day they were cancelled disguised as a new listing. Sixty-five home sellers adjusted their asking price this week.


Encouraged by two high-end sales that averaged $870,000 each, the average selling price of a Saskatoon home moved higher for the second week in a row and reached $304,676. The six-week average still managed a week-over-week decline of almost four thousand dollars and slipped to $295,514 to finish about fourteen thousand dollars higher than it was for the same week last year. Following four weeks of declines the four-week median sale price took a fifty six hundred dollar gain when compared with the previous week. It closed the week at $279,900, up just nine hundred dollars on a year-over-year basis.


Click the image for a larger version of the graph.


Once again, the majority of reported sales came in at a price that was lower than asking. Sixty-eight of seventy-four successful home sellers gave up an average of $10,221 or 3.3 percent of the asking price. Two sellers hit their number and four managed a deal above the asking price with an average overbid of $5,113.


The changes that we’re seeing in the market really don’t come as much of a surprise to me given that nearly everyone who normally has a voice in the Canadian housing market has warned of a slow down in the second half of the year. It started in May with very marginal declines. The drop in unit sales accelerated in June and we finished the month seventeen percent lower than the previous year. July is definitely feeling even slower. After the close of business on July 15 just 154 sales had been reported so far for the month putting us on pace for total monthly sales of 308 units, assuming the pace continues at its current level. That would amount to a thirty-percent decline over the previous year and sales that are twenty-one percent below the five-year average for July. Add five percent to the inventory of active listings and it a very different market. Here’s hoping that it doesn’t get much worse than that. ☺


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.


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

Read

Apparently, we have it pretty good in Saskatoon, at least compared to most.


Housing starts are rocking the charts once again and you can’t go anywhere in this town without running into some massive non-residential construction project. They’re everywhere.


According to the City of Saskatoon’s most recent population estimate, roughly 223,200 people were calling Saskatoon home as of June 30, an increase of approximately 5,000 from a year ago. That “estimate” is pretty consistent with Statistics Canada’s most recent numbers for Saskatchewanthat indicate our provincial population grew by more than 16,000 in the past year to reach its highest point ever.


One can only assume that our ability to continue expanding employmentis a driving force in that growth.


New entrants need not fear a sudden adjustment on the lifestyle scale. We know how to have a good time. We know how to blow the dough. A new study (via JenCT), published in the Sask Trends Monitor for June says household spending between 2006 and 2008 grew at three times the national average in Saskatchewan. We found a way to increase spending by an average of 7.3 percent during each of those years as the value of our homes skyrocketed. Credit was cheap and easy to come by. It still is, really.


Now before you start wagging your finger and talking your neighbours down for their financial recklessness, you should know that another new study (via Larry) says that the household net worth of those living in Saskatoon saw a huge increase over the past year, that our household debt is well below the national average and that we’re looking pretty good when it comes to our investment portfolios.


On the surface, this appears to be one recession the people of Saskatchewan won’t soon forget.


Generally speaking, would you say your family is better off or worse off than it was five years ago? I would love to hear your thoughts.


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

Read

Saskatoon real estate week in review: July 5-9 2010
Following a soft sales week, largely precipitated by a short Canada Day work week, unit sales bounced back as Saskatoon real estate agents reported a total of ninety house and condo sales to the local MLS®. Compared to the previous week, unit sales moved higher by thirty-two but finished just below the ninety-one homes that traded during the same week last year.


New listings also came on strong with 126 home sellers offering a house or condo for sale on the Saskatoon MLS® system, a gain of forty units compared to last week and almost two dozen more than were listed during the same period in 2009.


Click the image for a larger version of the graph.


After tumbling fifty-five units as we entered the month of July to mark the first substantial weekly decline we had seen in 2010, the inventory of active residential MLS® listings snapped back to the near straight line that it had been following for the five weeks prior. Total inventory remained steady at 1373, a gain of just one on the previous week, but fifty units more than were available at the close of the same week one year ago. By this time last year active listings were in steady decline falling almost every week through the balance of the year. While inventory seems to be a bit more stubborn this year, active sellers may be somewhat encouraged that it’s lower now than it was six weeks ago, and that many of the listings that expired at the end of June may remain on the sidelines for now.


Click the image for a larger version of the graph.


Cancelled and withdrawn listings bounced higher to reach fifty-one units but as usual, roughly half of those were immediately re-listed to add to the active listings numbers once more. Most of them came back at a lower asking price. An additional seventy-six MLS® listings recorded a price change over the course of the week.


The average selling price of a Saskatoon home surged back this week, reaching $296,479 and continuing the erratic up and down bounce that has been going on for several weeks. The six-week average inched higher and continued near the peak range for the year growing by nearly three thousand dollars over the previous week. The new number of $298,616 represents a gain to the six-week average of nearly seventeen thousand dollars over the same week last year. The four-week median price showed its fourth consecutive slide producing modest week-over-week declines to finish just below $275,000 for the first time since early April. This week’s four-week median price of $274,350 fell short of the number generated during the same week in 2009 when it was $276,500 and marks the first year-over-year decline in the four-week median sale price since February opened.


Click the image for a larger version of the graph.


The vast majority of the firm sales reported to the Saskatoon multiple listing service® this week showed a selling price below asking (83/90). The average underbid came in at $9,108, a three percent discount. Four sellers reported an above list sale price with the numbers being severally skewed by one new home sale including some extras and produced a sale price that exceeded asking by $60K. With that sale excluded, the average overbid was just $1,475. Three sellers got their full list 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.


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

Read

Rivergreen Ecovillage Inc. and the City of Saskatoon have signed an agreement for the sale of the parcel of land at the corner of Avenue C and 19th Street near the Saskatoon Farmer’s Market in Riversdale.


The developer placed a deposit equal to ten percent of the $1.5 million dollar purchase price and must still secure financing and pay the balance owing by June 30, 2011. If successful, Rivergreen plans to construct a 65-unit condominium project on the 1.4 acre parcel at River LandingPhase II.


More on this deal at David Hutton’s blog here.

Read

 
Royal LePage's House Price Survey for the second quarter of 2010 was released this morning. Here is the release for the Saskatoon area.


SASKATOON, July 7 /CNW/ – The Royal LePage House Price Survey and Market Survey Forecast released today showed solid price increases across most housing types surveyed in Saskatoon. Price gains were strongest for the city’s most affordable homes while above-average inventory levels for higher end homes is leading to a buyer’s market in this segment.


Standard condominiums led the way with year-over-year price gains of 6.3 per cent, selling for an average of $232,833 in the second quarter. Detached bungalows sold for an average of $331,250, up 6.1 per cent from last year. Standard two-storey homes were also up, gaining 5.4 per cent year-over-year, and selling for a second-quarter average of $355,000.


“Standard condominiums experienced the strongest price gains because of affordability,” said Norm Fisher, Royal LePage Saskatoon Real Estate. “First time buyers are trying to get into the market before interest rates go up.”


After peaking in April, sales volume for the second quarter is down approximately 6 per cent over last year with declines accelerating towards the end of the quarter. Bidding wars are rare, and are typically selling below asking price.


“Predictions of a softening market – in terms of the number of homes selling – are starting to come true,” says Fisher. “Sellers need to be aware of that, and price their homes properly.”


This mirrors Royal LePage’s national forecast, which predicts Canada’s residential real estate market will start to slow in the second half of 2010 after two quarters of strong price appreciation and sales activity. While market fundamentals remain strong across most major centres in Canada, sales activity was overly ‘front-loaded’ in the first half of the year and is expected to cool off for the third and fourth quarters. Prices are also expected to steady in the second half of the year.


“We have seen an unusual pattern of activity in the housing market over the past 12 months, with the market experiencing a surge of activity and price increases that peaked in the fall of 2009 rather than spring.  Early 2010 has followed a more typical seasonal pattern with prices and activity peaking in the second quarter,” said Phil Soper, president and chief executive, Royal LePage Real Estate Services. “An expected increase in the supply of homes on the market will now bring stabilization in prices and in some cities we will see both prices and unit sales decline towards the end of the year. This should not be interpreted as a severe correction but rather a natural reaction to the market having peaked quite early this year.”


The surge of activity in the first and second quarters of 2010 corresponds to a number of significant regulatory and financial industry changes that affected homebuyers over the same period, including an increase in interest rates in the spring, tightening of mortgage lending rules for first-time homebuyers and investors, and the lead up to the introduction of the HST in British Columbia and Ontario.


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

Read

The Saskatoon Region Association of Realtors recently reported June 2010 results for the entire residential categoryof Saskatoon real estate including single-family homes, condominiums, semi-detached properties, duplexes, mobile homes and vacant lots. Unit sales totaled 364 across all of these property types for a decline of roughly seventeen percent compared to the previous June. The average selling price of a residential property in Saskatoon came in at $295,963 for a gain of almost $20,000 (seven percent) when compared to June of 2009. Let’s have a look at how single-family detached homes (houses) and condominiums did in comparison to the entire residential category.


Single-family detached home sales remained steady compared to the previous month with 232 reported sales, down sharply from June of last yearwhen 298 houses changed hands. The average number of days to sell rose from 26 to 34 on a month-over-month basis, still well below the average selling time of 42 days during June of 2009.


The inventory of active house listings edged up slightly gaining fourteen units compared to the previous month to close June with 836 available properties, up from 818 at the end of the same month in 2009. The lower number of unit sales pushed the total months of available supply marginally higher to 3.7 months.


Saskatoon houses listed and sold on MLS in June 2010


The average selling price of a Saskatoon house advanced by just a thousand dollars compared to the previous month but gained over $19,000 over the previous year to finish the month at $322,275. The median price paid for a single-family home actually fell $4,000 from May to $311,000 to record a gain of $16,000 compared to June of last year. The three-month average moved higher to $324,671 for a year-over-year gain of nearly $20,000. On a month-over-month basis, the average cost per square foot stayed fairly level but it increased about eight percent on a year-over-year basis from $249 to $270.




While house sales continued to cool for the second consecutive month Saskatoon condominium sales remained strong and stable. 120 units changed hands during the month, up from 117 in the month of May and just slightly lower than the 123 units that sold in June of 2009.


After showing a substantial increase during the month of May, condo inventory declined by 33 units to finish the month at 470 units, nearly 15% higher than it was in June of last year when 411 condos were available. Strong sales and modest inventory declines moved “months of inventory” in the opposite direction of single-family homes. The total months of supply declined by 0.4 to finish at 3.9.



Saskatoon condo prices took another step higher for the third consecutive month reaching $251,376, the highest average selling price since it last peaked in April of 2008. The median price followed climbing roughly $23,000 from June of last year to reach $238,750 while the three-month average grew $27,000 to close the month at $242,102.



Real estate statistics for Saskatoon condominiums sold in June 2010


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.


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

Read

The Saskatoon Region Association of REALTORS® (SRAR) released the residential real estate statistics for June of 2010today accompanied by this release.


The second quarter of 2010 ended with 1,863 residential unit sales (year-to-date), on par with June of 2009. The unit sales number for the month of June declined by 17% with 364 properties being sold as compared to 441 properties last year.


Click the image for a larger version of the graph.


The average selling price in June was $295,963, up 7% from June 2009 when it was $276,194. This increase indicates strong activity in the mid to upper price range of homes. The $300,000 to 350,000 price range continues to experience the greatest sales activity.


Click the image for a larger version of the graph.


REALTORS® listed 676 homes in the month of June, a similar number to last year when 669 homes were placed on the market. Year to date listing numbers are on par with 3,838 properties being listed for sale. Consumers had 1,412 homes to select from at the end of June.


Click the image for a larger version of the graph.


Sales activity in the smaller communities around Saskatoon (e.g. Martensville, Warman, Dundurn) remained very balanced with 101 units selling. That number was up 3% from June 2009. The average selling price was up 1% at $254,203 and the year to date average selling price in these areas is up 4% to $252,788. Listing numbers were down 4% with 246 properties being placed on the market for sale as compared to 257 in June 2009.


Similar market activity is expected in the third quarter. New home sales are brisk, interest rates remain attractive, job creation continues to increase and regular in migration is taking place. In addition consumer confidence in the local economy also remains strong. All of these are necessary components of a healthy real estate market environment.


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

Read

Saskatoon real estate week in review: June 28-July 2 2010
A three-day work week for staff at SRAR saw Saskatoon real estate sales and new listings tumble recording some of the lowest numbers we’ve seen since February.


Local Realtors® reported just fifty-eight firm sales of detached houses and condominiums by the close of business Wednesday, down from eighty-three last week, and below the eighty-nine units sold during the same week a year ago. Condo activity remained relatively strong claiming twenty-four sales while single-family homes recorded thirty-four.


Over the course of the week agents introduced sixty-nine single-family home listings and seventeen condos for a total of eighty-six new MLS® listings, down from 123 the week before and lower than the 119 new listings that entered the system during the same week in 2009.


Of course, a new month also began this week. Six consecutive weeks of year-over-year declines in unit sales took its toll on the monthly sales numbers for the second month in a row. June closed with a total of 364 sales in the residential category, down roughly seventeen percent compared to last year.


Click the image for a larger version of the graph.


After five weeks of flat lining, the residential inventory of MLS® listings finally took a clear direction as month end expired listings pushed the numbers lower. Still, the week-over-week decline of fifty-five units was not enough to prevent listings from moving higher on a year-over-year basis for the first time in 2010 as the week closed with a total of 1372 listings to mark a gain of thirty properties compared to the same time last year. Today there are 828 single-family homes and 470 condominiums showing an active status. Single family home inventory gained just three units over the same period last year while condos jumped forty-seven. Fewer duplexes, semi-detached, mobiles and vacant lots account for the other changes.


Click the image for a larger version of the graph. Active Saskatoon real estate listing on MLS at July 3 2010


Cancelled and withdrawn listings came in at just thirty-five this week with twenty-two of those doing a same day return to the system as a new listing. An additional thirty-one Saskatoon home sellers adjusted their asking price this week.


With more than half of Area 1’s sales being smaller condos, not to mention a lack of transactions in the luxury category, the average selling price of a Saskatoon home slid toward annual lows finishing at just $269,992, about a thousand dollars shy of last year’s number. The six-week average slipped to its lowest point since the week of April 23 finishing the week at $295,933, down three thousand dollars from the week before but up over fifteen thousand dollars compared to the same week last year. The four-week median made its largest single week move since the week of March 12and fell ten thousand dollars to $275,000, just twenty-seven hundred dollars higher than it was at this time in 2009.


Click the image for a larger version of the graph.


Fifty-one of fifty-eight sales were wrapped up below the asking price by an average of $8,075. After a few months in the high 2’s, the average discount expressed as a percentage of the asking price broke the three percent mark. Three sellers managed to settle at their asking price and four completed a deal above that number recording an average overbid of $2,354.


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.


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

Read

One Saskatoon city councillor is suggesting that the city should expropriate Westridge Village in Confederation Parkafter the 90-unit social housing complex flooded this week for the seventh time in the past ten years.


The low lying area at the bottom of the westside neighbourhood would better serve the community as a storm retention pond and park according to Councillor Myles Heidt who says the disaster prone location is no place for some of the city’s most vulnerable families.


"This is not right what happened to those people," Heidt said. "They should all be closed and turned into a pond. . . . We don't tolerate landlords that keep their houses at a certain level, so why should we tolerate this? Let's make the tough decision that has to be made."

Read


It’s July 1 today.


I’m not raising this point because I’m concerned you’ll otherwise miss out on the celebrations of the day. I bring it up because there’s about a ten percent chance that your listing is still being promoted with photos showing snow if it was listed between the first of January and the end of April. Even though winter is long gone and spring is now behind us, I managed yesterday to find nearly forty listings that are still being displayed in a prairie winter wonderland setting. Some of them are showing quite a lot of snow.


Anyone who lives in Saskatoon is accustomed to snow, but snow in July is still a crazy idea, one which buyers just won’t understand. It not only looks stupid but it is probably robbing you of any chance that you might have to bag an offer before the snow flies again. If you do get an offer, the buyer will surely feel justified in coming in very low since your home has been for sale for what seems like forever.


It’s not your fault, but clearly this problem won’t be addressed unless you’re prepared to do something about it. Please check your listing online to see if the photos are seasonally appropriate.


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.


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

Read
The Saskatchewan REALTORS® Association (SRA) IDX Reciprocity listings are displayed in accordance with SRA's MLS® Data Access Agreement and are copyright of the Saskatchewan REALTORS® Association (SRA).
The above information is from sources deemed reliable but should not be relied upon without independent verification. The information presented here is for general interest only, no guarantees apply.
Trademarks are owned and controlled by the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA). Used under license.
MLS® System data of the Saskatchewan REALTORS® Association (SRA) displayed on this site is refreshed every 2 hours.