Saskatoon home sales moved higher for the second week in a row, this time breaking back into the 50’s. Local agents reported 51 firm deals to the multiple listing service®, up from 44 last week but well down from the 93 sales recorded during the same week of 2019.

The new listing activity also grew as 112 Saskatoon home sellers offered their homes for sale on the MLS®. That’s higher than the previous week by 11 units, but down annually from 134.

This is highly anecdotal, but I get the sense that both buyers and sellers are feeling a bit warmer to be present in the spring market. The weeks ahead will tell the tale.

The total number of residential Saskatoon real estate listings showing an active status on the MLS® grew to 1432. That’s 14 more homes than were available a week ago, but well below the 1739 properties available at this time last year.

Today’s totals include 828 single-family homes, down from 987 a year ago. There are also 527 condos, down from 691 at this time last year.

Both the weekly median sale price and the weekly average took some gains this week but remained on the low side. The median was $322,000 and the average was $316,838.

The six-week average price fell lower to $348,727. That’s about six thousand dollars lower than it was a week ago, but nearly 15K higher than it was at this time last year. That annual spike is largely due to a couple of very high priced sales being added to the mix. 

The four-week median price held steady at $320,000 to finish lower on an annual basis by a little more than 13K.

There were no overbid sales this week, aside from a handful of new home deals that likely included added value not reflected in the original asking price. Meanwhile, average discounts remained on the high side at $15,457.

Here is a breakdown of what the sales to listing price ratio looked like on this week’s sales. Please note that this chart may show over list price sales, even when I have reported the number as 0. Those sales are typically new properties that spent some period of time on the market, and most likely sold and included additional improvements that were not reflected in the original list price. For example, a new home listed at $450,000 sells at a price of $490,000 after 120 days on the market may have included a basement development that was not anticipated in the listing 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.

More weekly stats and numbers for those who love them. 

I'm upping my Facebook and Instagram game. Follow me to receive updates on the Saskatoon real estate market and insights I've gained managing thousands of real estate transactions.

TeamFisher.com hosted nearly a quarter of a million user sessions and displayed more than 1.2 million pages to our visitors in 2019. If you have a Saskatoon area home you'd like to sell, we know how to get people looking at your home. Reach out to me directly to engage our team and learn about our processes.

I’m always happy to answer your Saskatoon real estate questions.  Reach out by voice or text at 306-241-6676 or email me at norm at teamfisher.com

Norm Fisher

Royal LePage Vidorra

Home sales experienced a modest uptick this week as Saskatoon real estate agents reported 40 firm residential trades to the local MLS®.  While that amounts to a weekly increase of six units, it’s about half the number of deals that we’d typically expect to see at this time of year. Over the same period of 2019, 80 Saskatoon homes were sold.

New listing activity was also higher on a weekly basis and sharply lower annually. A total of 101 homes were added to the Saskatoon multiple listing service® this week, up from 87 during the previous week and down from 174 for the same week last year.

Active listings inventory slipped lower by two this week to settle at 1418 units while recording an annual decline of 355 homes. This is the largest year-over-year drop that we’ve seen in any week over the past five years. Today’s totals include 830 single-family homes, down from 970 a year ago, and 514 condos, down from 694 at this time last year.

With just two sales recorded above the $440,000 mark, both the weekly median price and the weekly average plummeted to $307,000 and $289,658 respectively. The strangest numbers this week come from area one (everything to the east of Circle Drive East). This area typically posts the highest priced sales, but this week, eight of eleven sales reported were condominiums, most selling for less than $200K, which really drove the numbers lower. It seems that the typical area one buyer stayed home.

The six-week average price eased off to $354,968. That’s about $4500 below last week’s number, but higher than it was a year ago by twenty-six thousand dollars. The four-week median price fell 13K from last week to $320,000 which is lower than it was a year ago by six thousand dollars.

Two sellers found an enthusiastic buyer willing to pay more than their asking price, but the enthusiasm was limited. Those buyers each paid just $100 over list. Meanwhile, 35 of 40 deals closed below the asking price and netted those buyers an average discount of $15,782. That’s a pretty hefty number as most weeks lately we’ve been coming in 12-13K below.

Here is a breakdown of what the sales to listing price ratio looked like on this week’s sales. Please note that this chart may show over list price sales, even when I have reported the number as 0. Those sales are typically new properties that spent some period of time on the market, and most likely sold and included additional improvements that were not reflected in the original list price. For example, a new home listed at $450,000 sells at a price of $490,000 after 120 days on the market may have included a basement development that was not anticipated in the listing 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.

More weekly stats and numbers for those who love them. 

I'm upping my Facebook and Instagram game. Follow me to receive updates on the Saskatoon real estate market and insights I've gained managing thousands of real estate transactions.

TeamFisher.com hosted nearly a quarter of a million user sessions and displayed more than 1.2 million pages to our visitors in 2019. If you have a Saskatoon area home you'd like to sell, we know how to get people looking at your home. Reach out to me directly to engage our team and learn about our processes.

I’m always happy to answer your Saskatoon real estate questions.  Reach out by voice or text at 306-241-6676 or email me at norm at teamfisher.com

Norm Fisher

Royal LePage Vidorra

The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) recently released national sales statistics for March of 2020.

According to the report, "Home sales recorded over Canadian MLS® Systems dropped by 14.3% in March 2020 compared to February, as the economic turmoil and physical distancing rules surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic caused both buyers and sellers to increasingly retreat to the sidelines over the second half of the month."

 Highlights of CREA's report

• National home sales fell 14.3% on a month-over-month (m-o-m) basis in March.
• The actual (not seasonally adjusted) activity was up 7.8% year-over-year (y-o-y).
• The number of newly listed properties dropped 12.5% m-o-m.
• The MLS® Home Price Index (HPI) advanced by 0.8% m-o-m and 6.9% y-o-y.
• The actual (not seasonally adjusted) national average sale price climbed 12.5% y-o-y.

Read the entire report on Canadian MLS® sales for March of 2020.

________________________________

I'm upping my Facebook and Instagram game. Follow me to receive updates on the Saskatoon real estate market and insights I've gained managing thousands of real estate transactions.

TeamFisher.com hosted nearly a quarter of a million user sessions and displayed more than 1.2 million pages to our visitors in 2019. If you have a Saskatoon area home you'd like to sell, we know how to get people looking at your home. Reach out to me directly to engage our team and learn about our processes.

I’m always happy to answer your Saskatoon real estate questions.  Reach out by voice or text at 306-241-6676 or email me at norm at teamfisher.com

Norm Fisher

Royal LePage Vidorra

It was a short work week. Still, Saskatoon real estate sales reached a low not seen since January of this year. Just 34 local homes were reported to have firmed up a sale this week. That’s down from 63 last week, and way, way down from the 87 deals that closed over the same period last year.

The number of new listings added to the MLS® system also plummeted. Just 87 Saskatoon homes were offered up for sale, down from 103 last week. During the same week last year, 195 new listings hit the multiple listing service®.

After falling by nearly one hundred units in the last two weeks, the total number of Saskatoon homes that show an active status on the MLS® grew to 1420. That’s up from 1405 last week, but down from 1710 (17 percent) from the  close of the same week last year. Clearly, this is a massive departure from the kind of activity that is typical of the third week of spring.

Today, there are 828 single-family homes for sale on the Saskatoon MLS®, up six from 822 last week, but down from 941 a year ago. Condo inventory sits at 514 today, which is up nine from last week’s close, but down from 671 annually.

You may recall that last week I told you about a new sales record for the Saskatoon MLS®. A single-family home traded for $3.7 million to shatter our previous price max. This week saw no records broken, but we did see another big deal close at $1.7 million. With just 34 sales in the mix, that one kept average prices artificially high.

The average sale price for the week was $382,519 while the weekly median hit $332,500.

The six-week average price reached $358,503 which is the highest level we’ve seen since May of 2017. That number is up about eight thousand dollars from last week and higher than it was a year ago by $38K, however, this measure is seriously skewed by the two sales I mentioned. Both of those sales are calculated into this measure and together, those two deals are pushing the six-week average higher by more than sixteen thousand dollars.

The four-week median price of a Saskatoon home also grew, but only by one thousand dollars. It sits at $333,000 today, up 23K from last year at this time.

One sale closed above the asking price this week, by just $100. The average resale listing took a discount of $14,500 to close up a deal.

Here is a breakdown of what the sales to listing price ratio looked like on this week’s sales. Please note that this chart may show over list price sales, even when I have reported the number as 0. Those sales are typically new properties that spent some period of time on the market, and most likely sold and included additional improvements that were not reflected in the original list price. For example, a new home listed at $450,000 sells at a price of $490,000 after 120 days on the market may have included a basement development that was not anticipated in the listing 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.

More weekly stats and numbers for those who love them. 

I'm upping my Facebook and Instagram game. Follow me to receive updates on the Saskatoon real estate market and insights I've gained managing thousands of real estate transactions.

TeamFisher.com hosted nearly a quarter of a million user sessions and displayed more than 1.2 million pages to our visitors in 2019. If you have a Saskatoon area home you'd like to sell, we know how to get people looking at your home. Reach out to me directly to engage our team and learn about our processes.

I’m always happy to answer your Saskatoon real estate questions.  Reach out by voice or text at 306-241-6676 or email me at norm at teamfisher.com

Norm Fisher

Royal LePage Vidorra

The Saskatchewan REALTORS® Association released official MLS® stats for March 2020 this week. Here is the media release that accompanied the report.

There can be no denying that COVID-19 has had a tremendous impact on global and local markets. While the true extent of the pandemic’s effects will not be known for some time, we can begin to get an idea of how markets are being affected. 

In Saskatchewan, the number of residential sales was unchanged while total sales volume increased 5.6 percent. While reports have suggested that real estate markets in countries hit with COVID-19 have seen the total number of transactions decline significantly, the Saskatchewan real estate market hasn’t been negatively impacted to date. However, what data exist suggests that it takes time for transaction volumes to fall, and as the environment continues to change and markets react to new policy measures, we should expect to see impacts emerge in the future. 

"Other markets have seen significant declines in transactions as a result of COVID-19 or other previous pandemics," says Jason Yochim, CEO of the Saskatchewan REALTORS® Association.

"While we should expect to see transaction volumes decline in the wake of COVID-19 as well, the combination of low-interest rates and declining inventories should make for a strong recovery once this temporary crisis is over."

Sales in Saskatoon were up 6.2 percent, going from 258 in March 2019 to 274 in March 2020, and up 7.2 percent in the region, going from 346 to 371. In both Saskatoon and the broader region, sales were less than 2.0 percent below the 5-year average while they were more than 10 percent below the 10-year average. 

Year-to-Date (YTD) sales in Saskatoon rose 8.2 percent over last year, increasing from 668 to 723, while YTD sales in the larger region also increased 8.8 percent, going from 891 to 969. 

Although total sales and sales volume were up, the number of new listings in March 2020 fell significantly from the number last year. In Saskatoon, new listings fell 14.2 percent, going from 702 to 602 (over 17.0 below the 5-year and 10-year averages), while in the region, the situation was even worse, with new listings falling 19.5 percent from 1,037 last year to 835 this year. 

Active listings also fell 9.9 percent in Saskatoon (down from 1,611 to 1,452) and 7.8 percent in the region (down from 2,864 to 2,641). 

The sales to listing ratio was 45.5 percent in Saskatoon and 44.4 percent in the region suggesting somewhat balanced market conditions in the area. 

Homes in Saskatoon stayed on the market an average of 55 days in March, down a modest 3.5 percent from 57 days last year (but still slightly above the 5-year average of 54 days). Homes in the region stayed on the market somewhat longer than homes in the city at 66 days on average in 2020, but also down from an average of 68 days last year. 

Average home prices in Saskatoon went from $316,737 to $347,189 (an increase of 9.6 percent) and were approximately 3.0 percent above the 5-year and 10-year average price. 

The MLS® Home Price Index (HPI)—a more accurate measure of house price trends—is down 0.3 percent from $303,200 to $302,200. Average home prices in the region also increased by 8.4 percent, going from $306,161 to $331,793, which is also approximately 3.0 percent above historical averages. 

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I'm upping my Facebook and Instagram game. Follow me to receive updates on the Saskatoon real estate market and insights I've gained managing thousands of real estate transactions.

TeamFisher.com hosted nearly a quarter of a million user sessions and displayed more than 1.2 million pages to our visitors in 2019. If you have a Saskatoon area home you'd like to sell, we know how to get people looking at your home. Reach out to me directly to engage our team and learn about our processes.

I’m always happy to answer your Saskatoon real estate questions.  Reach out by voice or text at 306-241-6676 or email me at norm at teamfisher.com

Norm Fisher

Royal LePage Vidorra

The Saskatoon real estate market continued to move at a steady pace as local agents reported 63 home sales to the multiple listing service®. That’s up by three from the previous week, and down by 11 from the same week last year.

It’s still very difficult to get a good sense as to how the realities of the day will affect sales, but this is the second week in a row in which sales fell on an annual basis. Given that we now have seven consecutive months of sales gains behind us, the “down annually” thing has been fairly rare. Time will tell, but clearly, sales are not nearly as brisk as they might have otherwise been. 

New listing activity, which fell to festive season levels last week, rebounded over the past seven days. Local REALTORS® added 103 Saskatoon homes to the MLS®, up from 63 last week, but still well below seasonal norms. Over the same week in 2019, about 200 residential properties were offered up for sale.

The inventory of active listings for sale on the Saskatoon multiple listing service® fell lower for the second consecutive week, something that we never see happening at this time of year. As of this morning, there are 1405 Saskatoon homes for sale on the MLS®, down from 1466 a week ago, and far below the 1656 homes that could be found on the system a year ago.

Sellers appear to be retreating from the market at a slightly faster pace then buyers who may find it increasingly difficult to find an appropriate home.

Today, there are 822 single-family homes for sale in Saskatoon, down 40 from last week, and lower by about twice that amount compared against levels recorded at the close of the same week last year. Condominium inventory is currently at 505, down 18 from last week, and lower annually by 158 units.

I won’t let this report pass without noting a record-breaking sale for the Saskatoon MLS®. This week, a Saskatchewan Crescent home was reported to have sold for $3.7 million. That is the highest price for any Saskatoon home ever recorded on our system. The price is higher than the previous record by $1.1 million.

Both average price measures and the underbid discount amounts are all sharply skewed by this sale.

First, though, there was more entry-level interest in the market this week then there had been the week before. As a consequence, the weekly median price fell by more than ten percent to settle at $327,500. 

Meanwhile, the weekly average price grew nearly ten percent, skewed by that huge Ntaiuna sale. It came in at $395,711.

The six-week average price jumped to its highest point this year, $350,629. That is, in fact, its highest point since early June of 2017. This week’s number is 12K higher than it was last week and nearly $28,000 up from where it stood a year ago.

The four-week median price came in at $332,000 which is down five thousand dollars from last week but up annually by 22K.

Once again, sellers hoping to run away with an overbid on their home were disappointed. This week, 55 of 63 sales reported a price below the seller’s asking price by an average of $18,743. The impact of a hefty discount on that big sale can be seen when you refer to the underbid numbers by area on the final chart of this post. 

Here is a breakdown of what the sales to listing price ratio looked like on this week’s sales. Please note that this chart may show over list price sales, even when I have reported the number as 0. Those sales are typically new properties that spent some period of time on the market, and most likely sold and included additional improvements that were not reflected in the original list price. For example, a new home listed at $450,000 sells at a price of $490,000 after 120 days on the market may have included a basement development that was not anticipated in the listing 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.

More weekly stats and numbers for those who love them. 

I'm upping my Facebook and Instagram game. Follow me to receive updates on the Saskatoon real estate market and insights I've gained managing thousands of real estate transactions.

TeamFisher.com hosted nearly a quarter of a million user sessions and displayed more than 1.2 million pages to our visitors in 2019. If you have a Saskatoon area home you'd like to sell, we know how to get people looking at your home. Reach out to me directly to engage our team and learn about our processes.

I’m always happy to answer your Saskatoon real estate questions.  Reach out by voice or text at 306-241-6676 or email me at norm at teamfisher.com

Norm Fisher

Royal LePage Vidorra