Lower borrowing costs in the final quarter of 2010 helped drive a “modest” improvement to housing affordability for Canadians, even though house prices saw small increases across most of the nation during that time, a new report from RBC Economicsstates. The slight improvements are likely short lived as interest rates have recently started to rise and RBC expects that Canadian financial institutions will continue to move mortgage rates higher. The report predicts an increase of 250 basis points (2.5%) by the close of 2012.

It’s worth noting that the carrying costs for a typical detached bungalow in Canada required 39.9% of household income in the fourth quarter, significantly more than your lender would likely approve you for, but slightly less than what RBC says is the “long-term average.”

Here’s what the report has to say about Saskatchewan.

The Saskatchewan housing market finished 2010 on an enviable note. Home prices, for the most part, rose slightly in the fourth quarter, yet housing affordability improved for the second consecutive time. The provincial home resale market gained back solid forward momentum in the second half of last year (notwithstanding some softening in the final months), which contributed to re-establishing a stronger balance between demand and supply. Generally, the price increases in the fourth quarter more than reversed declines in the previous period but were too small to negate the beneficial effect of lower mortgage rates on affordability. The RBC Measures fell between 0.6 and 1.1 percentage points in the quarter, although the levels continue to be modestly above historical averages in the province. In our view, the Saskatchewan market will take its current affordability position in stride as a rebound in provincial economic growth, and, especially, continued strong migration inflows will support housing demand this year.

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.

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

In a follow up to its recently released report titled, “House prices likely to fall for several years,” Capital Economics says that a housing downturn will hit Canada’s economy hard, much like it did in the United States.

The overview of the report argues the following points, and others.

• The now inevitable downturn in the housing sector will severely constrain economic growth over the next couple of years, as consumption expands at a more muted pace and housing investment shrinks back towards a more normal size. Economic growth will rely increasingly on business investment and net exports.
• Over the last several years, growth in consumption has far outstripped income gains, as households have gone on a spending binge, funded by credit growth and home equity extraction.
• With household balance sheets stretched and house prices expected to fall, however, we forecast that growth in consumption spending will lag income growth for the next couple of years, as households focus on rebuilding their saving rate.
• House prices have been growing rapidly for nearly a decade now and it has reached the point where housing is so overvalued relative to incomes that a downward correction seems unavoidable. We fear that house prices could fall by as much as 25% over the next three years.

The complete report from Capital Economics can be found 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.

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

Collective Coffee, the latest addition to the Riversdalebusiness district opened its doors yesterday to become the first operating tenant at Saskatoon’s Two Twenty.

Located at 220 20th Street West, this charming little coffee stop immediately comes off as a fun place to be. With just four tables and a stand up bar, fifteen people feels like a party, and hey, who doesn’t want to be at a party?

We met warm and friendly people on both sides of the amazing service counter that’s constructed of salvaged pickle wood from the former vinegar factory and beautifully framed in steel strapping that was reclaimed from the old Toon’s Kitchen dumbwaiter.  Darkly stained fir wall panels, steel I-beam shelving and a display of local art complete this collection of Saskatoon treasures.

Floor to ceiling windows along the south side of the shop welcome the sun for a good part of the day and the overhead door will provide a great connection to additional sidewalk seating for at least half of the year.

Naturally, espresso, macchiato, cappuccino, latte, coffee and tea are all on the menu and were served up by a couple of baristas who actually seem to understand that a warm smile is the perfect compliment to a hot coffee.  An impressive offering of baked goods from breakfast cookies to pumpkin and chocolate chip bread was also available.

Overall, Collective Coffee is a pretty cool addition to the Riversdale neighbourhood. Take a few minutes to check it next time you're in the area or downtown.

Learn more about Collective Coffee and The Two Twenty here. Learn more about the Riversdale neighborhood here.

Visit our Saskatoon Neighbourhood Profilespages to learn more about what’s going on in our city’s neighbourhoods.

Norm Fisher
Royal LePage Vidorra

CREAeconomist Gregory Klump reports on MLS® sales and listings for the Canadian real estate market for January, 2011.

More from CREA's release.

Seasonally adjusted national home sales activity rose 4.5 per cent in January 2011 compared to the previous month, reaching the highest level since April 2010. Led by Vancouver and Toronto, seasonally adjusted sales activity posted monthly gains in more than half of all local Canadian markets in January. National sales activity has improved steadily since last summer, and now stands almost 25 per cent above the low point reached in July 2010.

We anticipated the recent announcement of tighter mortgage regulations, which will come into effect this March, would pull forward sales activity into the first quarter of 2011, particularly in some of Canada’s more expensive housing markets,” said Gregory Klump, CREA’s Chief Economist. “The sharp rise in sales activity in Toronto following the announcement provides early evidence confirming this,” said Klump.

Read the full release 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.

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

City council, this week, approved a new program that would provide down payment assistance to middle income renters. The objective of the program is to free up units in our low vacancy rental market while opening the door to home ownership for some who have the financial capability of servicing a mortgage but have not yet saved the required minimum down payment.

Billed as “the first program of its kind in Canada,” the Equity Building Program will be available to those who earn too much to benefit from social housing programs. This $3-million program will provide down payment loans to home buyers earning between $45,000 and $70,000 per year, who are currently renting a home in Saskatoon. As part of the arrangement, the home buyer agrees to pay back the loan, at a low interest rate, over a five-year period of time.

City planner, Alan Wallace is quoted in a story published in the Star Phoenix on February 9. “House prices have risen dramatically. We think there are a number of households out there that are in rental situations that will find it extremely difficult to fund the down payment.

“What we’re concerned about is if incomes aren’t able to keep pace with house prices…people have a tendency to slide backwards on the housing continuum. We want them to move up.”

Interested parties can obtain full details on conditions and qualifiers from the Affinity Credit Unionin Saskatoon.

Read the Star Phoenix story here. A television report from Global News is here. More details on the Affinity Credit Union website are 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.

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

Declining enrollment at four Silverwood Heightselementary schools is a normal course in a neighbourhood’s development and maturation according to Ward 5 councillor Randy Donauer who represents the area on city council and also lives in the area.

This Global News report examines the causes behind declining enrollment.

Learn more about the Silverwood Heights area here. Visit our Saskatoon Neighbourhoods pages for a detailed look at all Saskatoon residential areas.

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

Amidst a rising chorus of “soft landing” predictions for Canada’s housing markets, one Canadian economist, David Madani is singing a different tune that may or may not be music to your ears.

Madani, in a reportreleased this week titled, “Canada Economics Focus, house prices likely to fall for several years” says rising interest rates and near stagnant wage growth resulting from low inflation will cause housing affordability to deteriorate substantially in the years ahead taking values down an estimated twenty-five percent.

The report is an interesting read addressing some of the typical, “Can’t happen here because” arguments while taking a look at how such significant declines might effect the economy and Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.

Read it 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.

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

In spite of growing hype that the Saskatoon real estate market is heating up, sales activity actually softened this week, compared to the last, as agents reported just fifty-one house and condo sales to the local MLS® system. That marks a decline of five units compared to last week and nine fewer than we saw during the same week last year. Is it a big deal? It’s hard to know at this stage, but following a month that finished up on a year-over-basis, it’s certainly interesting that we’ve now seen two consecutive weeks that are down on an annual basis. Perhaps the draw of pending mortgage rule changeswon’t be as big a spark to the market as some had predicted.

There was pretty brisk activity on the new listings side of the market as 126 house and condo listings made their way to the Saskatoon MLS®, up twenty-three properties from last week and higher than the 101 homes listed for sale during the same period in 2010.

Click the image for a larger version of the graph.

In spite of weak units sales and strong listing activity, the total inventory of Saskatoon residential listings on MLS® managed to avoid the one thousand mark, as fifty-five listings made an exit from the system when month end expired listings were processed and removed. Total listing numbers finished the week at 972 for a gain of just six compared to the previous week end, but up nearly thirty percent over 2010 when just 749 Saskatoon homes appeared as active on the system. Single-family inventory moved up ten units this week to 537, while condos slipped lower by two. At this time last year, those two categories showed total listings of 411 and 290 respectively.

Click the image for a larger version of the graph.

Listing cancellations and withdrawals from the system came in at nineteen this week with thirteen of those immediately returning to the MLS® as a new listing. Thirty-four sellers adjusted their asking price this week with most headed for lower numbers while five brave sellers, hoping for an early spring bounce, made an upward adjustment.

The median price of a Saskatoon home bounced higher again as strong activity in homes priced above $400,000 picked up. The weekly median closed at $307,900 for a gain of just over fifteen thousand dollars. The surge in upper end activity pushed the average selling price of a Saskatoon higher by more than thirty-two thousand dollars to $322,241 with both of our longer terms measures following, albeit nowhere near as aggressively. The six-week median price moved about thirteen hundred dollars over the course of the week to $305,727 claiming a gain of nearly thirty-three thousand dollars compared to the same week last year. The four-week median moved up about the same amount to $296,000 to finish higher on a year-over-year basis by a whopping thirty-six thousand dollars.

Click the image for a larger version of the graph.

Overbid activity saw a bit of a surge as roughly ten percent of sellers managed to close a sale above their asking price by an average of $11,179. That number is skewed by one Area 5 sale of a new Hampton Village home that went $40K above list because of additional negotiated improvements. An additional two sellers got their asking price while forty-three of fifty-one Saskatoon home sellers negotiated a discount averaging $9,581 or roughly 2.9% of the asking price.

Click the image for a larger version of the chart.

Our Saskatoon home search tool offers MLS® listings from all real estate brands with the most detail and information available anywhere. Check it out 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.

Norm Fisher
Royal LePage Vidorra

The Saskatoon Region Association of REALTORS® (SRAR) released the residential real estate statistics for January 2011today, accompanied by this release.

The 2011 residential resale market started on a positive note with Saskatoon REALTORS® assisting 195 home buyers with the purchase of their dream home. This number was up ten percent from January of 2010 when 178 homes were sold. The $300,000 to $350,000 price range continues to be the most active. The average number of days to sell in the month of January was 43 days.

The average residential selling price in January was $300,353 up eleven percent from January of last year when it was $270,265.

REALTORS® listed 531 homes in January, up thirty-four percent from the same month last year when 395 properties were listed for sale. Home buyers had 958 homes to select from at the end of January.

In areas surrounding Saskatoon, sales activity was very strong with 57 homes selling, up seventy-three percent from January of 2010 when just 33 homes were sold. REALTORS® listed 214 properties in these areas during the month of January. That’s up sixty percent from January 2010 when 134 properties were placed on the market for sale. The average number of days to sell in areas around Saskatoon during the month of January was 60 days.

The new home market remains strong with steady city lot sales taking place. Interest rates remain unchanged remaining favorable to home sales. Job creation in the Saskatoon area remains steady. The forecast for the remainder of 2011 is for listing and sales numbers to continue to balance and for prices level or move up slightly due to demand.

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