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Saskatoon real estate week in review: January 19-25, 2014
Sales over the past few weeks have been fairly normal for January. It is, after all, most typically the second slowest month of year. At this point of the month, we’re just slightly ahead of sales for the same month last year but we definitely need to see trades pick up in the coming week to finish where we did last year, with 221 sales. Saskatoon real estate agents brought in a few additional completed deals this week as volume grew to 49 from 41 last week, but that left us short of numbers recorded during the same week last yearwhen 54 Saskatoon homes traded. This week’s year-over-year decline ended what otherwise would have been the fourth consecutive week of annual gains.


Active listings grew again as they most often do at this time of the year. Local agents brought 119 new residential listings to the Saskatoon multiple listing service®, up from 112 last weekto fall short of the number of MLS® listing posted this week in 2012 by ten. That left the total number of residential listings available to buyers at 1147 for a weekly gain of 16 homes, up 154 from levels seen a year ago. Today’s MLS® inventory includes 699 single-family homes and 352 condominiums, up from 590 and 316 respectively at this time last year.


Far more activity at the lower end of Saskatoon’s real estate market brought the median sale price of a local home about $25,000 lower to $320,000. The average sale price headed lower as well, but not quite as much. It slipped just sixteen thousand to $355,528. The six-week median price saw its fourth consecutive weekly increase as it inched forward nearly two thousand dollars from the previous week to close at $347,552 claiming a fourteen thousand dollar increase from a year ago. The four-week median held pretty steady losing just five hundred dollars from last week’s numbers to finish the week at $324,500 for an annual increase of roughly sixty-five hundred dollars.


Once again, buyers held a strong hand at the negotiating table demanding a discount averaging $10,925 in 40 of 49 instances. Two lucky sellers made off with an above list offer averaging a $4,400 bonus while seven buyers agreed to pay full price.


Other notable MLS® activity this week included 40 cancelled and withdrawn listings, 14 expired listings and 30 price adjustments.


Highlights from the news this week

Builders blame low supply for drop in home sales - Globe and Mail
Here we go again with dropping mortgage rates - Financial Post
Why Canada’s cult of home ownership is in trouble- Globe and Mail


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

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Saskatoon real estate week in review: January 12-18, 2014
Sales activity remained rather subdued this week as Saskatoon real estate agents reported just 41 firm deals on houses and condominiums to the local MLS® system, a drop of three units compared to the previous week and an increase of five sales when compared against volume for the same week last year. While the number of trades are low compared to most months January is typically a slow slug. I expect that by the time the dust settles at month end we should be looking at numbers that are fairly typical for the month. Given the sales momentum of recent months and the very slow start that we had last year, we could quite likely see some good gains over the month, even though those gains are more likely to be a reflection of last January’s weakness than anything else.


Last week’s strong new listing numbers appear to include some of the activity that should have happened this week. The total number of new Saskatoon house and condo listings slipped lower on both a weekly and an annual basis. Local REALTORS® processed 112 MLS® listings, down from 166 last week, 16 fewer than were listed during the same week a year ago.


The total number of active MLS® listings available to Saskatoon home buyers continued on its upward trajectory after hitting its lowest point in more than nine months at the start of the year. This week, inventory numbers closed at 1131 for a weekly gain of 40 homes. On an annual basis, we are ahead by about 150 homes. As you can see on our chart, inventory levels are higher than they have been in January in any of the previous five years. Where do you see it going by spring? Today, we have a total of 680 single-family homes and 351 condominiums showing an active status on the Saskatoon multiple listing service®.  A year ago, those two categories of housing stood at 591 and 299 respectively.


I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, there’s not a lot you can immediately draw from the weekly price numbers, especially when sales are as low as they are right now. They really deliver the greatest insight into the market over a longer period of time. That said, we’ll remain true to our mission and tell you what they looked like this week. The median sale price of a Saskatoon home took a jump of about twenty thousand dollars from last week to reach $345,000. That basically tells us that there was more activity in the upper end this week than there was last week. The average sale price spiked to $381,364 for a weekly increase of more than thirty thousand dollars. This jump can largely be attributed to one sale at $1.25 million dollars that skewed the numbers higher. That skewing is far less pronounced when we look at the six-week average price which gained five thousand on the week to reach $345,733 to show its first annual increase in five weeks, up about 10K compared to the same week last year. The four-week median price rose less gaining a little under two grand from last week to hit $325,000 and match the annual gain of the six-week average price.


The negotiating table was clearly favouring buyers as just one seller made off with an offer above asking price with a $2500 overbid. Just one more was able to produce an offer at their full asking price. The other 39 buyers that closed a deal this week did so at a price that was less than the seller was asking by an average of $9,941. I honestly can’t recall the last time we saw a week where such a high percentage of the closed transactions were under the asking price. I’m pretty sure that it would be a good year anyway.


Other notable MLS® activity this week included 26 cancelled and withdrawn listings, 17 expired listings and 29 price adjustments.


Highlights from the news this week

Average Canadian house price up ten percent to $389,119 - CBC News
Canada’s house prices still rising but sales stall for third straight month - Financial Post
Housing market edges towards soft landing- Globe and Mail


On the news: I find it remarkable how bearish the media wants to be on housing, even in the face of some pretty impressive strength. Nationally, sales are up 12.9% in December and the Financial Post would like to make a big deal of the fact that unit sales have declined for three straight months. “There is cause for concern in the market,” they say. “Seasonally adjusted December sales were down 1.8% from November and are now off 5.2% from the peak that was reached in September. Historically, price declines have followed sales declines.” Let me tell you something else that happens “historically.” Real estate sales decline for three consecutive months in the last quarter of the year. This is not “cause for concern.” It’s normal. In some markets that  decline typically happens over many more months. Take Saskatoon for example. Our real estate market typically peaks in May or June to begin a slow but steady decline in monthly unit sales until they bottom out on December, and then begin to climb towards their peak again in January. Over the past five years, after June, there have only been two times at which unit sales have actually increased over the previous month. Most years, even our very best, close with six to seven months of declining sales. To be clear, this is not an argument for an ever advancing real estate market, or an argument against a correction, but rather, an observation that the news will often twist a story whichever way they want it to go. As we move into 2014 it’s beginning to look like those wishing for a housing crash have been disappointed yet again. Some aren’t quite ready to throw in the towel. Better luck next year.


This chart shows the typical monthly decline in unit sales that occurs after June every year in Saskatoon.


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

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The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA), released national sales statistics for the month of December, 2013 recently. According to the CREA, "The actual (not seasonally adjusted) national average price for homes sold in December 2013 was $389,119, an increase of 10.4 per cent from the same month last year. The size of year-over-year average price gains continues to reflect the decline in sales activity last year among some of Canada’s most active and expensive markets, which dropped the national average at that time. Removing Greater Vancouver and Greater Toronto from national average price calculations cuts the year-over-year increase to 4.6 per cent."
Highlights of CREA's report    
  • National home sales fell 1.8% from November to December.
  • Actual (not seasonally adjusted) activity stood 12.9% above weak December 2012 levels.
  • The number of newly listed homes dropped 4.3% from November to December.
  • The Canadian housing market remains in balanced territory.
  • The national average sale price rose 10.4% on a year-over-year basis in December.
  • The MLS® Home Price Index (HPI) rose 4.3% year-over-year in December.
Read the entire report on Canadian MLS® sales for December, 2013.


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

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Today on our Facebookpage, we discuss last night's decision by Saskatoon city council to lift height restrictions on downtown buildings. Let us know how you feel about a changing Saskatoon skyline.
 


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

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Saskatoon real estate week in review: January 5-11, 2014
There are two things that you can pretty much count on in this business. Firstly, home sales will peak in the spring and then begin a slow steady decline until they bottom out in December. Secondly, that homes sales will begin a slow but steady increase starting in January until they peak in the spring. This year will be no different and for this second week of the new year the Saskatoon real estate market began its push forward as local agents reported 44 homes firmly sold, up from 32 last week to finish just two ahead of sales for the same week last year.


It usually doesn’t take too long for sellers eager to get the jump on the spring market to get out of the gate either. This year they may have been stumbling over each other had it been an actual race as a whopping 166 Saskatoon home sellers broke away from the starting line. That’s a weekly increase of 96 listings and a year-over-year increase of 70 homes.


Naturally, a soft sales week and a hefty listing week has an impact on the total inventory of active residential MLS® listings. After slipping by nearly 100 units as the month of December closed, they took an upward bounce this week adding 59 homes to close the week at 1091 for an annual increase pushing the 200 unit mark. Today’s totals show 665 houses, up from about 566 a year ago and 337 condos, an increase of roughly 55 units from inventory levels recorded at the close of this week last year.


A growing number of sales brought price increases in all but one category. The average sale price of a Saskatoon home surged forward more than thirty thousand dollars to $350,007 while the median sale price for the week edged up just thirty-five hundred dollars to $313,500. The six-week average moved higher following seven consecutive weeks of declines. It gained a bit more than four thousand dollars over the week to finish at $340,972 and closed the week lower than it was a year ago by about 24K. The four-week median price was the only one measure that slipped lower as it lost about fifteen hundred dollars and slipped to $323,450 to find itself lower than it was the previous year by almost thirty five thousand dollars.


Buyers saw some of the largest discounts we’ve seen in awhile this past week as 34 of 44 sales closed below the seller’s asking price by an average of $13,152. The remaining deals wrapped up at full list price. Not a single seller saw an above list price offer this week.


Other notable MLS® activity this week included 51 cancelled and withdrawn listings, 26 expired listings and 26 price adjustments.


Highlights from the news this week

Modest growth in local house prices - Star Phoenix
Housing market on solid footing - Globe and Mail
Housing prices going up in 2014 - CTV News
December 2013 housing starts remain stable for sixth consecutive month - CMHC
In 2024, all homes will be dream homes - globeadvisor.com Key takeaways for Canada’s housing market in 2014 - Global News
Sellers to benefit in strong spring housing market- BNN


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

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SASKATOON, January 9, 2014– The Royal LePage House Price Survey and Market Survey Forecast released today showed small year-over-year price increases across major housing types surveyed.


There was mild price appreciation in the major categories surveyed, with detached bungalows increasing 1.0 per cent to $367,250, standard two-storey homes increasing 0.7 per cent to $379,250 and condominiums increasing 1.3 per cent to $264,667.


“Most housing types have been stable over the past year, with relatively modest price appreciation across the board,” said Norm Fisher, broker, Royal LePage Saskatoon. “There are lots of options available in Saskatoon to willing buyers, with a steady supply of new builds to complement the resale market. Despite the bump in supply, demand has been strong enough that the increased inventory hasn’t resulted in a buyer’s market but homebuyers certainly have more clout at the negotiating table than they had over the previous two quarters.”


Fisher added that this year has been very good for residential real estate in Saskatoon. After a slow start to the year there has been sustained growth in the number of homes changing hands. 2013 closes as the second strongest year on record for the number of homes sold in Saskatoon. The fourth quarter, which has traditionally been a slower period, has witnessed a higher than usual number of sales.


Royal LePage is forecasting stable prices with perhaps moderate gains in the most popular housing categories for 2014 as the Saskatoon economy continues to grow.  “Saskatoon is predicted to have one of the best performing economies in 2014,” stated Fisher. “Employment is quite strong, income growth has been better than most provinces and there is an influx of people into the province. These factors combined with low interest rates and relatively high rents point to our residential real estate market remaining strong through 2014.”


“We may see the same volume of houses being bought and sold as in 2013, but the market here is likely to remain very competitive for sellers,” Fisher concluded.


Nationally, in the same quarter, the average price of a home in Canada increased between 1.2 per cent and 3.8 per cent in the fourth quarter, with 2014 home price appreciation predicted to surpass that of 2013.


The survey showed year-over-year average price increases in the fourth quarter of 2013 of 3.6 per cent to $418,282 for standard two-storey homes and 3.8 per cent to $380,710 for detached bungalows, while the average price of a standard condominium rose 1.2 per cent to $246,530. Prices are expected to maintain healthy momentum into 2014, with Royal LePage projecting a 3.7 per cent increase nationally from 2013 and a shift to a seller’s market in the first portion of the year in a number of regions.


“A few short months ago, the country’s housing market emerged from a year-long correctional cycle of dramatically slowed sales volumes. Later 2013 was marked by a transition to buoyant sales volumes and above average price growth,” said Phil Soper, president and chief executive of Royal LePage. “In the absence of some calamitous event or material increase in mortgage financing costs, we expect this positive momentum to characterize 2014. In fact, we expect a market tipped decidedly in favour of sellers for the first half of the year, after which we project a shift to a more balanced market.”


“We predict continued upward pressure on home prices as we move towards the all-important spring market. In addition to normal demand, housing prices in Canada this year will be influenced by buyers who put off purchase plans in the very soft spring of 2013,” continued Soper. “Talk of a ‘soft landing’ for Canada’s real estate market in the new year is misguided.  We expect no landing, no slowdown, and no correction in the near-term. Conditions are ripe for as strong a market as we saw in the post-recessionary rebound of the last decade.”

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Today on our Facebookpage, we discuss Mayor Atchison's suggestion that it might be time to look at reducing speed limits on both Circle Drive bridges after a woman lost control of her car and found herself flying off the edge of the bridge to the river below on Wednesday. Let us know how you feel.
 
 

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

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Saskatoon real estate week in review: December 29, 2013 - January 4, 2014
And, they’re off, like the proverbial herd of turtles, you might say. This past week and the one before represent the slowest of the slow weeks in this business and that trend was true to its history this time around. Somehow, while most Saskatoon real estate agents would have been busy enjoying the holidays with family and friends some business did manage to get done. This week, the Saskatoon multiple listing service® processed 32 home sales (houses and condominiums) for a weekly gain of two units. As bad as that might sound it’s actually well up over the same week a year agowhen just 15 sales were recorded.


A handful of agents broke away from holiday celebrations to take new listingsthis past week as well. A total of 70 Saskatoon houses and condos were added to the Saskatoon MLS®, up two from the previous week, but 14 fewer homes than were listed during the same week last year. Over the past few months, this is just one of a few weeks in which new listings fell on a annual basis.


A whack of residential listings expired as the calendar turned to bring us a new year. With that, the total number of active listings on the Saskatoon MLS® took its largest slide this year falling to 1032 homes, down 93 from the close of the previous week, but still well up on the same week last year when buyers could find just 891 listings on the system. At this time last year there were 541 houses and 267 condominiums being offered for sale. Today, those categories are sitting at 632 and 320, respectively.


The median sale price of a Saskatoon home stayed steady at $310,000 this week, but with a third of all sales reported coming in at less than $200,000 the average selling price slid sharply lower to $317,698. The six-week average price slipped for the seventh consecutive week, though just barely this time. It fell about three hundred dollars from last week to $336,562 for an annual loss of roughly eleven thousand dollars. Meanwhile, the four-week median price lost about six thousand dollars from the last week and settled at $325,000 to finish a little more than 12K lower than it was for the same week last year.


Buyers took advantage of the market’s quiet tone and in most cases insisted on a bit of a price break. Just one lucky seller saw an offer that exceeded their asking price. The extra $5,100 was surely a nice, unexpected surprise to brighten their holiday. Another four buyers were feeling the giving spirit and agreed to pay full list while 25 of this week’s home buyers ground their seller for a deal finishing up with an average discount off $8,534.


Other notable MLS® activity this week included 28 cancelled and withdrawn listings, 98 expired listings and 11 price adjustments.


Highlights from the news this week

Canadians head into 2014 with a rosier attitude - Financial Post
Five Canadian mortgage market predictions for 2014 - Globe and Mail
Saskatoon real estate shifting to buyer’s market - CBC
Saskatoon real estate cooling off?- CTV


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

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The Saskatoon Region Association of Realtors® (SRAR) released the MLS® residential real estate statistics for December of 2013today accompanied by the following release.


Please note that many of the association’s comments touch on “year-to-date” numbers, and some are based on all sales within the board’s trading area. The charts which you see, as always, reflect activity within the city of Saskatoon on a month-to-month basis over the past several years.


Dollar volume for real estate sold in the Saskatoon market area (all types and categories) reached a record $1.9 billion by year end due in part to a four percent increase in the average sale price to $344,000 over the previous year.


The number of active listings available in Saskatoon was up 20 percent. "The number of new homes listed over $500,000 has increased. Also, when we see overpriced listings sit for a while they tend to be re-listed at a lower price which falsely inflates the true number of 'new' listings,” comments Jason Yochim, Executive Officer for the Saskatoon Region Association of REALTORS®. 


“Still, a nine percent increase in the number of units listed compared to only a increase of just one percent in sales for the year reflects a softening in our market." The sales to listing ratio (percentage of listings that actually sell) for the Saskatoon market was 47 percent for 2013 compared to 51 percent for 2012. This reflects a shift to more of a buyer's market. "Some price ranges and areas of Saskatoon have less inventory and have a sales to listing ratio of 57 percent or greater. These would include some of the older areas and west side neighbourhoods with homes under $500,000." says Yochim.


In 2013 the Saskatoon Region Association of REALTORS® recorded a total of 5,670 sales. Of these sales 1,661 were in the price range between $350,000 and $500,000 while 507 sales exceeded $500,000. The price range with the greatest increase over 2012 was between $450,000 and $500,000 at 36 percent. The next highest increase in sales year-over-year occurred in the $750,000 to $1 million range by 33 percent with 61 sales. Within the city of Saskatoon, 4,202 homes were sold throughout the year.


"From time to time the subject of affordable housing comes up. Saskatoon sits quite well when compared to the rest of the country with an average sale price of slightly more than four times of the average annual household income,” according to Yochim. "Some cities, like Vancouver, are double this ratio." Through various incentive programs and housing alternatives, the consumer has many options to choose from when looking at purchasing their first home on a tight budget.


In 2014, Yochim expects that the market will remain in balanced territory with a sales to listing ratio in the low 50 percent range and with the average days to sell being around 45 days. 


I’m always happy to answer your Saskatoon real estate questions. All of my contact info is here. Please feel free to call of email me.


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


Norm Fisher
Royal LePage Saskatoon Real Estate

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My blog posts and some of the graphics contained within them reference portions of the city as areas 1 through 5. Here's how those areas are defined geographically.


Area 1 consists of all neighbourhoods that are located to the east of Highway 16/Circle Drive.


Area 2 consists of all neighbourhoods between Highway 16/Circle Drive and east side of the South Saskatchewan River Valley.


Area 3 includes all areas bounded by Idylwyld Drive on the east and the west side of the South Saskatchewan River Valley on the west.


Area 4 includes all neighbourhoods bounded by Idylwyld Drive on the east and Circle Drive on the west.


Area 5 includes all neighbourhoods located to the west of Circle Drive on the west end of Saskatoon.

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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).
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