Any week above 100 sales has got to be considered strong at this point, and this week Saskatoon real estate agents counted 105 firm residential sales by the close of business Friday, down nine from last week’s numbers falling short of sales recorded during the same week a year ago, also by nine. The number of new residential listings added to the MLS® increased from 205 last week to 233 trumping the number added during the same period last year by a whopping 55 units.

Still, a large number of cancelled listings and a pretty good handful of properties that expired without a sale this week kept the total number of active listing on the Saskatoon multiple listing service® in check. Those numbers grew marginally to 2023 from 2012 a week ago to finish higher from a year ago by 471 homes. The year-over-year increase is getting slightly smaller each week. At this point, I can’t help but feel that we have seen the worst of our inventory spike for 2015. This is about the time when levels typically come to their peak and the slower growth in recent weeks is leading me to believe that we may be there, or very close to our peak numbers for the year. 283 properties are set to expire from the MLS® in the next seven days. While a good handful of those are likely to return to the system almost immediately, some of those sellers will certainly see the spring market as being behind them and either change their move plans or put a tenant in the property. Of course, I can’t be sure but I think this is our peak week. Taking a closer look by category, buyers have 1153 single-family homes and 682 condos to choose from today.

Housing sales activity by price range looked similar to last week as the median price of a Saskatoon home hardly changed. It slipped just a couple of thousand dollars to $358,000. The average price took a larger drop falling more than 10K to $365,334. Meanwhile, the six-week average price took its first decline in seven weeks as it slipped lower by about three thousand dollars to finish the week at $358,218  recording an annual increase of just three thousand dollars. The four-week median price took its eight consecutive weekly increase, this time growing by 8K on the week to settle at $358,000 for an annual increase of eighteen thousand dollars. Click the image for a larger version of the graph.

This week’s sales activity found eight lucky sellers completing a deal above their asking price with an average bonus of $29,005 being paid. This is especially remarkable because of one sale, a house on 8th Street that sold for $181,500 more than the asking price, an overbid like I’ve never seen before. Wow! This was a residential property, zoned M1. It was presented to the market with a "delayed presentation of offers" strategy and was likely intentionally priced below market value to create greater interest. On the flip side of the negotiating table, 89 sellers accepted offers below their asking price by an average of $11,003. Another eight sales closed at asking price.

Other notable real estate activity this past week included 89 cancelled and withdrawn listings (82 and seven respectively), 25 expired listings and 80 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

Another solid week is in the books for the Saskatoon real estate market as residential sales hit 114 units, up 12 from last week to top sales recorded during the same period last year by 16 homes. Meanwhile, the number of new listings added to the Saskatoon multiple listing service® slipped lower. Local agents brought 205 new listing to the MLS® system this week, for a weekly decline of 34 homes. As has been the case for most weeks in this calendar year, we continue to see more new listings flowing on the market than we did during the same week a year ago when 181 Saskatoon homes were added to the system.

Stronger sales and weaker new listings didn’t keep the number of active listings on the Saskatoon MLS® from growing, but the change was small in comparison to what we’ve seen in an average week lately. At the close of business this week, local home buyer could find 2012 homes to choose from, up just 11 from last week, for a year-over-year increase of 469. Today, single-family home numbers reach 1136, up from 938 at this time last year. Condo inventory moves higher to 695 from 478 a year ago. While both of these categories seem like strong numbers, it’s apparent to me that the selection of resale single-family homes is a bit weak. Our resale assessments in recent weeks routinely show a supply of homes in the two to four month range, at the least a balanced market, and in many cases still favouring sellers.

That might explain why prices continue to show some strength, even in the face of inventory numbers which appear high on the surface. This week, a bit more entry level action saw the median price of a Saskatoon home slip lower to $359,750 even while the average price moved up to $376,753. More telling, are the longer term measures, both of which continued to head for higher ground, and in fact, both reaching new highs for the year. The six-week average price takes its sixth consecutive weekly increase as it grows by roughly three thousand dollars on the week to reach $361,199 for an annual increase of 10K. The four-week median price saw its seventh weekly gain as it moves three thousand dollars to $350,000 and also claims a year-over-year increase of ten thousand dollars. Click the image for a larger version of the graph.

Eight lucky sellers found a buyer willing to may more than asking price. Those buyers paid an average of $4,020 more than list price. Another 98 buyers came in under list and settled with the seller netting an average discount of $10,440 while the remaining eight sales resulted in a full price sale. Click the image for a larger version of the chart. 

 Other notable real estate activity this past week included 80 cancelled and withdrawn listings (80 and five respectively), 31 expired listings and 90 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

It was a strong sales and listing week for Saskatoon real estate agents who processed a total of 102 firm residential sales, up six from last week but falling shy of sales generated during the same week last year by 14 homes. Meanwhile, 249 residential properties hit the MLS® as a new listing, down two from the previous week, but up from the same time period in 2014 when 241 Saskatoon homes were offered for sale.

 Active Saskatoon real estate listings in the residential category of the multiple listing service® broke 2,000 this week for the first time ever. As of this morning, home buyers have 2004 properties from which to chose for a weekly increase of 37 listings, and an annual increase of 495 homes leaving residential inventory up by 33 percent from where it was a year ago. A closer look by category shows 1112 single-family homes available to Saskatoon home buyers, up from last year at this time when levels were just above 900 for an annual gain of 23 percent. Condo inventory moves from 482 one year ago to 701 today for an increase of roughly 46 percent. Wow!

 The average sale price of a Saskatoon home came off of the sharp peak we saw last week and settled back at 352,348 while fewer upper end sales also caused the median to head for lower ground as it slipped to $345,750. Both of our longer term measures showed continued growth with the six-week average edging up more than $5,000 to reach very near to previous highs seen earlier this year. It closed the week at $358,406 after making its fifth consecutive weekly gain for an annual increase of about $8,000. The four-week median took its sixth weekly increase finishing the week at $347,000 to find itself up from this time last year by about $7,000.

Once again, seven buyers made an offer that exceeded the seller’s asking price, with an average overbid of $9,936. Meanwhile 83 buyers ground themselves a discount averaging $9,681 to firm up the home they wanted to own. The other 12 transactions closed at the seller’s asking price.

Other notable real estate activity this past week included 101 cancelled and withdrawn listings ( 95 and six respectively), 31 expired listings and 95 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

Saskatoon real estate agents had another busy week. A total of 96 residential properties were reported sold throughout the week for a weekly increase of just one home. On a year-over-year basis, sales declined slightly from the 102 deals recorded during the same week a year ago. New listings, on the other hand increased significantly as they grew to 251, up from 200 last week producing the second highest volume week this year.

You may recall that last week, the total number of residential properties available for sale on the Saskatoon multiple listing service® saw its first stall in a long while growing by just four over the week. Reflecting back, that happened because it was month end and a number of listings had expired from the MLS® system as April came to a close. Many of those properties came back on the market this week resulting in a much bigger increase to listing numbers. We closed business yesterday with totals reaching 1964 Saskatoon homes, up nearly 60 from a week ago, for an annual gain of 424 homes. Condos show the larger percentage gain as they climb from 455 a year ago to 682 today for an annual increase of 41 percent. Single-family homes closed the week sitting at 1097 available listings, up 26 percent annually from 871 at this time last year.

With about 15 percent of weekly sales coming in above the $500,000 mark both the weekly average and the median price of a Saskatoon home saw big gains moving to $373,986 and $364,500 respectively. The longer term measures both continued to show growth as the 4-week median climbed for the fourth week in a row, and the six-week average made its fifth consecutive weekly gain. The former grew to $344,950 to claim a weekly increase of about two thousand dollars to find itself up by about three thousand dollars annually. The six-week average added nearly four thousand dollars from last week to close at $353,078 finishing down about $1700 from where it sat a year ago. Eight weeks ago the six-week average starting showing annual losses. While still down annually, his is the smallest year-over-year decrease since that time. Clearly, the spring real estate market has arrived and seller’s positions seem to have strengthened some, in spite of high inventory numbers. I don’t expect that we’ll see big year-over-year gains in the short term but annual losses appear to be in the rear view mirror for now. Click the image for a larger version of the graph.

This week, seven eager buyers paid more than the asking price. A weekly average overbid of nearly 40K warranted further investigation which revealed that a number of the overbid sales were on new homes that had been around for awhile suggesting that additional improvements not anticipated in the listing price were likely added at sale time. on the opposite side of the negotiating table, 85b buyers ground themselves a deal with an average discount of $11,318 while another four stepped up and paid full price to close their deal. Click the image for a larger version of the chart. 

Other notable real estate activity this past week included 94 cancelled and withdrawn listings (87 and seven respectively), 24 expired listings and 89 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 number of new listings added to the MLS®came in at 200 even, down 14 from last week, and below the total number of new listings for the same period last year by 18 homes.

The number of residential properties listed for sale on the Saskatoon multiple listing service® grew again, this time by just four homes from the close of last week to finish at 1905. That’s the smallest weekly increase that we’ve seen this year. The closing total for this week has us up 483 homes from where we sat at this date last year. Over the same period of time, the number of single family homes offered for sale in Saskatoon has grown from 862 to 1052. Meanwhile, condo inventory has increased to 647 units, up from 444 a year ago.

This week brought price gains across the board as the average sale price of a Saskatoon home hit $362,569. The weekly median price grew to $340,000. The six-week average took it’s third consecutive weekly increase growing by just less than three thousand dollars this week to $349,376. That’s lower than it was the same week a year ago by roughly three thousand dollars. The four-week median price of a Saskatoon home moved up six thousand dollars from last week to close at $343,000 for an annual increase of seven thousand dollars. This was the fourth week in a row that the four-week median price moved higher.

Six sellers made off with an above list offer netting an average overbid amount of $15,462 while three others accepted a full price offer. Another 86 sellers agreed to a discount averaging $9,220 to close their deal this week.

Other notable real estate activity this past week included 60 cancelled and withdrawn listings (54 and six respectively), 46 expired listings and 74 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