On the heels of a couple of seasonally soft weeks for Saskatoon real estate sales the tide turned as unit sales surged higher. Local real estate agents reported 82 house and condominium sales to the Saskatoon multiple listing service® this week for a weekly gain of 27 sales and a year-over-year increase of 32 properties.

New residential listings also showed increased activity moving higher than last week’s total by six to finish to week at 100 homes, even. That number is also up on an annual basis. During the sale week last yearSaskatoon real estate agents processed just 94 new home listings on the Saskatoon MLS®.

Active Saskatoon real estate listings stayed fairly stable slipping just 16 units from the close of the previous week to settle at 1281, about 220 more homes than were available at this time last year. By week’s end buyers could find 786 single-family homes and 381 condos showing an active status on the Saskatoon MLS® system. Last year at this time, those two categories of homes sat at 625 and 337 respectively.

You may recall that last week a handful of high end property sales pushed the average sale price of a Saskatoon home to its highest weekly number for the year. Absent that skewing factor the average corrected itself and fell sharply lower to $330,216 this week to reach its lowest point since September. Far more activity at the lower end of the pricing spectrum saw the median sale price of a local home drop nearly $30,000 to close the week at $310,220. The six-week average dropped about thirty-seven hundred dollars from last week to finish at $353,130 which was enough to bring a year-over-year increase of seventeen thousand dollars. Meanwhile, the four-week median price of a Saskatoon home slid for the third consecutive week reaching $327,500 for an annual increase of just three thousand dollars.

This week’s sales included two that sold above the seller’s asking price. Those deals netted the seller an average overbid of $7,650. Another 14 buyers paid full asking price to lock up a contract while 66 of this week’s 82 closed transactions went below list price by an average of $15,553. This discount was skewed significantly by a dozen or so area 4 condo sales that all went to one buyer who was able to negotiate discounts as high as 75K on a few of those units.

Other notable MLS® activity this week included 40 cancelled and withdrawn listings, 3 expired listings and 32 price adjustments.

Highlights from the news this past week

Urban dream looks promising - Star Phoenix
October home sales up from a year ago, but down from September: CREA - MacLean’s
House sales slow after buyer’s rush in to lock up rates - Globe and Mail
Canadian home prices in for a soft land, rating agency predicts - TheRecord.com Economy at risk as demand cools for new homes - Globe and Mail
Rates to stay low: Mortgage brokers - Winnipeg Free Press
Bank of Canada chief says Canadian housing is not in a bubble - Financial Post

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

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

It was another soft week for Saskatoon real estate sales, as is to be expected at this time of the year. Sales typically cool with the weather and the closer we get to the holiday season, the tougher it gets for a seller to get a buyer through their home. This week, local agents reported just 55 house and condo sales to the Saskatoon multiple listing service®, eleven fewer than the previous week’s totals to finish below sales for the same week last yearby eight. Following a pretty good run that had production matching or beating the previous years sales, enough so to bring us about even year-to-date (a slow start to 2013 has had the Saskatoon real estate market lagging behind the previous year’s sales right up until the end of October which brought us about even), this was the second consecutive week in which sales failed to rise to last year’s levels.

New residential listingsfor the past week also fell lower when compared against the previous week. A total of 94 single-family homes and condominiums were offered up for sale on the MLS® for a weekly decline of 27 homes. Even at this sharply lower weekly number, the number of new listings that hit the market this week was up when compared to the total entered for the same period last year by 14. This has been the case during 15 of the past 16 weeks.

To be clear, the Saskatoon’s residential real estate market has shown great strength throughout this year. We can’t lose site of the fact that 2012 was the second strongest real estate sales year this city has even seen and there’s every reason to believe that 2013 will come very close to matching it, perhaps even closing the year with a small increase in home sales. That said, the steady increases to listings entering the market in recent months starts to add up bringing an interesting to twist to the MLS® inventory chart that you see below. At a time of year when you can pretty much bet on inventory declines, the total number of homes offered for sale on Saskatoon’s multiple listing service® actually grew by 15 homes compared against the close of the previous week to finish higher than it was at the same time last year 231 homes. Pretty strong gains can be seen in both of the major housing categories as the number of single-family homes offered for sale climbs to 792 from 632 a year ago and condo listings climb to 408, up from 343 at this time last year.

Now, prices are a whole other story. In fact, as sales decline all of the numbers in these weekly reports must be taken with a grain of salt, at least on a week to week basis. When you have just 55 sales in the mix, as we do this week, a small handful on executive home sales can skew averages greatly and that’s certainly the case this week as the average sale price of a Saskatoon home bolts through the roof to reach its highest level for the whole year at $389,794. The median sale price (the point at which half of all sales occurred above and half below) of a local home this week is far more stable gaining just fifty-four hundred dollars from last week to close at $337,900. The outliers are in the top half of the sales and include four homes, the total sales prices of which exceed three million dollars to skew the average way up as seen on the price chart. The longer term numbers are much more realistic. The six-week average price of a Saskatoon home was $356,874 this week, up just three thousand dollars from the previous week’s close and higher than it was at the close of the same week last year by 19K. The four-week median actually slipped lower dropping more than ten thousand dollars from last week to finish at $336,950 for an annual increase of roughly fifteen thousand dollars.

Overbid sales were pretty much a non-factor this week as only one seller found a buyer willing to pay more than asking price. That buyer offered up just $100 more than the seller was looking for to close the deal. Another 12 sellers managed to complete a contract at their full asking price. Meanwhile, 42 of the week’s 55 sales came to a close at the negotiating table where the buyer was able to grind their seller for a discount averaging $13,033. While this is one of the largest below list averages we’ve been seeing, similar principles are at play as seen in pricing with some upward skewing coming from the really big sales which averaged a discount of $50,000. When those four deals are removed from the mix, the average discount on the remaining sales actually comes in at one of its lower points in recent memory, around six thousand dollars.

Other notable MLS® activity this week included 25 cancelled and withdrawn listings, 15 expired listings and 38 price adjustments.

Highlights from the news this past week

Canadian home prices inch higher but tepid gain signals cooling market - Financial Post
Canada’s housing market ‘teeters precariously’ - Globe and Mail
How to predict the end of Canada’s housing boom - GlobeAdvisor.com

Urban dream looks promising - Star Phoenix
Canadian home sales drop most in a year as chances of rate hikes fade - Financial Post
Tips for making your relocation easier and less stressful - Star Phoenix

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

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

Following what could only be described as a stellar sales week for this time of year, Saskatoon real estate agents processed fewer home sales and more listings this week. The total number of single-family homes and condominiums that saw a firm sale slid to just 66, down 30 from last week to finish three lower than sales reported for the same week last year.

Meanwhile, after four consecutive weeks of declines, new residential listingsmoved in the opposite direction as local REALTORS® brought 121 new listings of houses and condos to the Saskatoon MLS® system, up 15 from last week and well ahead of the 99 homes that came to market for the same period last year.

After showing some promise of long awaited declines, the inventory of active MLS® listings in the residential category levelled off, slipping just two units from the close of the previous week to finish at 1282 for a year-over-year increase of more than 200 homes. At this time a year ago inventory stood at 1075. Both condos and houses are showing large gains over last year with the former climbing from 346 to 396 (15 percent) and the latter growing in numbers from just 642 a year ago to 792 today (23 percent). Much of the increased supply is in new homes but as sales decrease through the colder months supply looks like it will remain strong, likely taking some pressure off of prices.

Still, prices remain remarkably strong this week. The median sale price of a Saskatoon home saw the greatest change slipping four thousand dollars from last week to $332,500 while the average price for the week grew by two thousand to $351,874. The longer term measures showed little change on the week. The six-week average price of a Saskatoon home inched up just a few hundred dollars from last week to finish at $353,854 for an annual increase of about 13.5K. The four-week median slipped lower by roughly twenty-six hundred dollars finishing the week at $347,250 for an annual increase of more than twenty-seven thousand dollars.

The number of sales that closed above the seller’s asking price dropped to just one. That home saw an overbid of just $1,100. Another ten deals hit the books at the seller’s full asking price while 55 of this week’s 66 firm deals finished up below list price with an average discount of $9,349.

Other notable MLS® activity this week included 51 cancelled and withdrawn listings, 15 expired listings and 49 price adjustments.

Highlights from the news this past week

Houses and hell: Why Canada isn’t on the fiery route

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

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

Just when you may be thinking things are slowing down the Saskatoon real estate market pulls off another big week as 96 single-family home and condominium sales are reported to the local MLS® system this week. That’s eight more sales than were reported during the previous week, 27 more than hit the sold board during the same week last year.

New residential listingsremained towards annual lows for the third consecutive week. Saskatoon real estate agents brought 106 properties to the multiple listing service®, down just four from last week’s numbers but still ahead of listings generated during the same week a year ago when just 96 new listings hit the system.

The inventory of active MLS® listings in the residential category showed its first real sign of softening in many weeks as the total number of homes offered for sale in Saskatoon fell by nearly 100 units from the previous week’s close to settle at 1284. That’s still well ahead of last year’s number of 1092, still  at the highest point it has been during this particular week for the past five years, but a good sign that it won’t continue to climb as it had been. Today there are 804 houses showing an active status on the MLS® system, compared to just 662 a year ago. Condo inventory has grown less significantly increasing from 351 at this time last year to 391 today.

The average sale price of a Saskatoon home saw the most upward movement of all of the measures we track as it pushed higher by nearly five thousand dollars to close the week at $349,854. More activity at the lower end of the market saw the median price tumble lower to $336,950 to close about 13K behind last week. The longer term measures showed greater stability with the four-week median price sitting unchanged on a weekly basis at $349,900 while making an annual gain of nearly twenty-seven thousand dollars. The six-week average price of a Saskatoon home inched up about fifteen hundred dollars from last week to finish at $353,475 for a year-over-year increase of about seventeen thousand dollars.

Overbid sales doubled compared to the previous week as four lucky sellers found a buyer willing to pay an average of $7,350 more than list price. Another 79 deals closed below the seller’s asking price netting the buyer an average discount of $10,634. The other 13 MLS® listings were reported to have sold at the full asking price.

Other notable MLS® activity this week included 54 cancelled and withdrawn listings, 59 expired listings and 48 price adjustments.

Highlights from the news this past week

Shortage of supply hobbles commercial real estate sales - Globe and Mail
Accuracy of Canada’s housing data under scrutiny - Globe and Mail
Low rate pledge revives fears for Canadian housing market - Financial Post
Economists press Flaherty on lack of clear data in housing sector - Globe and Mail
New Saskatoon project gets property tax relief - Star Phoenix
Don’t look now Flaherty: Another shot in the arm for real estate - Financial Post
Sunny skies for Saskatchewan business - Leader Post
Homes sales and prices to pick up marginally next year: CMHC - Globe and Mail
Saskatoon developers aggressive as population grows - CKOM
Dundurn set to evolve from bedroom community to business centre - Metro News
CMHC cuts 2014 housing starts forecast, signalling slowing market - Financial Post
Saskatoon housing starts dip - Star Phoenix
Will Flaherty be forced to intervene in the housing market again? - Globe and Mail
Inventory tight in some segments of the Saskatoon market: SRAR- TeamFisher.com

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

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