Following two weeks of lacklustre performance, Saskatoon real estate sales rebounded this week as local agents reported a total of 87 residential sales, way up from just 51 the week before. For the first time in three weeks, sales numbers exceeded those recorded over the same period last year when 64 Saskatoon homes traded. This week’s gains makes up for shortfall we saw last week.

Meanwhile, new listing numbers inched higher on an annual basis as 171 Saskatoon homes were added to the MLS® database, up from 160 for the same period last year, but down from last week when 180 residential properties were listed for sale.

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The inventory of Saskatoon MLS® listings slipped lower by just eight homes this week to 2037 and recorded an annual decline of 198. A closer look at the major categories shows 1119 single-family homes, down from 1276 a year ago. Condominium numbers have slipped from 848 to 789 over the past 12 months.

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The market was unusually active with sales below the $300,000 mark as entry level buyers pushed the median sale price for the week lower to $315,950. The average sale price tumbled harder to $312,348 which is 40K lower than it was last week. Both of the longer term measures we track were down. The six-week average price slipped about four thousand dollars from last week. It’s down about as much from the close of the same week last year. The four-week median price fell further as it slid five thousand dollars from last week to $315,950 and took an annual loss of 19K.

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Sellers remained on a pretty good roll this week as five deals closed for more than the asking price producing an average overbid of $3,660. Another 79 sales sold for less than list price with an average discount of $12,384.

Here is a breakdown of what the sales to listing price ratio looked like on this week’s sales. Please note that those sales that do show a sale price that is greater than the list price are all new properties that spent some period of time on the market, and most likely included additional improvements that were not reflected in the original list price. We report these to you as “at list price sales”, which is likely too generous in some cases, but it’s simply not practical to obtain the full details of each sale.

List

More weekly stats and numbers for those who love them.

general

Thank-you for reading TeamFisher’s Saskatoon Real Estate Week in Review.

I’m always happy to answer your Saskatoon real estate questions.  Please feel free to call or text me at 306-241-6676 or reach me by email at norm at teamfisher dot com.

Norm Fisher

Royal LePage Vidorra

In last week’s Saskatoon real estate week in review, I described sales numbers as having seemingly fallen off a cliff. Apparently, we had not yet reached to bottom of that cliff. This past week, residential sale numbers fell a little further, from 63 the week before to just 51. That’s lower than sales for the same period last year by 21.

After an exceptional July which produced a 25 percent sales increase over the previous year, August seems determined to give up a good chunk of those gains. At this point in the month, we’re about 15 percent behind where were by this time last August.

While not much exciting was happening on the sales front. Saskatoon real estate agents were kept busy bringing new listings to the MLS® system. Over the course of the week, 182 residential properties were added to the database of the multiple listing service®, up

45 from last week, but about even when compared to the same period of August last year.

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Given the large gap between sales and new listings, the inventory of Saskatoon homes for sale on the MLS® grew by 23 this week to reach 2045. That’s down 208 properties from where it stood a year ago. The number of available detached homes climbed 20 from last week to 1137 but still finished lower than last year’s numbers by 145. Meanwhile, the number of condominiums for sale grew by nine from a week earlier and reached 783 for an annual drop of 82 units.

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Area four (West from Idylwyld to Circle Drive) failed to record a single sale this week. Off the top of my head, I can’t recall another time that that has happened in any of the major areas as long as I’ve been writing this weekly review. Absent any sales numbers for that area, both the weekly median and the weekly average price grew by around $20,000 to $340,000 and $358,616 respectively. The six-week average price of a Saskatoon home took some modest gains and  increased by about fourteen hundred dollars from a week earlier to close the week at $338,833. That’s about where it stood a year earlier. The four-week median price slid lower by about $4000 and finished the week at $321,000 finding itself down ten thousand dollars from a year ago.

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Three sellers managed to complete a sale at their asking price this week. The remaining 48 sales all went for less than the seller’s listed price and netted those buyers an average discount of $12,048.

Here is a breakdown of what the sales to listing price ratio looked like on this week’s sales. Please note that those sales that do show a sale price that is greater than the list price are all new properties that spent some period of time on the market, and most likely included additional improvements that were not reflected in the original list price. We report these to you as “at list price sales”, which is likely too generous in some cases, but it’s simply not practical to obtain the full details of each sale.

list

More weekly stats and numbers for those who love them.

general

Thank-you for reading TeamFisher’s Saskatoon Real Estate Week in Review.

I’m always happy to answer your Saskatoon real estate questions.  Please feel free to call or text me at 306-241-6676 or reach me by email at norm at teamfisher dot com.

Norm Fisher

Royal LePage Vidorra

The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA), released national sales statistics for July of 2018 today.

According to the report, "Statistics released today by The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) show national home sales were up from June to July 2018.

National home sales via Canadian MLS® Systems rose 1.9% in July 2018, building on increases in each of the two previous months but still running below levels recorded from mid-2013 to the end of last year.

Highlights of CREA's report

• National home sales rose 1.9% from June to July.
• Actual (not seasonally adjusted) activity was down 1.3% from July 2017.
• The number of newly listed homes edged down 1.2% from June to July.
• The MLS® Home Price Index (HPI) in July was up 2.1% year-over-year (y-o-y).

• The national average sale price edged up 1% y-o-y.

Read the entire report on Canadian MLS® sales for July of 2018.

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 seemingly fell off a cliff this week as the number of firm deals reported to the multiple listing service® slid lower to 63, down sharply from 100 the week before. For the first time in seven weeks, residential sales fell short of numbers recorded during the same period the year before. Last year, there were 87 Saskatoon homes that sold over the same time period.

Fortunately, new listing numbers followed sales and fell to 137, well down from the 175 homes that were offered up last week, and even lower than the 181 new listings that were added to the MLS®  over the same period last year.

It’s worth pointing out that this was a short work week with only four reporting days. Sometimes this leads to a smaller volume week that is followed by a period with an unusually high number of sales.

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After falling below 2000 for the first time in several months last week, the number of Saskatoon homes for sale on the multiple listing service rebounded to close the week at 2022. That number is down from 2231 at the end of the same week last year, and is at its lowest point for this particular week in four years. There are currently 1118 single-family homes for sale in Saskatoon, down from 1277 a year earlier. Condo numbers are now at 774, lower than last year by nearly ten percent.

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A smaller mix of lower end home sales brought the median sale price back to a more typical level as it reached $320,000. A solid string of sales above the $450,000 mark caused the weekly average sale price to bounce higher by about 17K to $339,706. Both of our longer term measures remained fairly stable. The six-week average price of a Saskatoon home inched up just over two grand from last week to reach $337,436 and grew five hundred dollars on an annual basis. The four-week median price increased by about a thousand dollars from last week. It closed at $324,950 to record a year-over-year increase of more than ten thousand dollars.

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After a total shutout last week, two sellers found a buyer willing to pay more than their asking price, one by just a hundred dollars, and the other by $5100. Two more homes traded at the full list price. The remaining 59 closed deals reported a price below the seller’s list. Those buyers netted an average discount of $13,517.

Here is a breakdown of what the sales to listing price ratio looked like on this week’s sales. Please note that those sales that do show a sale price that is greater than the list price are all new properties that spent some period of time on the market, and most likely included additional improvements that were not reflected in the original list price. We report these to you as “at list price sales”, which is likely too generous in some cases, but it’s simply not practical to obtain the full details of each sale.

List

More weekly stats and numbers for those who love them.

general

Thank-you for reading TeamFisher’s Saskatoon Real Estate Week in Review.

I’m always happy to answer your Saskatoon real estate questions.  Please feel free to call or text me at 306-241-6676 or reach me by email at norm at teamfisher dot com.

Norm Fisher

Royal LePage Vidorra

For those that may have missed the monthly update from the Saskatoon Region Association of REALTORS®, the Saskatoon real estate market experienced its largest year-over-year increase in at least five years as residential sales grew more than 25 percent in July, compared to the same month a year ago. This is interesting because we’ve now seen annual increases in three of seven months this year and this large increase brings us within three percentage points of matching 2017 sales, year-to-date. It also appears that there’s at least a bit of momentum built up.

Saskatoon home sales saw year-over-year gains for the seventh week in a row as local agents reported a total of 100 firm sales to the MLS® for a weekly increase of 16, and annual gains of 27 units. That’s our second largest sales week this year, just as the market is more typically falling lower.

New listing activity followed the same pattern it put down last year at this time. Saskatoon real estate agents brought 175 new listings to the multiple listing service® for a weekly increase of 27 homes, and an annual drop of 42 listings.

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As the week drew to a close, the inventory of Saskatoon homes for sale fell below 2000 for the first time since since mid-June. Looking back, listing numbers exceeded 2000 for just seven weeks this year. In 2017 the inventory sat stubbornly in that range for 27 weeks, or just over half of the year. Slowly, but surely, supply is finding its way down. At this point, our inventory is lower than it was last year by nearly 11 percent, and once again at its lowest point for this particular week in four years time.

A closer look at the two major housing categories shows that Saskatoon home buyers have a selection of 769 condominiums to choose from, down from 867 at this time last year. Those numbers should bounce higher this week as a hefty number of listings that expired at the end of July come back on the market. Meanwhile, single-family homes inventory shows 1100 detached homes for sale in Saskatoon, down nearly 13 percent from a year ago when there were 1269 detached houses available.

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Entry level buyers showed up in droves this week as 37 Saskatoon homes sold for less that $250,000, many of them condos. That activity pushed the weekly median price lower for the second week in a row. That number came in at $305,750 while the weekly average price slipped a little less to $323,838. The longer-term measures showed more stability as the six-week average price of a Saskatoon homes slipped about eight hundred dollars from last week to $335,046 to finish the week lower by 12K on an annual basis. The four-week median price lost $1100 for the week to finish at $323,900 taking an annual decline of eleven thousand dollars.

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Sellers hoping for an above list price offer were skunked for the first time in a couple of months. While a handful of buyers showed a willingness to pay asking price, 91 of this week’s 100 sales reported a final price that was below the seller’s listed price by an average of $12,707.

Here is a breakdown of what the sales to listing price ratio looked like on this week’s sales. Please note that those sales that do show a sale price that is greater than the list price are all new properties that spent some period of time on the market, and most likely included additional improvements that were not reflected in the original list price. We report these to you as “at list price sales”, which is likely too generous in some cases, but it’s simply not practical to obtain the full details of each sale.

list

More weekly stats and numbers for those who love them.

genera;

Thank-you for reading TeamFisher’s Saskatoon Real Estate Week in Review.

I’m always happy to answer your Saskatoon real estate questions.  Please feel free to call or text me at 306-241-6676 or reach me by email at norm at teamfisher dot com.

Norm Fisher

Royal LePage Vidorra

The month of July saw an increase of over 25 percent in Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) sales activity, year-over-year (Norm’s note: that is the largest year-over-year increase for any month in the past five years). In July, a total of 390 Saskatoon homes were sold, up from 310 transactions in the same month of 2017.

Year-to-date, MLS® transactions for Saskatoon were down 3.3 percent with 2,082 home sales compared to 2,152 to the end of July 2017. “Although one month does not constitute a trend, it is very encouraging to see such a significant increase in activity during a month when many buyers typically leave town on vacation,” comments Jason Yochim, CEO of the Saskatoon Region Association of REALTORS®.

MLS® sales below $200,000 totaled 57 in July, 55 percent higher than in July of 2017. Year-to-date, sales in the same price range increased by 26 percent to 307 transactions. Homes that sold for between $300,000 and $400,000 showed an increase of 27 percent over the previous July. The number of sales year-to-date in this price range totaled 1,229 for a decline of five percent compared to sales by this time in 2017. Home sales at prices that exceeded $400,000 totaled 540 so far this year, a decline of 12 percent over the previous year. Another positive indicator is a decline in the number of new MLS® listings coming on to the market. A total of 710 new MLS® listings were added to the system in July, a decrease of ten percent over the same period of last year, and well below the five-year average of 830 listings. Fewer new listings combined with an increase in sales reduced the number of active listings from 2,109 in June to 2,048 at the end of July. The five-year average for active MLS® listings at this time of year is 1,977 units. “Lower inventory levels will help move the market from a buyer’s market towards balance and stabilize home prices,” adds Yochim.

Year-to-date, the average sale price of residential property in Saskatoon was $334,676, down 4.1 percent from the same period last year. Average prices can be misleading as outlier sales can skew the average sale value one way or the other over a short period of time. This is why the median price of Home Price Index (HPI) benchmark value is a better indicator of the market. The HPI measures the change in value over time for a typical single family home with a standard set of attributes. This rate of change reports similar to the Consumer Price Index and is the most accurate indicator of home pricing. The (HPI) benchmark value for Saskatoon single-family homes saw a slight decrease to $315,400 compared to $315,800 at the end of June (Norm’s note: a 1.3 percent annual decline). The HPI benchmark value for townhouse style properties continued on an upward trend, increasing by 1.2 percent for the month to $234,400 (Norm’s note: down 6.4 percent, year-over-year).

Last month, Saskatoon homes took an average of 49 days to sell. The five-year average days to sell during July is 48.

For more information contact:

Jason Yochim CEO of the Saskatoon Region Association of REALTORS®