Saskatoon real estate sales continued to soften this week, as anyone familiar with the seasonal trends of home sales would expect. Local REALTORS® reported 54 firm sales to the multiple listing service® this week, down 15 from 64 last week, Sales are also down by six sales when compared against the same period last year. The number of new Saskatoon real estate listings added to the MLS® declined to 122, a fairly big slide from last week when 155 new listings were added, and down from the same week last year by just three. Once again, these kinds of declines are typical for the season and we can expect the numbers to soften a bit each week through December as unit sales and new listings produce some of their smallest numbers that we’ll see all year.

The total inventory of residential MLS® listings slipped lower for the first time in three weeks. Most interesting is the fact that the year-over-year declines that we’ve been experiencing since late August are continuing to narrow and are now pretty skinny. Numbers were falling rapidly last year at this time so a couple of weeks of growth has really narrowed the divide. Today, Saskatoon home buyers can find 1806 properties for sale, down from 1830 a week earlier. Last year at this time there were 1858 Saskatoon homes for sale. The single-family homes category fell lower by seven from a week ago to finish down from last year’s number by 58. Meanwhile, condo inventory slipped by eight to close the week above levels recorded at the end of the same week last year by 34.

With fewer upper-end sales in the mix this week the median price and the average price for the period slipped fairly significantly to $330,000 and $329,239 respectively. Both of the longer-term measures slipped lower as well, but fairly marginally. The six-week average shed twenty-five hundred dollars to settle at $344,116 for an annual drop approaching nine thousand dollars. This is as low as the six-week average has been since late April and it’s trending lower pretty consistently for six weeks now. After peaking at its annual high of $345,000 last week, the four-week median price also came down to $340,500 to find itself down eight thousand dollars from where it stood a year ago.

After two weeks of no above list price sales, the streak was broken by one very modest overbid of a hundred bucks on an area five home. While five sellers managed to seal the deal on a full-price sale, 48 others gave up some dough at the negotiating table and netted their buyer an average discount of $12,608.

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

Following two weeks of pretty soft residential sales Saskatoon real estate activity bounced back this week. Local agents reported 69 firm sales to the MLS®, up from 45 last week, but down six when compared against activity for the same period last year. New listing activity slipped slightly lower to 155, a drop of six from last week, still enough to finish ahead of last year by a dozen listings.

The number of active MLS listings in the residential category grew again for the second consecutive week. Total listings come in at 1830 today, up just five from a week ago. Inventory was headed downward in a hurry at this time last year so this year’s levels are closer to last year’s than they have been in more than two months. We have just 55 fewer listings than could be found on the system a year ago. Single-family homes sit at 987, down from 1069 last year while condo listings reached 670 for a year-over-year increase of 33 units.

Higher-end home sales dominated this week and that pushed the weekly median price up about 18K compared to last week as it reached $362,900. The weekly average also bolted higher to $371,002 largely driven upwards by two sales that topped the $1 million mark. Those two sales bring our total for 2016 to 16, a new record for sales exceeding a million bucks. The four-week median price took some sharp gains this week growing by about fifteen thousand dollars to $345,000 which is down five thousand dollars from a year ago, but as high as it has been at any point this year. The six-week average price grew by a few hundred dollars to hit $346,628 for an annual loss of nine thousand dollars.

For the second consecutive week, there were no Saskatoon home sellers who got an above list price sale though seven did find a buyer willing to pay full pop. The other 62 deals went for less than the asking price netting an average discount of $16,502. That average was very much skewed by huge discounts on the three highest-priced home sales which collectively dropped about $250K below their combined 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 Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA), released national sales statistics for the month of October, 2016 this week.

According to the CREA, “The number of homes trading hands via Canadian MLS® Systems rose 2.4 percent month-over-month in October 2016." “First-time home buyers looking to get into the market before having to face tougher mortgage eligibility criteria had only two weeks to do so following the Finance Minister’s announcement of tighter mortgage regulations in early October,” said Gregory Klump, CREA’s Chief Economist.

“Early evidence suggests that the influence of tighter mortgage regulations on sales activity has been mixed. The federal government will no doubt want to monitor the effect of new mortgage regulations on the many varied housing markets across Canada and on the economy, particularly given the recent rise in uncertainty about economic growth prospects following the U.S. presidential election.”

Highlights of CREA's report    

• National home sales rose 2.4% from September to October.
• Actual (not seasonally adjusted) activity was up 2.0% year-over-year (y-o-y) in October 2016.
• The number of newly listed homes edged up 1.7% from September to October.
• The MLS® Home Price Index (HPI) in October was up 14.6% y-o-y.
• The national average sale price climbed 5.9% y-o-y.

  Read the entire report on Canadian MLS® sales for October, 2016.

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 continued to show softness during this shortened week as local agents reported just 45 sales to the multiple listing service®. That number represents a weekly decline of two, and a drop of seven units when compared against sales for the same period of 2015. New listings also fell lower as 161 homes were added to the MLS®, down 30 from last week, but higher than the number added over the same period last year by 43.

Two consecutive weeks of softer sales activity, combined with a heavy flow of new listings brought the inventory of active residential listings higher for the first time in five weeks. As of this morning, there are 1825 MLS listings showing an active status, up 26 from last week’s close, but down from 1917 a year ago. Both major housing categories saw gains this week as the number of single-family homes for sale grew by four to reach 984, for an annual loss of 101 listings. Condo inventory moved higher by 13 this week reaching 674, up from 658 a year ago.

Some continued strength at the upper end of the Saskatoon real estate market, combined with a near absence of sales below the $200K mark brought both the weekly median price and the weekly average higher to $345,000 and $355,602 respectively. The four-week median price managed to hold its ground at $330,000 for the second week in a row. That leaves it down fifteen thousand dollars from where it stood a year earlier. The six-week average fell lower to $346,362 for a weekly drop of about five thousand bucks to record an annual loss of a bit more than eight thousand dollars.

Sellers hoping for an above list sale were completely shut out, and just three found a buyer willing to pay their asking price. Meanwhile, 42 of this week;s 45 deals closed below list price delivering an average discount of $12,144.

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

Following a three week party brought about by the rush to beat the new mortgage qualification rules, this past week looks more like a nasty hangover as Saskatoon real estate agents reported just 47 firm residential deals to the MLS®, our slowest sales week since early March. To be clear, this is the time of year when we expect to see large declines, but 47 sales leave us down 31 from last week, and below the same period last year by a couple of dozen sales. New listing activity moved in the opposite direction as agents brought 196 properties to the market. That’s up about 30 from last week, and not a huge surprise given that 141 listings expired at month end without a sale, many returning with a fresh new MLS® number. 196 is actually down from last year’s levels when 212 properties were added to the system. 

In spite of the large disparity between sales and new listings, cancellations and expired listings kept inventory numbers moving lower for the fourth consecutive week holding on to the clear trend that began four months ago after available residential listings peaked at 2175 homes. Today, we’re down to 1799 for a weekly drop of 33, and lower than a year ago by 117. As has been the case for many months, the losses can all be counted in the single-family homes category which sits at 970 units today, down from 1088 a year ago. Condo inventory shows some small annual gains growing to 661 properties from 652 a year ago.

Spread across a small number of sales, some big deals at the upper end of the market are skewing this week’s numbers higher. We have a sale at $1.2 million and another at $975,000 that are driving the weekly average sale price up to $343,157. The larger of those two sales is the 14th sale above the one million dollar mark for this year. That’s twice the number that traded last year, and an annual record for this price category in Saskatoon, inching out 2013 which saw 13 sales with a price at one million dollars or more. Clearly, there’s some big money around. Even so, the lower end of the market was quite active this past week, given the overall weakness in the sales market, and the weekly median price fell by close to five thousand dollars to hit $312,900. The four-week median slipped about a thousand dollars from the week before to settle at $330,000 to record an annual decline of $18,500. Meanwhile, the six-week average price managed to inch higher to grow by about fifteen hundred dollars from last week as it reached $351,569 and finished just a couple of hundred dollars shy of last year’s number. 

While a solid handful of sellers (eight) managed to bag a full list price deal, just one found a buyer willing to pay more than asking price. That one buyer delivered a solid bonus of $16K to wrap up a deal. On the flip side of the table, 38 buyers closed below the asking price to net themselves an average discount of $13,790.

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 October 2016. The charts are brought to you by TeamFisher of Royal LePage Vidorra.

Home sales in the Saskatoon market last month were up eight percent over October of 2015. "This is a very positive change and speaks to consumer confidence in our market," states Jason Yochim, CEO with the Saskatoon Region Association of REALTORS®.

Recent changes to lending rules by the federal finance minister were also a contributing factor in activity as buyers scrambled to beat the October 17th deadline when these changes came into effect. "Regardless of the factors leading to a sale, it is always good to see stronger sales activity," he adds. “Every home sale contributes almost $50,000 of additional economic activity in the local economy." ?

Strong sales in August and October of this year coupled with an overall decline in new listings has resulted in an 11 percent reduction in the inventory of active listings in Saskatoon. Active listings peaked at 2,047 units in June of this year and have declined steadily to 1,745 at the end of last month. This will have a positive impact in several areas. It will help maintain the average price as well as start to move the market in the direction of a seller's market, although we're not there yet. The total number of sales for Saskatoon year-to-date were 3,249 compared with 3,457 for the same period last year. The sales-to-listing ratio indicates whether we are in a buyer's or seller's market. It is determined by dividing the number of sales by the number of new listings for a period of time. A 50 percent ratio is considered balanced. Currently, the market is at 42 percent, which is a buyer's market.

Another positive sign is the "days of inventory" which determines how long it would take to liquidate the current active listings at the current level of sales. Based on October's numbers there is just over 5.5 months of inventory. This is just slightly above the five-year average of five months. The overall dollar volume for the Saskatoon and surrounding market is only down three percent from last year and currently sits at just over $1.5 billion dollars. Overall dollar volume has remained strong in spite of a six percent year-to-date reduction in sales. This is largely due to an increase in sales of homes priced over $750,000. Year-to-date there were 51 units sold between $750,000 and 800,000 compared to 40 last year. Comparatively, sales were down ten percent year-to-date for homes priced between $250,000 and 450,000.

“In a market with an average selling price approaching $350,000 there is no doubt that the recent federal change for home buyers qualifying for a mortgage will further impact the market for homes," comments Yochim. "It remains to be seen how much the impact will be."

The good news for those selling is that homes are selling for 97 percent of their asking price. Sellers who choose to list too high over the market are finding it difficult to obtain that sale. The closer the asking price is to market value the tighter the offer will be to the list price.

Sound pricing and timing advice can be provided by one of the 640 professionally licensed and trained REALTOR® members of The Saskatoon Region Association of REALTORS®. REALTORS® also subscribe to a strict code of ethics and are dedicated to developing professional standards and continuing education in the real estate profession.

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