On the heels of what turned out to be the busiest week for the sale of Saskatoon houses and condos in more than five years, it happened again. That’s right, this past week stole that honour from the previous weekas sales moved higher by just one unit reaching 123 to record an annual increase of 19 homes.

Saskatoon real estate agents also kept busy writing new listings this week. Over the course of the week 156 houses and condos were added to the MLS® inventory, down seven from the previous week to fall below the 158 homes listed during the same week a year ago. This is the first week in ten where new listings actually came in lower than what was recorded the previous year.

The little inventory bubble that began to grow a few weeks back continued to deflate as the total number of residential listings on the Saskatoon multiple listing service® slid lower by 16 properties this week and settled at 1289. That’s still 70 units higher than levels recorded one year ago but total numbers do seem to be headed lower. Single-family inventory is up 20 units on a year-over-year basis to 770 homes. Meanwhile, condo inventory has grown by 25 homes compared to last year reaching 429.

The average sale price of a Saskatoon home moved higher this week to $363,200 while the median price slipped lower to $333,000. The six-week average price inched up a little under five hundred dollars to $351,834 and posted an annual gain of nearly twelve thousand dollars. Meanwhile, the four-week median price held steady on a weekly basis at $320,000 to maintain a year-over-year increase of less then five thousand dollars.

The number of sales reported to the Saskatoon multiple listing service® with a price that exceeded the seller’s asking price slipped to seven this week. The buyers involved in those transactions paid an extra $4,668 on average to close their deal. Another 100 buyers managed to negotiate a discount averaging $10,412. Meanwhile, 16 transactions closed at the full asking price.

Other MLS® activity this week included 50 cancelled and withdrawn listings, 16 expired listings and 52 price adjustments.

Highlights of a very quiet week for real estate news

Recreational properties in demand - Star Phoenix

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 Saskatoon Real Estate

This week brought with it the busiest seven days of local home sales that we’ve seen in years. In fact, not since the housing boom of 2007 have Saskatoon real estate agents reported 121 firm house and condominium sales to the multiple listing service® for a single week. The previous best was pretty close at 120, but over the course of the past five years that number had only been hit once. This week’s numbers exceeded sales for the previous seven days by 20 units to finish ahead of the same week last yearby 15 homes.

At the same time, new listingsadded to the MLS® system slipped lower for the second week in a row to just 163 homes, down 16 from last week but well ahead of the same week last year when 143 properties were introduced to the Saskatoon real estate market. I expect that our peak listing weeks for the year are behind us now and that new offerings to our system will generally trend lower through the balance of the year.

The past few weeks have brought some sharp, and seasonally unusual increases to the total inventory of active MLS® listings in the residential category. Last week, the number of Saskatoon homes listed for sale reached 1350 for a year-over-year increase of about nine percent. This week, active MLS® listings fell lower for the first time in five weeks slipping back 45 units to close at 1305 for an annual gain of six percent. The week closed with 774 single-family homes in the active category, up roughly 30 properties from a year ago. Condo inventory currently sits at 443, ahead of last year by 32.

Greater activity at the upper end of the Saskatoon real estate market pushed the weekly average price and the median sale price higher to $357,326 and $334,900 respectively. Still, the four-week median price managed to continue on a downward trend for the fourth consecutive week falling about three thousand dollars on a weekly basis to $320,089 and finishing up on a year-over-year basis by just two thousand dollars. The six-week average price inched higher compared to last week and reached $351,391 to see an annual increase of roughly eleven thousand dollars.

Overbid sales took just a bit of an uptick to eight. Those eight buyers closed a deal paying an average bonus of $1,877 to the seller. Another 23 transactions were reported to have sold at the full list price. Meanwhile, 90 of the week’s 121 sales closed with a discount to the buyer which averaged $10,154.

Other MLS® activity this week included 67 cancelled and withdrawn listings, 12 expired listings and 57 price adjustments.

Highlights from the news this past week

2013 housing sales off to a better start than expected - Financial Post
Home sales bounce back, but a rate test lies ahead - Globe and Mail
Canada’s impending housing crash not in sight - Financial Post
The alarming decline of housing affordability - Globe and Mail
Housing crash won’t hurt Canadian banks at first - Financial Post
Canadians obsessed with real estate, poll suggests - CBC News
Canadian household debt ratio falls - Financial Post
TD Bank to Paul Krugman: You’re wrong about Canada- Globe and Mail

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 Saskatoon Real Estate

Saskatoon real estate sales continued at a brisk pace this week topping 100 sales for the second consecutive week. That’s the first time we’ve seen that happen this year. Local agents reported 101 firm sales of single-family homes and condominiums to the Saskatoon multiple listing service®, down six from the previous week to finish well above sales for the same week last year when just 87 Saskatoon homes were reported sold.

New listingsadded to the MLS® system cooled from the previous week dropping by 26 homes to 179 beating activity recorded for the same period last year by about 36 homes.

The total inventory of active MLS® listings in the residential category took another solid leap growing by 50 properties from the close of last week to finish at 1350, up from the same time last year by 113 homes. Residential MLS® inventory had closely followed last year’s trail until the third week of May when it took a sudden and sharp upward trend. After four weeks of steady gains it’s not hard to see that similar activity over the next few weeks would move us to the highest levels we’ve seen in five years time, at least for this time of the year. That said, we are just a few weeks away from the time at which inventory numbers typically begin to decline for the balance of the year. Taking a closer look by category, an active listing search of Saskatoon houses produces 793 results, up from 735 at the same time last year. Condo inventory sits at 468 for a year-over-year gain of 40 units.

Even with one sale in the mix that topped $1 million the average sale price of a Saskatoon home stayed pretty close to the bottom of the slide where it found itself last week. The weekly median slipped lower to $317,900. Meanwhile, the six-week average price dropped seven thousand dollars this week to settle at $350,107 for an annual gain of about twelve thousand dollars. The four-week median saw its third consecutive week of declines as it shed nearly twelve thousand dollars this week and slid to $323,000 to finish just three thousand dollars ahead of where it was one year ago, its lowest point since late March.

The total number of sales reporting a final price that exceeded the seller’s asking price was pretty steady at six. Those buyers offered an additional $1,433 on average. Another 19 sales were reported to have sold at the full listed price. The remaining 76 firm deals that hit the MLS® this week were reported to have sold below the asking price by an average of $11,264. That’s the largest average discount recorded since the second week of April.

Other MLS® activity this week included 54 cancelled and withdrawn listings, 8 expired listings and 65 price adjustments.

Highlights from the news this past week

Space tight in Saskatoon - Star Phoenix
Why Canadians are seeing higher interest rates - Globe and Mail
Spring puts bounce back in Canadian house prices - Financial Post
Home prices: Why for most Canadians there’s no need to worry - Globe and Mail
Upbeat new housing numbers could be ‘last hurrah’ - Financial Post
Home prices rise 2%: Crash isn’t forecast but neither are big gains - Globe and Main
Google Glass real estate app promises simpler house hunt - Financial Post

Get the most current market intelligence with our FREE Market Snapshot including prices of homes recently sold in your area. Get it herenow.

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 Saskatoon Real Estate

Saskatoon real estate agents were kept busy this week posting record numbers for both sales and new listings compared against any week this year. A total of 107 single-family homes and condominiums traded hands through the Saskatoon multiple listing service®, beating the year’s previous best week by five sales, while finishing ahead of last week by 12, up on the same week last yearby just one.

New listingscame in at 205 homes, up just one compared to the previous week and ahead of new listings posted during the same period of time last year by 22 homes.

Even a record sales week could not keep the total inventory of active MLS® listings in the residential category from reaching a new annual high this week as it closed the week at 1300, ahead of last week by 24 properties, and beating levels recorded a year ago today by 88. That’s the highest number of active residential MLS® listings seen in Saskatoon since the spring of 2011. Taking a closer look at the major housing categories we see single-family homes inventory growing by 35 units from this time a year ago to 763 while condo inventory climbs by 33 units on an annual basis to 451.

All four price measures that we track took a downward turn this week with the average sale price of a Saskatoon home taking the biggest bath slipping nearly $50K to $329,585. A falling weekly median price is indicative of fewer higher end sales in the overall mix. It slipped thirty-three thousand dollars to $320,000 this week. The six-week average was the strongest measure falling just over a hundred bucks to $357,011 to maintain year-over-year growth approaching twenty-two thousand dollars. The four-week median dropped just over seventy-five hundred dollars from last week to close at $334,900 and claim an annual gain of just under ten thousand dollars.

Overbid activity held pretty steady and made up the smallest portion of the weekly sales at five. Those buyers offered their seller an average bonus of $5,980 more than their asking price. Another 20 deals were reported to have sold for the full asking price. Meanwhile, 82 of this week’s 107 buyers managed to grind themselves a bit of a deal with the seller signing off on a discount averaging $8,610.

Other MLS® activity this week included 50 cancelled and withdrawn listings, 9 expired listings and 55 price adjustments.

Get the most current market intelligence with our FREE Market Snapshot including prices of homes recently sold in your area. Get it herenow.

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 Saskatoon Real Estate

Good afternoon. My apologies for the delay in this week’s review. Most weeks, my schedule allows for a Saturday in the office with the writing of the review taking top priority. This week, our team has worked extra hard getting a lot of work done for our clients. That work always comes first, and this week, it required an all out effort from everyone on the team to get things done well. Here we are, wrapping up last week as the new week begins. Thankfully, I was able to use a few short downtimes over the past two days to get this together. Thanks for your patience.

The Saskatoon real estate market saw increased activity this week as sales of single-family homes and condos increased by ten units compared to the previous weekreaching 95 for a year-over-year decline of four properties.

New listings also saw some gains over activity recorded the previous week as a new high point for the year was found. Saskatoon real estate agents brought 204 new house and condo listings to the multiple listing service®, an increase of 46 homes compared to last week and ahead of listings added for the same week last yearby nearly 50.

The total inventory of active MLS® listings in the residential category took one of its largest weekly leaps for this year as it grew by 57 properties from last week’s close to finish up on levels recorded at this time last year by 71 homes. Today, single-family homes inventory sits at 769 units compared to 717 a year ago. 434 active condo listings can be found on the MLS® system today, up from 405 at this time last year.

A sharp increase in activity at the upper end of the Saskatoon real estate market, including a couple of sales above $800,000 and one above $900,000 saw the weekly average and the weekly median prices spike. The median increased more than $23,000 to $353,000 and the average selling price of a Saskatoon home reached a new weekly high for the year at a whopping $378,941. That’s up more than seven thousand dollars from last week and higher than it was a year ago by about $16K. The four-week median price went against the grain this week and slipped nearly $1,500 lower from where it was a week ago to $342,500.  That’s $17,500 higher than it was a year ago today.

Overbid activity took a bit of a downturn as just six sellers managed to close a deal above their asking price. The buyers involved in those sales offered an average of $5,167 more than the seller had asked. An additional 12 buyers agreed to a full price purchase while 77 of this week’s 95 deals finished up at the negotiation table netting the buyer an average discount of $9,085.

Other MLS® activity this week included 45 cancelled and withdrawn listings, 10 expired listings and 41 price adjustments.

Highlights from the news this past week

“I wish them bad luck,” Jim Flaherty says of those shorting Canada - Globe and Mail
Home construction slowdown may be good for real estate - Globe and Mail
Worried about the housing market? Five strategies for peace of mind - Globe and Mail
Ottawa’s retreat from mortgage market sends CMHC insurance sales tumbling - Globe and Mail
Why it’s dangerous to short Canadian banks- Financial Post

Get the most current market intelligence with our FREE Market Snapshot including prices of homes recently sold in your area. Get it herenow.

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 Saskatoon Real Estate