Saskatoon real estate sales numbers inched higher once again as local agents reported 98 firm residential deals to the multiple listing service®, up just one from last week and down six from the same period last year. Still, that is the highest number of sales for any week since mid-May and the third strongest sales week for 2016. The number of new listings processed through the MLS® fell sharply this week to 170 homes, down from 205 the previous week for an annual decline of seven.

Strong sales and fewer new listings brought the number of active residential listings on the Saskatoon MLS® system lower this week. By this morning there were 2055 residential properties showing an active status on the system. That’s 21 fewer homes that we had a week ago and 62 more than were available at this time last year. Today we’re 120 units below the 2175 listings that we counted as June came to a close and I expect that will be the peak number for 2016. With about seventy more listings set to expire in the next couple of days, there’s a reasonably good chance that we might soon finish a week with fewer listings than we had the previous year. It’s been well over three years since we’ve seen that happen (In June the monthly active listings numbers were down for a year ago but quickly jumped higher again).

A deeper look at the inventory numbers shows 1089 single-family homes for sale today. That’s down from 1153 a year ago. On the other hand, there are currently 783 active condominium listings, up from 647 at this time last year.

A very active upper-end market which included two residential sales that contributed more than $3 million to the total dollar volume for the week caused the average sale price for the week to spike higher to $384,223. The median price for the week also soared and grew by $15K compared to the previous week as fewer purchases under $200,000 were reported. That was enough to push the four-week median price to a new high for 2016. It closed the week at $345,000 which is $10,000 higher than it was a week ago, but down $2,500 on an annual basis. Meanwhile, the six-week average price grew to $357,983 for a gain of thirty-five hundred dollars over the previous week and finished lower than it was last year by roughly the same amount. These are the lowest year-over-year losses we’ve seen in months.

Overbid sales were completely shut out this week but 12 lucky sellers did manage to close a deal at their asking price. The other 86 transactions were reported to have sold below list price netting those buyers a hefty average discount of $14,892.

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

There’s nothing remarkable about the numbers, but it’s certainly worth noting that local home sales hit their highest point in three months this week as Saskatoon real estate agents closed 97 deals. That’s up just four from last week and two behind the final tally for the same period last year. The number of new listings added to the MLS® system remained high at 205 mostly due to a large number of expired listings (91) and almost as many cancellations (90), many of which returned for another go at the market masquerading as a “new listing”.

Active listings of residential properties on the multiple listing service® remained fairly stable as the week closed with 2076 homes for sale, up just seven from a week earlier, and ahead by 30 when compared against numbers recorded on today’s date, last year. That is the smallest year-over-year increase to inventory levels since early May. We close the week showing 1117 single-family homes in the “active” category. That’s up ten from last week’s close, but fewer than were available a year ago by 55. Condominium numbers slipped slightly lower, a rare occurrence this year, falling by six from last week to settle at 775 for an annual increase of 100.

Last week’s price stats were all pretty plump with a large percentage of deals having occurred at the market’s upper end so it’s no real surprise that they fell this week by every measure we track. With just seven sales recorded above the $500,000 mark and nine below $200,000 the median price of a Saskatoon home fell 36K this week to $334,000. You may recall that last week the weekly average price, skewed significantly higher by two sales above the $1 million mark hit its highest point for the year at $382,788. With those big deals out of the mix, the average price slipped nearly $40K to $345,131. Meanwhile, the six-week average price came off of its high point for year and dropped more than six thousand dollars from last week closing at $354,359 for an annual decline of eleven thousand dollars. The four-week median price fell by four thousand this week and ended the period at $335,000 for a year-over-year loss of $4,400.

The vast majority of sales this week went below list price as 92 buyers negotiated a discount that averaged $11,308. On the other side of the negotiating table, three sellers managed to close a deal at their asking price while two others found a buyer willing to pay more than list price netting an average bonus of $2,600.

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 processed through the MLS® system slipped lower on both a weekly and an annual basis over the past seven days. Local REALTORS® reported 85 firm residential sales, down six from 91 last week, and falling lower from 96 deals recorded over the same week last year. On the heels of a fairly significant decline last week, the number of new listings processed through the Saskatoon multiple listing service® rebounded. This week saw 190 new listings enter the system, well up from the 151 that came on the week before, but down from the same period of 2015 when 205 Saskatoon homes were offered for sale.

In spite of a large number of expiring listings (132) the residential inventory of MLS® listings managed to grow this week, though just slightly. As of this morning, there are a total of 2074 active MLS® listings, up just six from last week’s close for a year-over-year increase of 41 properties. That leaves us 101 units below the peak numbers so far in 2016 when we saw levels reach 2175 a few weeks ago. While the month end listing numbers managed to fall below the previous year’s levels at the end of June, we have yet to see that happen at the close of any week. Today, buyers have 1117 single-family homes to choose from, which is up eight from last week’s close, and down about five percent from where it sat a year ago when there were 1181 single-family homes for sale. Meanwhile, the number of condominium properties offered for sale slipped lower by eight units from last week to settle at 776 for a near 20 percent annual increase. Last year at this time there were 649 condos available for purchase on the MLS®.

With just three sales recorded below the $200K mark, and a solid handful of trades over $500,000 both the median sale price and the average sale price took huge gains this week. The average for the week went to $364,649 for a thirty-six thousand dollar increase from last week, while the median sale price reached $358,000 for growth of fifty-six thousand dollars. In spite of big weekly gains, the longer term measures didn’t play along. The six-week average price inched up just a few hundred dollars from last week to reach $354,273 to take an annual loss of eight thousand dollars. The four-week median price fell about eight thousand dollars from the previous week and settled at $331,875 which is about 18K lower than it was a year earlier.

While two sellers found themselves in the fortunate position of closing an above list price offer and averaging a $2800 overbid, 79 of this week’s reported sales went below list price. The discounts that buyers took averaged $11,917. Another four sales closed at the seller’s asking price.

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 following is a media release issued by the Saskatoon Region Association of REALTORS® regarding residential sales and listing statistics for the month of June 2016.

Inventory levels remain elevated at just over 2,000 units largely due to a decline in the level of home sales year-to-date (Norm’s note: Of interest to me is that residential inventory actually fell when compared to June of 2015. This is the first time in more than three years that inventory levels are down from the previous year at month-end).

In the first half of 2016, the number of homes that have sold in Saskatoon totaled 1,873 units representing an 8.2 percent decline from the same period last year. At the current rate of sales, it would take just over five months to liquidate the current active listings. The five-year average is 3.76 months (Norm’s note: June posted it’s largest annual decline for the 2016 calendar year as sales tumbled to 390, down from 462 in June of last year, for the weakest June in six years).

(Norm’s note: while sales weakness in the condo category has been apparent through 2016, single-family homes reported their first significant down month following some modest softening in May, before which time, this category was holding its own on an annual basis)

It also appears that a few sellers are willing to wait until supply drops before placing their property on the market as the number of new listings year to date is down 3 percent compared to 2015 with a total of 5,074 properties listed to the end of June. The average number of days for a home to sell is up slightly from 42 to 46 days.

The current sales to listing ratio of 42 percent is down slightly reflecting a firm buyer’s market. Pricing seems to be only slightly affected in a negative way with the average price of $354,000 down by 1.7 percent from a year ago. The median price is also down from $350,000 to $335,500.

(Norm’s note: a closer look at prices by category show single-family home prices trending upwards for the fourth consecutive month to the point where they are almost even with last year. Townhouses break away and post some annual gains while apartment prices tank).

"It is actually an ideal time for anyone considering a purchase" according to Jason Yochim, CEO with the Saskatoon Region Association of REALTORS®. "In addition to having a broad selection in most price ranges, interest rates remain low and prices are stable," he adds.

So far in 2016, the homes that have sold have sold for 97.3 percent of the asking price. This underscores the importance of proper pricing for a home to sell in a reasonable time and close to asking. With few exceptions, this market is not conducive to speculative selling.

"If a seller is serious about selling it is important to get sound advice on the current market conditions for the area, the competition and how that impacts the pricing of their property," cautions Yochim. "Buyers have access to market information, are well informed and in most cases have the assistance of a professional REALTOR®."

For market activity in rural residential areas and communities surrounding Saskatoon, the total number of sales year-to-date was 514 for the first half of 2016 which is a decrease of 14.8 percent from the same period last year. The average selling price for 2016 is $304,334 down 2.9 percent from last year. The number of active listings is down 3.2 percent from last year with 1,161 properties available at the end of June.

For the major cities of Martensville and Warman, the combined total of active listings at the end of June was 343, down from 379 in June of 2015. Meanwhile, the number of sales in June was 55, a 10 percent increase from June of 2015.

Jason Yochim CAE, CRAE Chief Executive Officer - Saskatoon Region Association of REALTORS®

Sales activity for the Saskatoon real estate market increased this week as local REALTORS® reported a total of 91 firm residential sales to the multiple listing service®, up from 75 last week, but down by four when compared against the same week last year. Meanwhile, the number of new listings plummeted to 151 for a weekly decline of 51 units, finishing down by 44 units from the same period of 2015. As the week came to a close, so did the month of June which turned out to be the softest month on record this year (when compared to the same month of the previous year) as sales slipped to 394, down 15 percent from June of 2015 for the weakest June since 2010 when just 363 Saskatoon homes changed hands. Year-to-date, residential sales processed through the MLS® system sit at 1891, about eight percent behind last year, and below the five-year average for June by roughly 13 percent.

As is typical for any month-end, a large number of expired listings pushed the inventory of active residential MLS® listings lower. This week we recorded our largest weekly drop in numbers as active listings fell by 107 units from the close of the previous week to settle at 2068, still high enough to stay on the plus side of last year’s number (by 40 homes), a trend that has persisted now for three full years, largely driven, at least more recently by growing condo numbers. Today there are 784 Saskatoon condominiums displaying an active status on the MLS®, way up from 622 a year ago. The exception is single-family homes inventory which fell to 1109 this week, down from 1202 a year ago.

Even with a single sale that topped the one-million-dollar mark, both the weekly average sale price and the weekly median price of a Saskatoon home fell hard this week to $328,327 and $302,000 respectively. The six-week average price slipped lower by three thousand dollars from last week to close at $353,866 which is down from where it was at this time last year by roughly eighty-five hundred dollars. Meanwhile, the four-week median price fell by two thousand dollars from last week’s close to settle at $340,000 for an annual loss of nearly 10K.

Three lucky sellers found a buyer prepared to pay more than their asking price. While the average overbid came in at an impressive $8,467 that number was significantly skewed by a $20,000 overbid on a City Park home. On the opposite side of the negotiating table, 84 buyers made off with a discount averaging $10,245. The remaining four deals closed at the seller’s asking price.

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’s been more than ten years since Saskatoon city council approved Remai Ventures proposed plan to build a 200 room hotel and spa at Parcel Y. At that time, the projected cost to develop the improvements was estimated to be $40 million dollars.

That parcel of land, a jewel on the banks of Saskatoon’s River Landing, would change hands twice and suffer numerous setbacks and delays.

This past Wednesday, a groundbreaking ceremony got underway and the current landowner, Victory Majors Development Corp. announced that the first phase of the development which will include a 15-storey Alt Hotel and a 20-storey office tower will get underway in three to four weeks, as soon as regulatory approval is received. It’s expected to be complete within 14-20 months .

Subsequent phases include two additional office towers and will commence when sufficient demand warrants their construction. The total cost of the project is now estimated to be $300 million.

More from the Saskatoon Star Phoenix here.

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