The local housing market took another jump forward as residential real estate sales increased for the second week in a row. Saskatoon real estate agents reported 61 firm deals to the multiple listing service® for weekly growth of 15 sales, but still falling short of numbers generated over the same week last yearwhen 70 sales hit the system. It’s looking like January will wrap up with about 180-185 residential unit sales. That’s well off of last January’s 227 units (a roughly 20 percent decline), and the first time we’ve seen a year-over-year decrease in sales since July, the only month that occurred last year.

The number of new MLS® listings that were added to the system saw some big declines this week reaching their lowest level since the start of the new year at 140 homes, down 41 from last week, but still higher than the number added during the same week last year when new listings registered at 133 Saskatoon homes.

A decent sales week, and fewer new entrants to the MLS® listing market created a kink in the inventory line that has been climbing fiercely since the start of the year. As of this morning the multiple listing service® shows 1447 active residential listings within the city of Saskatoon, up just 16 from the close of last week for the smallest weekly gain this year. Of course, that doesn’t change the fact that those levels are up over last year by 306 homes, an aggressive annual increase by any standards.

The number of single-family homes for sale in Saskatoon registers at 823 this week while condos sit at 482. Somehow I neglected to record those numbers this week last year. If I recall correctly, I was probably enjoying a Red Stripe at Reef Watch in lovely Jamaica and I took a short cut to the post’s close. Yeah, mon.

In spite of some ups and downs with the weekly average, which slipped lower to $331,000 this week, prices remain pretty resilient even with tougher conditions for sellers. The lower average was caused by far fewer sales at the high end of the market as the median price slid to $326,500. The six-week average price of a Saskatoon home stayed stable on a weekly basis at $351,344 but fell below last year’s number by about a thousand dollars. The four-week median price edged higher to grow by $1,200 from last week. It reached $336,250 to find itself up on an annual basis by about eight thousand dollars.

Four sellers managed to close an above list sale with an average bonus of $11,725 while 53 buyers made off with a negotiated discount averaging $8,202. The other four closed deals were reported as being sold at the asking price.

Other notable real estate activity this past week included 37 cancelled and withdrawn listings (35 and two respectively), 21 expired listings and 36 price changes. 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 Vidorra

The Saskatoon real estate market came alive this week and recorded sales closer to historical norms for the first time this year. Local agents reported a total of 46 residential sales, an increase of 18 units over the previous week and just three sales shy of numbers recorded during the same week a year ago.

New listingscontinued to flow onto the Saskatoon MLS® system at a pretty rapid pace. This week, a total of 181 new listings went up for sale, pretty much even with last week but well ahead of the same week last year when just 118 Saskatoon homes were added to the system.

Even a stronger sales week couldn’t prevent the total inventory of residential listing available from blasting higher. I say “blasting” because the chart is starting to look more like a missile launch than a typical active listings chart. The week came to a close with total MLS® listings sitting at 1433, up 97 homes from last week and ahead of the levels we saw at this time last year by 286 homes for an annual percentage increase of 25.

Condominium inventory grew from 352 last year to 481 today while single-family home listings went from 699 to 810 over the same period of time.

Higher end home sales drove the median price and the average sale price of a Saskatoon home higher to $361,200 and $393,518 respectively. The six-week average sale price edged higher growing by about three thousand dollars from last week to reach $351,130 to claim an annual gain of less that four thousand dollars. Meanwhile, the four-week median price hit $335,000 for a annual increase of a bit more than ten thousand dollars.

Sellers found a little more love this week in spite of tougher than normal conditions. Four of them landed an above list price sale with an average bonus of $5,280 being paid, proving that the right house at the right price can still cause some excitement. Another seven buyers made a full price offer to wrap up a deal while 35 of this week’s 46 sales went for less than the asking price with an average discount of $10,206.

Other notable real estate activity this past week included 36 cancelled and withdrawn listings (35 and one respectively), 17 expired listings and 33 price changes.

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 Vidorra

Softness in Saskatoon housing sales persisted through another week as local agents reported just 28 firm home sales to the multiple listing service®, down five from last week, and below sales for the same week last year by 13. Once again, Saskatoon real estate agents used the time that wasn’t eaten up selling homes, by listing them, as another 179 properties found their way to the MLS®. That was 15 fewer homes than were listed the week before, and 67 more than were introduced to the market over the same period of time last year. The large disparity between sales and new listings brought the active inventory of residential MLS® listings higher again, something that we can expect to see regularly for the next two months.

By the close of business Friday, active listings had reached 1,340 within Saskatoon city limits, a huge increase of 88 listings when compared against numbers recorded at the close of last week, and sharply higher than levels of a year ago when 1,131  were available on the Saskatoon multiple listing service. The available supply of single-family homes sat at 771, up 36 from last week for a year-over-year increase of 91 (+13.4%) homes.

Condo inventory closed the week at 431, to grow by 34 over the course of a week, up 80 (+23%) from levels recorded at the close of the same week last year. More activity in entry-level price ranges ushered the average and median sale prices of a Saskatoon home lower. The average slipped almost 20K to settle at $359,857 while the median dropped just five thousand dollars to $335,000. The six-week average sale price stayed stable at $348,105 to maintain an annual increase of just over two thousand dollars.

Meanwhile, the four-week median price tumbled lower dropping 20K on the week to hit $319,000 for a yearly loss of six thousand dollars. Again, these price numbers are pretty much all over the place when there are under 30 sales in the mix so it’s difficult to draw any solid conclusions about price trends with such limited numbers. Even with weak sales two sellers found some love this week and negotiated an above list price sale. One other received a full price off while 25 of the week’s 28 deals went below list by an average of $8,980. Other notable real estate activity this past week included 50 canceled and withdrawn listings (45 and five respectively), 26 expired listings and 28 price changes.

A map displaying the boundaries of Saskatoon real estate areas is here.

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 Vidorra

Saskatoon real estate sales remained sluggish as we closed the second week of sales at our local MLS®. Real estate agents reported just 33 firm residential sales this week, up seven from last week, and falling below sales recorded for the same week last year when a sold sign went up on 44 Saskatoon homes. The time that local agents didn’t spend working on sales was easily swallowed up processing new listings.

It would appear that many of the 132 home listings that reached the end of their terms and expired during the final week of December came back to the market this week as agents brought 194 newly signed listing agreements to the Saskatoon MLS®, numbers more typical of spring than the dead of winter. New listings increased by 143 units on a weekly basis to finish ahead of the same week a year ago by 28. The total inventory of active residential listings shot higher and reached a new January high of 1252 by the close of business yesterday to take a weekly gain of 88. That was enough to finish ahead of levels recorded on this date last year by 161 homes for a 15 percent annual increase. If you’ve been following this review for long, you may recall that at the start of 2014, active Saskatoon real estate listings were up nearly 15 percent from the previous year, and stayed at elevated levels through the year. The current inventory number puts us roughly 25 percent above the five-year average (1,011) for this time of year. A closer look by housing category shows 735 single-family homes being available to buyers, up from 665 a year ago.

Additionally, there are 397 active condominium listings, up from 337 at this time last year. After falling to its lowest point in over a year last week, the average price of a Saskatoon home bounced out of a deep hole to reach $378,366. The weekly median price also recorded strong gains as more upper end buyers made an appearance and pushed it up to $339,000. Meanwhile, the six-week average price climbed a few thousand dollars from last week to close at $348,162 recording an annual increase of seven thousand dollars.

The four-week median price took similar weekly gains growing twenty-six hundred dollars to $339,000 to claim an annual increase of more than fifteen thousand dollars. In spite of lacklustre sales, a few sellers definitely found the sweet spot which yielded five above list price sales with an average overbid of $13,937. Another 23 Saskatoon real estate sales closed below the asking price with the seller giving up $14,439 on average.The remaining five sales closed with a full asking price offer.  Other notable real estate activity this past week included 70 cancelled and withdrawn listings (67 and three respectively), 13 expired listings and 24 price changes.

A map displaying the boundaries of Saskatoon real estate areas is here.

An overview of data collection and calculation practices for our statistical reports is here.

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 Vidorra

Happy new year, everyone, and thank you for joining me as we roll out what I expect will be another exciting year for Saskatoon real estate sales.

We are officially out of the gate with week one of Saskatoon home sales data in the books. This past week, local agents reported a total of just 26 residential sales to the Saskatoon multiple listings service® to start the year with an annual deficit. The week closed with eight fewer sales than had been recorded during the same week last year. New residential listings added to the MLS® this past week went the same way, falling from 74 for the same week last year to just 51 this past week.

The typical slew of year end expired listings delivered some relief to the lofty numbers of active residential listings that Saskatoon has been dealing with through most of last year. By the close of the past week inventory levels had fallen by 120 units, compared to the previous week’s close. As of this morning, there are 1184 active listings on the Saskatoon multiple listing service®. That’s ahead of levels recorded a year ago when 1032 Saskatoon homes were for sale on the MLS®. A closer look by housing type shows 677 single family homes bearing a for sale sign, up from 632 a year ago, and 358 condominium units being available for buyers, up from 320 at this time last year.

The average selling price of a Saskatoon home softened slightly to $312,260 this week, while the weekly median price also moved lower to $285,000. The six-week average price slipped about five thousand dollars on the week to settle at $345,392 for a year-over-year increase of roughly seven thousand dollars. Meanwhile, the four-week median priced gained a bit more than five thousand dollars compared to last week to finish at $336,410 for an annual increase of $11,410. Soft unit sales led to a blood bath for sellers this week as 21 of 26 sales went for less than the asking price. The average discount was the highest I recall seeing in a long time at $20,070 driven largely by average discounts in areas two and three that approached 40K. Another four sellers found a buyer willing to pay their asking price, while one got lucky with an above list sale offering an overbid of $100. Other notable real estate activity this past week included 23 cancelled and withdrawn listings (20 and three respectively), 123 expired listings and 12 price changes.

Once again, happy new year! A map displaying the boundaries of Saskatoon real estate areas is here.

An overview of data collection and calculation practices for our statistical reports is here.

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 Vidorra