The first week of summer may have been a disappointment as far as the weather was concerned but the Saskatoon real estate market was hot. Local agents reported 104 firm sales of houses and condominiums to the Saskatoon multiple listing service® this week. That’s down just two from the previous week but well ahead of the 86 sales reported during the same week last year.

New listings also surged higher for the first time in three weeks as 158 Saskatoon homes were added to the MLS®, up 15 from last week, a significant increase from the number of new listings added during the same period of time in 2011.

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Total active listings remained pretty stable on a week-over-week basis dropping just one from last week to finish at 1229, down about 160 units from the same time a year ago. Today’s totals include 750 single-family homes and 404 condominiums. Condos continue to show the largest year-over decline falling from 489 a year ago. Single-family homes slipped lower by 70 units. While inventory levels are at their lowest point for the end of June in the previous five years, the trend appears to be similar to what it has been over the past two years. If it continues, we can likely expect to see total active MLS® listings remain fairly steady through August when levels will start to trail off for the winter.

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The average sale price of a Saskatoon home slipped about six thousand dollars this week to $342,319 while the median sale price for the week grew by roughly seventy-five hundred dollars to $325,500. The six-week average price inched lower dropping about a thousand dollars this week to settle at $339,523.  That number is higher than it was at this time last year by 28K or about nine percent. The four-week median price moved in the opposite direction losing three thousand dollars from the close of the previous week to close at $315,500 and claim an annual gain of about twelve thousand dollars, or four percent.

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The overbid activity was pretty soft this week, as it has been through most of the year. Five lucky sellers completed a sale above their asking price by an average amount of $2,725. Another 13 sellers managed to get out with their full asking price while 86 savvy buyers managed to grind a bit of a discount in their negotiations, each saving an average of $8,100.?

In other MLS® activity this week, there were 46 canceled and withdrawn listings, 15 that came to the end of their term and expired without a sale and 47 sellers who adjusted their price in hopes of attracting a buyer before the seasonal cooldown begins.

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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 final week of spring came and went keeping Saskatoon real estate agents busy closing a total of 106 house and condo deals. That’s up nearly 20 units from the previous week and 32 more transactions than we saw during the same week last year.

New listings remained precisely stable on a week-over-week basis with 143 properties being offered for sale, up 32 home listings from the same period a year ago.

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The inventory of active MLS® listings took a very small downturn edging lower from the 1237 unit close the week before to 1230, roughly 200 units lower than it was at the same point in 2011. Today, there are 745 single-family homes and 411 condominiums showing an active status on the Saskatoon multiple listing service. Both categories are down from last year when buyers had 824 houses and 523 condominiums to choose from. I expect that inventory has probably peaked for the year, more or less, though it’s possible that we’ll see a bit of a rush of latecomer sellers looking to take advantage of what could be a brisk two weeks leading up to new mortgage rule changes which will further limit home buyer’s ability to finance by July 9.

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The average sale price of a Saskatoon home pushed higher again coming close to recovering all that it had lost over the past couple of weeks, thanks to the strong performance of sales above $400K. It increased by nearly ten thousand dollars from the previous week to $348,313. The median price for this week’s sales remained almost unchanged at $318,000. Meanwhile, the six-week average price of a Saskatoon home inched higher gaining about $2500 this week to settle at $340,608 for an annual increase of a little more than twenty-six thousand dollars. The four-week median price slipped lower by two thousand dollars to $318,000 for year-over-year growth of eighteen thousand dollars.

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There was a bit of overbid activity this week with six lucky sellers closing a deal for more than their asking price, but all of the overbids were fairly constrained, the largest coming in at $700 and the lowest coming in at $1 for an average of just $184. Another 17 buyers stepped up and offered the full asking price to close their deal, while 83 of this week’s 106 sales closed at a price that was less than the list price by an average of $10,510.

Other notable activity on the Saskatoon MLS® this week included 52 canceled and withdrawn listings, 14 expired listings and 62 price changes.

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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

CREA economist Gregory Klump reports on MLS® sales and listings for the Canadian real estate market for May, 2012.

Highlights from CREA's release

• Home sales down 3.1% from April to May.
• Actual (not seasonally adjusted) up 9% from levels in May 2011.
• The year-over-year increase continues to reflect the slowdown in sales a year ago following changes to mortgage rules that came into effect in March 2011.
• The number of newly listed homes edged up 0.3% from April to May.
• Easing sales activity and a small uptick in new listings resulted in a more balanced national housing market.
• The national average home price edged down 0.3% on a year-over-year basis in May.

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

Saskatoon real estate agents saw the fewest number of sales in the past ten weeks this week. A total of 87 house and condo listings were reported sold to the Saskatoon MLS® system, down 19 units from the previous week and below numbers recorded during the same week last year by 14.

New listings added to the multiple listing service® this week also took a downturn falling 40 units from last week to 143 to finish ahead of the same week last year by seven.

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The total number of MLS® listings showing an active status on the system moved ahead again growing by 25 units this week to 1237 for a year-over-year decline of about 180 homes. Today, there are 735 single-family homes and 428 condominiums available to purchasers within the city of Saskatoon. At the close of the same week a year ago those numbers stood at 841 and 518 respectively.

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A few more upper-end sales brought average prices bouncing back again. As the average sale price of a Saskatoon home picked up almost twenty thousand dollars compared to last week to reach nearly $340K, the median price for the week managed to slide another 10K below the previous week’s finish to settle at was $306,700. The six-week average price edged ahead almost three thousand dollars from last week to reach $338,165 for a year-over-year gain of about twenty-three thousand dollars. The four-week median slipped lower by five thousand dollars over the week to settle at $320,000 and claim an annual gain of twenty-five thousand dollars.

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The number of sales that occurred above the seller’s asking price slipped lower to just five. The average overbid was fairly small at just $300. Another ten sellers received and accepted offers at the full asking price while 72 of this week’s 87 sales came in below the asking price with an average discount of $8,785 required to close the deal.

Other action on the Saskatoon MLS® this week included 53 canceled and withdrawn listings, 11 expired listings and 50 price changes.

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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

It was another strong week for both sales and listings. Saskatoon real estate agents reported a total of 106 house and condo sales to the MLS system, up seven from the previous week and ahead of the same week a year ago by 15.

New listings came on the market at an even faster pace with 183 house and condominium properties making their debut. That’s up 28 units from the previous week and well ahead of the same period last year when just 130 Saskatoon homes were listed for sale.

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Many of those “new listings” were likely old listings that were canceled, re-packaged and advertised as something the market hadn’t seen before. I say that because the numbers don’t otherwise add up (and because it’s time that I squawked a bit about the old cancel/relist trick). At the close of the week, the total inventory of active MLS listings in the residential category stood at 1212 for a weekly gain of just seven properties suggesting that a good chunk of the 59 listings that were canceled or withdrawn from the system made an appearance in this week’s and last week’s numbers. In any case, the final tally came in lower than the totals counted at the same point in 2011 by 208 homes. Today’s Saskatoon real estate inventory shows 728 single-family homes and 418 condominiums as “active” on the MLS system. Last year at this time those two categories stood at 819 and 524 respectively.

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Absent any sales that topped the half-million-dollar mark the average selling price of a Saskatoon home took a pretty good slide this week dropping nearly thirty thousand dollars from the previous week to $320,547. The weekly median price slid lower as well losing nearly 25K to settle at $317,500. The six-week median price slipped for the fourth consecutive week to finish at $335,487. That’s a bit more than five thousand lower than it was last week but up about eighteen thousand dollars on a year-over-year basis. The four-week median price managed to remain steady at $325,000 for an annual gain of twenty-seven thousand dollars.

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The number of listings that sold at their full asking price increased to 21 this week, while the number that traded above asking price slipped lower to just four. Those fortunate sellers averaged about $7,000 more than they had asked when they placed their home for sale on the Saskatoon multiple listing service. The remaining 81 deals required some back and forth at the negotiating table and netted buyers an average discount of $9,041.

Other action on the Saskatoon MLS this week included nine homes that reached the end of their listing term and expired without a sale and 66 price changes.

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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

Sales of Saskatoon houses and condominiums slid lower on a year-over-year basis, dropping from 120 units for the same week last year, to 99 homes. Still, total unit sales increased by four over the previous week when Saskatoon real estate agents reported 95 firm deals to the local MLS®. In spite of the annual decline, this week’s sales ranked among the top five weeks for housing sales this year.

New listings continued to come at a reasonably strong pace with 155 properties in the condo and house categories being added to the system, up five from last week and ahead of the numbers added during the same week last year by just three.

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The inventory of active residential real estate listings available to Saskatoon home buyers on the multiple listing service® took its first drop since late March. While marginal, it did push the totals to their lowest numbers for the first week of June in five years time. As of this morning, 1205 properties bear an active status on the MLS®. That’s down just five units from the close of the previous week but the year-over-year decline amounts to almost 200 homes. A very strong sales month in May pushed the absorption rate (total inventory divided by the most recent month’s sales) to just 2.7 months. I believe that this is the smallest supply of Saskatoon homes that we’ve seen since 2007. Today, buyers find 717 single-family homes and 405 condos for sale on our system. At the close of the same week last year, those two categories saw totals of 797 and 516 respectively.

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The average selling price of a Saskatoon home saw marginal declines for the second consecutive week as it slipped lower by just four hundred dollars to $348,011 while the median sale price for the week declined about four thousand dollars to $341,000. Meanwhile, the six-week average price of a Saskatoon home took its third weekly drop to finish the week at $340,992 to claim an annual gain of about twenty-three thousand dollars. The four-week median price took a big jump gaining about ten thousand dollars compared to last week to finish at $325K, up thirty thousand dollars from the close of the same week a year ago.

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The majority of this week’s sales (75 of 99) were reported to have traded for less than the asking price. The average discount was $8,189. Another 18 Saskatoon home sellers managed to wrap up a deal at their full asking price. The remaining six sellers were lucky enough to end up with competing bids to close a sale above their list price by an average of $4,833.

Other notable Saskatoon real estate activity this week included 59 canceled and withdrawn listings, just 50 properties that expired from the system without a sale and 56 price changes.

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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 MLS® residential real estate statistics for May of 2012 today, accompanied by the following release.

The number of active listings in Saskatoon at the end of May stood at 1,240 while the total for Saskatoon and area stood at 2,714 which was an overall decrease of 11% for the same time last year. “The pace of sales year-to-date has continued to outpace the rate at which new inventory has been added to the market resulting in less to choose from in certain price ranges” states Jason Yochim, the Executive Officer of the Saskatoon Region Association of REALTORS®. “This shortfall continues to put slight pressure on the average selling price which now sits at $328,297 for the city of Saskatoon, an increase of 8% year to date compared to 2011,” says Yochim.

The number of units sold in the communities and areas surrounding Saskatoon reflected a 34% increase in May when compared to last year while the number of units listed during this period was down 13%. “Year-to-date, the area surrounding Saskatoon experienced a 15% increase in sales with a 5% decrease in the number of listings. However, it is interesting to note that the average sale price only increased by 1% to $280,128.”

In May, it took an average of 27 days to sell a property in Saskatoon compared with 33 days a year ago. The most active price range continued to be the $300,000 to $350,000 range with almost 20% of the overall sales in May. The total sales dollar volume year-to-date for the Saskatoon Region Association of REALTORS® was $755,336,616 which is almost a 40% increase for the same period only 2 years ago.

Jason Yochim

Executive Officer Saskatoon Region Association of REALTORS®

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 me.

Norm Fisher

Royal LePage Vidorra