The final week of spring shaped up to be the strongest sales week so far this year. Saskatoon real estate agents reported 103 firm trades to the multiple listing service®, up from 90 the previous week and topping sales for the same period of 2016 by 25.

The number of new listings added to the MLS® slipped lower for the second week in a row. A total of 197 Saskatoon homes were added to the system for a weekly drop of six, and an annual decline of eight.

The inventory of active residential listings offered for sale on the Saskatoon multiple listing service® fell lower for the first time in a month. This would be the first time in 2017 that inventory has declined during a week that did not include the final day of the month when numerous expired listings typically drive numbers lower. As of this morning, there are 2223 active listings for sale within the city limits. That’s down 28 units from last week’s close, but still up from a year earlier when Saskatoon home buyers had a selection of 2175 properties to choose from. The largest annual gains are recorded in the single-family homes category which has grown from 1159 at this time last year to 1224 today. Condominium inventory shows more modest annual growth as that category sits at 838 today, up just 11 units from a year earlier.

With softer than normal sales above the $500,000 mark, and brisk activity at price points below $300,000 both the weekly median price and the average fell hard to just $310,000 and $330,327 respectively. Both of our longer-term measures followed the same downward path. The six-week average price slipped almost six thousand dollars from a week earlier to close at $348,000. That number is down nine thousand dollars from where it stood at the close of the same week last year. The four-week median price tumbled thirteen thousand dollars this week to $322,000 recording an annual decline of twenty thousand dollars.

For the first time in many weeks, there were no reports of overbid sales, however, four lucky sellers did manage to get their full asking price on their sale. The remaining 99 trades closed at a price that was below the listed price with an average discount of $10,396.

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

Coming off of the softest sales week in the past two months the number of Saskatoon homes reported sold to the multiple listing service® rebounded to 90, up 22 from the previous week, just two units below sales for the same period last year.

Meanwhile, the number of new residential listings that were added to the MLS® fell significantly. This past week, 203 homes hit the Saskatoon real estate market, down 57 from the preceding period. During the same week last year 208 homes were counted as new listings.

Week 24 of 2017 proved to be another record breaker when it comes to total active residential listings for sale through the MLS® system. That number climbed to 2251 as the week drew to a close, up 21 from the previous week’s close, to finish the period higher than it was a year earlier by 117 units. The number of single-family homes for sale within the Saskatoon city limits is now at 1243, up from 1127 a year earlier. Condo inventory is at 842, up from 810 last year at this time. If inventory trends continue to follow the pattern that we’ve seen over the past two years we will likely reach our peak over the next couple of weeks, and then see those numbers begin to decline.

With 35 of this week’s sales topping to $400,000 mark, the weekly median price surged higher by eighteen thousand dollars to $360,000. The weekly average moved up by nearly 25K to $367,747. This change boosted up the longer-term measures, both of which had been sliding steadily for the last few weeks. The six-week average grew by more than three thousand dollars to hit $353,950 for an annual loss of roughly five thousand dollars. The four-week median price gained two grand from a week earlier reaching $335,000 to record a year-over-year decline of seven thousand dollars.

The overbid activity saw a modest uptick as sales increased. Three sellers found a buyer willing to pay more than their asking price as they netted an average bonus of $2100. On the flip side of the negotiating table, 82 buyers managed to deal themselves a discount averaging $11,432.

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 the strongest sales week of the calendar year, Saskatoon real estate sales in the residential category fell flat. Local REALTORS® reported just 68 firm deals to the multiple listing service®, down from 102 last week and falling short of sales for the same period last year by 22 units.

The activity was notably stronger on the listing side as Saskatoon real estate agents processed a total of 260 home listings, for the second strongest listing week this year, and ahead of numbers generated during the same week last year by 28 properties. Last week, the new listings category recorded 247 new entries.

The number of residential listings showing an active status on the multiple listing service® reached a new record high this week, just as it did this same week a year earlier. Total active MLS® listings now sit at 2230, up from 2159 last week, for an annual increase of 90 Saskatoon homes. A closer look at the major housing categories shows 1243 single-family homes for sale, ahead of last year’s numbers by 96. Condo inventory is now at 825, up 20 from a year earlier. The remaining categories (semi-detached, duplex, vacant lots, etc.) show a year-over-year decline of 26 units.

With ten residential sales below the $200,000 mark in this week’s mix, both the weekly median price and the weekly average fell lower to $333,000 and $350,795 respectively. Meanwhile, the six-week average price took its third consecutive weekly decline, steadily slipping off its annual peak of $364,096 to reach $350,795 this week. For the first time in eight weeks, the six-week average price falls lower on an annual basis. It’s down about $7600 from where it was at the close of the same week last year. The four-week median price has been following a similar downward path, dropping for the fourth week in a row to $333,000. That’s down more than 17K from a year earlier.

Once again, just one lucky seller found a buyer willing to pay more than their asking price, but the bonus was light at just $100. Another seven sales were recorded at full price. The remaining 60 deals went for less than asking price with an average discount of just $9,927. This would be the first time we’ve seen the average underbid drop below 10K in a few months time.

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

On the heels of one of spring’s softer sales weeks, the Saskatoon real estate market recorded its first triple-digit week as local agents reported 102 firm residential deals to the MLS®. That’s up 16 units from the previous week and it tops sales for the same period of 2016 by seven.

New MLS® listings also came on strong, as they typically do during the first week of any month, when those listings that expired at the end of the previous month come back for another go at the market. This past week, local REALTORS® added 247 Saskatoon homes to the database of the multiple listing service®, way up from the previous weeks total of 203, and topping volume for the same week last year by seven.

After reaching a new record high at the close of the previous week, the number of active residential listings for sale on the Saskatoon multiple listing service® retreated marginally. The closing total of 2159 amounts to 15 fewer homes than were available a week earlier. That is up by 62 from this time a year ago. The annual increase is proportionally split across the two major housing categories as single-family homes inventory grows to 1186 from 1129 a year ago, and available condos come in at 818, up from 775 at this time last year.

Solid activity levels at the lower end of the Saskatoon real estate market drove the weekly median price down to $313,250 to reach its lowest point in a few months while a good showing in the $500,000 plus range, including a sale above one million dollars brought the weekly average price higher to $351,000. Both of the longer-term measures softened. The six-week median price slipped nearly 6K to $351,946 but finished up annually by about two thousand dollars. The four-week median price finished the week at $340,000 which is down 5K from the previous week’s close, and up 6K from a year earlier.

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 Region Association of REALTORS® (SRAR) recently released the residential MLS® sales statistics for May of 2017. The text below comes from that release. We added the charts to provide some pretty visuals and some historical data that is not present in the SRAR releases.

Home sellers need to put forward their best efforts when pricing and presenting their home for sale in any market but especially now with a total of 2,112 active listings available in Saskatoon. This is a record number of homes for sale eclipsing the peak of 2,081 in June of 2015. “Pricing is the most important decision a seller can make, especially in a buyer’s market,” advises Jason Yochim, CEO of the Saskatoon Region Association of REALTORS®. 

Of those properties listed for sale, just under 1,300 are single-family homes and about 850 are condominiums, with close to 500 of them being apartment style. Additionally, 350 of the apartment-style condominiums are priced between $150,000-350,000 making this a very competitive segment of the market. With 848 single-family homes priced between $250,000-500,000, there is a lot of choice for buyers who are being selective on what they want and what they are willing to pay. Homes priced over $500,000 total 278 with 76 of priced above $750,000. The MLS® system saw 1,035 new listings for Saskatoon in May, a seven percent increase over last May, and the highest number of new listings ever recorded in a single month.

In May, there were 423 sales in Saskatoon representing a seven percent increase compared to last May. So far, year-to-date, the total number of sales is down two percent to 1,459 units. The price range of $250,000-500,000 showed positive increases to the number of sales year-over-year. In May of 2017, there were 358 sales in this range compared to 329 last May. There was a 13 percent decrease in the number of sales priced between $500-750,000 in May of 2017. Year-to-date, there were 12 sales in excess of $1,000,000 in Saskatoon. Six of these sales were single-family homes, two were bare land condo units at the Willows and one was a downtown apartment unit. The highest selling price for a Saskatoon home this year was $2,000,000.

The average number of days required to sell a home in Saskatoon is 48. The five-year average for days on the market in May is about 41. Based on the number of sales that occurred in May and the number of homes available on the market, it would take five months to liquidate the current inventory of properties for sale. The average selling price continues to remain stable at $349,000. The median sale price also remains relatively unchanged year-to-date at $329,250. Although the total MLS® dollar volume was up 11.5 percent when comparing this May to last, dollar volume is down 1.3 percent to $670,000,000.

The market surrounding Saskatoon showed an increase in sales of 10.4 percent in May, however year-to-date sales in that market were down eight percent. The average selling price for this area is up seven percent this year to $331,450. This market includes the cities of Warman and Martensville as well as other surrounding communities and acreage property.

Jason Yochim, CEO, Saskatoon Region Association of REALTORS®