Sales and listing activity were both brisk for the Saskatoon real estate market this week. Local agents reported 56 firm residential deals to the multiple listing service®, well up from 39 last week, and enough to finish ahead of the same week last year by three. New listings slipped lower from 167 Saskatoon homes last week to 143 for this week, 13 fewer homes than were added to the MLS® during the same period a year earlier.

For the second week in a row, the total number of Saskatoon homes for sale on the MLS® was up year-over-year. Not by much, but up. Total active listings in the residential category sit at 1627 this morning, for a gain of nine compared to last week’s close, and up just three from the count at the close of the same week a year ago. The number of single-family homes for sale in the city is actually down annually from 884 to 856. The selection of condos, on the other hand, is up from 585 a year ago to 627 today.

Four pretty big transactions including the first residential sale in 2017 to top one-million dollars added nearly $3.5 million to the total dollar volume of sales and pushed the average price for the week up close to ten thousand dollars as it reached $343,853. Still, the weekly median price moved in the opposite direction as buyers who favoured the lower end of the Saskatoon real estate market were most active. That measure came in at just $314,500. Meanwhile, the longer-term measures both made gains as the six-week average price of a Saskatoon home took a solid jump to $340,590 but closed the week down on a year-over-year basis by thirteen thousand dollars. The four-week median price edged up to $337,386 to find itself short of last year’s number by just six hundred bucks.

While six sellers did close a deal at their asking price, just one found a buyer willing to pay more. That sale went down in area four and netted the seller a bonus of two thousand dollars. Over the week, 49 buyers managed to grind their seller to pick up an average discount of $16,045. The number was seriously skewed by two sales, both at the upper end of market prices for the week and both selling 100K below the asking price. Spread across the 49 deals, those two huge discounts are driving the average up by nearly $4,100.00.

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 firm Saskatoon real estate sales took a small dip this week as local agent reported just 39 residential trades, a decline of three from the previous week, and seven fewer than we saw during the same period of 2016. Meanwhile, the number of Saskatoon homes that were listed for sale inched down by one this week to 167 to finish well above last year’s number of just 136.

Softer sales and more new listings meant higher inventory numbers. By this morning, the total number of residential properties for sale on the multiple listing service® reached 1618, up 48 from a week earlier, leaving us up over last year by seven homes. All of the gains can be attributed to the condominium category which saw its numbers grow from 575 a year ago to 626 today. The number of single-family homes for sale has slipped lower to 850 from 881 at this time last year.

With some continued softness at the upper end of the Saskatoon real estate market (only one sale above the $500,000 mark this week), the average price of a local home slipped to $335,654 even as the weekly median price grew to $322,000. The longer term measures both moved lower as the six-week average price dropped by nearly three thousand dollars to $335,671 which is down about 10K from the close of the same week last year. The four-week median took a solid dive to just $316,000 to find its lowest point in well over a year. It finished the week down from a  year ago by fifteen thousand and five hundred dollars.

Competitive bidding picked up a bit as three Saskatoon home sellers found a buyer willing to pay more than their asking price to deliver an average overbid of $2,733. On the other side of the negotiating table, 31 buyers ground themselves a discount that averaged $9,447. That’s lower than last week by about six thousand dollars. The other five deals closed at the full 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 number of firm Saskatoon real estate sales took a small dip this week as local agent reported just 39 residential trades, a decline of three from the previous week, and seven fewer than we saw during the same period of 2016. Meanwhile, the number of Saskatoon homes that were listed for sale inched down by one this week to 167 to finish well above last year’s number of just 136.

Softer sales and more new listings meant higher inventory numbers. By this morning, the total number of residential properties for sale on the multiple listing service® reached 1618, up 48 from a week earlier, leaving us up over last year by seven homes. All of the gains can be attributed to the condominium category which saw its numbers grow from 575 a year ago to 626 today. The number of single-family homes for sale has slipped lower to 850 from 881 at this time last year.

With some continued softness at the upper end of the Saskatoon real estate market (only one sale above the $500,000 mark this week), the average price of a local home slipped to $335,654 even as the weekly median price grew to $322,000. The longer term measures both moved lower as the six-week average price dropped by nearly three thousand dollars to $335,671 which is down about 10K from the close of the same week last year. The four-week median took a solid dive to just $316,000 to find its lowest point in well over a year. It finished the week down from a  year ago by fifteen thousand and five hundred dollars.

Competitive bidding picked up a bit as three Saskatoon home sellers found a buyer willing to pay more than their asking price to deliver an average overbid of $2,733. On the other side of the negotiating table, 31 buyers ground themselves a discount that averaged $9,447. That’s lower than last week by about six thousand dollars. The other five deals closed at the full 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

Saskatoon real estate activity showed some signs of life this past week as the number of local homes that traded began its slow seasonal climb. There were 42 firm residential sales reported to the Saskatoon MLS®, an increase of 12 from the previous week, and up by one when looking back at the same week last year. Sales activity remained in single-digit territory in all but one of the five major housing areas, with area three seeing a single sale for the second week in a row. After opening 2017 with some really big numbers last week, new listings fell lower to 168 homes, down 52 on a weekly basis. That was, however, enough for an annual increase of nine listings.

The inventory of active Saskatoon real estate listings also pushed higher, as it will now during most weeks over the first half of the year as it moves towards its annual peak. Today’s totals show 1570 residential properties with an “active” status, down from a year earlier by just eight homes. We currently have 827 properties in the single-family category, down from 875 a year ago, and 605 condominium listings, up from 539 at this time last year.

The median sale price for the week gained some ground coming in 25K higher than the previous week at $314,500. The average sale price for the week also moved up and finished the week at $337,970. Meanwhile, the longer-term measures that we track both edged lower from last week. The six-week average price slipped just a few hundred dollars to $338,546 to find itself down on an annual basis by close to sixteen thousand dollars.  The four-week median price fell nearly three thousand dollars for the week but finished ahead of where it was a year ago by forty-five hundred dollars.

Following several weeks with no overbid sales, that seller losing streak was broken this week as a single area four home fetched $1,100 more than the asking price in some kind of a bidding war. Another two sellers snagged a list price sale, both of those properties were new homes. The remaining 39 deals closed below the asking price netting those buyers some hefty discounts averaging $15,760.

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 first week of 2017 is in the bag and activity was pretty fierce, at least on the new listing side. Saskatoon real estate agents brought in 196 residential properties to be added to the multiple listing service®, which is well up from the previous week during which just 20 homes were listed for sale.

The first week of the month is always a strong listing week as those listings that expired without a sale at month end come back for another go. During the same week last year, 220 new listings hit the market. On the other hand, residential sales grew from 26 the previous week to 30 by the time the MLS® closed on Friday. That number is down by five when compared with the same week last year.

The price measures are always a bit wonky when we are looking at such low volume weeks. Throw in an additional hand full of sales towards the lower end of the market and we see both the median price and the average price for the week fall to $291,250 and $330,443 respectively. While the six-week average price was down from last week by just a few hundred dollars, it plummeted pretty hard on an annual basis falling from $359,393 last year to $338,991 this week. The four-week median price moved lower by about six thousand dollars from last week to close at $331,850. That’s down just a bit from $333,500 at the close of the same week a year ago. The total shut-out on overbid sales continued this week.

While five sellers did manage to close a full-price deal, the other 25 had to give up some dough and adjusted their expectations for an average discount of $14,956.

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

Year-over-year, residential unit sales for the city of Saskatoon saw a seven percent decline in 2016. As at December 31, there was a total of 3,679 transactions recorded for the year versus 3,933 in 2015. The total dollar volume for Saskatoon also showed a seven percent decline by year-end.

There was also a decline in the number of new listings for 2016 of five percent with 9,290 properties placed on the MLS® system in Saskatoon last year. In other words, 38 percent of the homes that were listed ended up selling which is considered a firm buyer's market. This ratio is what is referred to as a sales-to-listing ratio. A 'balanced market' is when one home sells for every two listed for a 50 percent sales-to-listing ratio. The market for the month of December was in more balanced territory with 191 sales and 392 new listings.

The market surrounding Saskatoon which includes the cities of Martensville and Warman saw an annual decline in unit sales of 11 percent with a total of 1,010 sales by December 31. The number of new listings for 2016 in the markets outside of Saskatoon was 3,192 for a sales-to-listing ratio of just under 32 percent. The city of Martensville saw a ten percent increase in unit sales in 2016 while Warman saw a whopping 35 percent decrease in unit sales. Other bedroom communities surrounding Saskatoon saw very little change in units sold year-over-year. A home in Saskatoon took an average of 51 days to sell realizing 96.7 percent of the asking price on average.

"There are buyers out there who are ready to act and are willing to pay market value," comments Jason Yochim, CEO, Saskatoon Region Association of REALTORS®. "What this tells me is that if a seller is serious about selling their home the best thing they can do is get sound advice on pricing to the current market we are in. The result is a quicker sale for the maximum sale price. Buyers are well educated and not often fooled into overpaying," he adds. The average selling price for a home in Saskatoon in 2016 was just over $350,000 which was only a decline of one percent compared to the average selling price of $354,000 in 2015. This average price was maintained by a year-over-year increase in the number of homes that sold over $750,000.

The MLS® Home Price Index® is considered to be the most accurate determinant of where a real estate market is trending. The composite benchmark value is an aggregate value of various property types and is used to compare changes in market values and trends. The composite benchmark value has been trending downward slightly since August of 2016. The composite value of $299,700 is down 1.6 percent from the same time in 2015 and looks to continue downward for the near future.

"2017 is not likely to see a significant change in market conditions, however being properly informed on what those market conditions are and how to properly price is where one of our REALTOR® members is invaluable”, says Yochim. "One of the best ways to stimulate an economy is through a home sale. The average home sale in Saskatchewan generates nearly $50,000 in spin-off economic activity. Multiply that by 3,700 transactions," he adds.

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