The Saskatoon real estate market continued to cook this week as local agents reported 121 firm residential sales to the multiple listing service®. That is down seven units from the five year record week detailed in my last report, and up 19 from the same period last year. This was the fourth consecutive week in which sales were higher on an annual basis.

New listing activity fell lower to 168, down 13 from last week, and up just one when compared against numbers recorded the same week last year.

The number of Saskatoon homes available to home buyers slipped lower to 1565. That’s 13 fewer properties than were available a week earlier. Last year at this time, total inventory sat at 1961.

There are currently 896 detached houses available, a drop of 126 from a year earlier. Condos are down by 128 units annually to 599.

Market conditions continued to improve for Saskatoon home sellers as the “months of inventory” measure fell to just 3.1 (total inventory/sales in the past 30 days = months of inventory). Supply of four to six months is considered balanced, A supply greater than six months is a buyer’s market, and supply of fewer than four months is a seller’s market.

It’s remarkable how things can change so quickly. Certainly, there is some pent up demand created by the lockdown. Is it also possible that the importance of “home” has grown following a long period of being confined, and the potential threat that another lockdown could be ahead of us at some point?

More activity at the upper end of the market pushed the median sale price of a Saskatoon higher this week to $348,500. The average sale price also grew significantly to $356,703.

The six-week average price recovered some of last week’s declines as it grew by about three thousand dollars to reach $344,145 and closed the week higher annually by eight thousand dollars. The four-week median price took a significant jump to reach $336,192. That’s up 18K from this time last year.

Tight market conditions paid some bonuses to Saskatoon home sellers this week as multiple buyers bid up prices on nine resale homes. I can’t recall the last time that happened. Those deals netted the sellers, on average, $6,100 more than they had asked. Still, 103 of 121 deals closed below the listed price. Those buyers made off with an average discount of $10,897.

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

Saskatoon real estate agents put some big numbers on the board again this week as 128 Saskatoon homes traded hands. That’s 20 more than were sold the previous week, and 26 more than were sold the same week last year. 

It is, in fact, the highest number of home sales for any week in at least the past 3.5 years. Wow!

June is on a real tear to make up for what was lost over April and May. At the close of business Friday, 333 Saskatoon residential sales had already been processed for June. That’s up from 239 at the same time last year.

New listings are also coming on the market at a spring-like pace. This past week, 181 homes were added, up from 166 last week, and up on the same period last year by six.

Total active MLS® listings grew again to reach a new peak level for 2020 at 1578 homes. That amounts to a modest weekly gain of 35 units, but it’s lower annually by 400 units, a 20 percent decline.

The number of single-family homes for sale in Saskatoon is at 906, down from 1142 a year ago. Condo numbers are at 597 today, lower than last year by 117.

With 480 residential sales having occurred over the past 30 days, the “months of inventory” dipped to a new low of 3.3 months, well into seller’s market territory.

The sales activity across various price points remained stable compared to the previous week. The weekly median price was down just a few hundred dollars to $308,250 and the weekly average moved even less. It finished the week at $327,320.

The six-week average price fell lower by 5K from the previous week to $341,711 but finished higher annually by $7200. The four-week median price took its fourth consecutive weekly decline to finish the week at $319,500 which is lower than it was a year ago by fifteen hundred dollars.

There were many reports from the field of “multiple offers” being generated on some listings but for the most part, buyers kept the price offered below the list price and made off with an average discount of $12,991. New home sales aside, there were two sales reported to have traded above the seller’s asking price. One went just $100 above the asking price. On the other, the seller netted a tidy $10,100 bonus.

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 May of 2020.

According to the report, "Home sales recorded over Canadian MLS® Systems rebounded by a record 56.9% in May 2020; although, that is as a percentage of the weakest month of April on record. As such, the May gain constituted a return of only a third of the activity lost between February and April, and the May 2020 sales figure was still the lowest level for that month since the mid-1990s."

 Highlights of CREA's report

• National home sales rose 56.9% on a month-over-month (m-o-m) basis in May.
• That said, actual (not seasonally adjusted) activity was still down 39.8% year-over-year (y-o-y).
• The number of newly listed properties was up 69% from April to May.
• However, actual (not seasonally adjusted) new supply was still 38.1% below May 2019.
• The MLS® Home Price Index (HPI) was unchanged (-0.08%) m-o-m and was still up 5.3% y-o-y.
• The actual (not seasonally adjusted) national average sale price fell 2.6% y-o-y.

Read the entire report on Canadian MLS® sales for May 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

For the second week in a row, Saskatoon real estate sales numbers showed year-over-year growth. Local agents reported 108 firm residential trades, to post the largest volumes sales week this year. Sales were up 11 from the previous week and topped numbers recorded over the same period last year by 28.

Meanwhile, new listings fell lower to 166, well down from 209 last week, and lower annually by 21.

The number of Saskatoon homes for sale on the MLS® grew from 1532 at the close of the previous week to 1543 today, barely enough to move the line on our chart. At this time last year, home buyers had a selection that was 28 percent greater than what’s currently available.

Today, we see just 896 single-family homes for sale in Saskatoon, down from 1128 at this time last year. In the condo category, we have 573 available units, down from 720 a year ago.

As sales continue to grow and inventory remains fairly flat, conditions look increasingly attractive for sellers. There are no clear signs of price growth, but “months of inventory” measure has fallen significantly. 

Over the past 30 days, 422 home sales have been reported to the multiple listing service®. That puts our current “months of inventory” at 3.65. Typically, anything in a 4-6 month supply range is considered to be a balanced market, while anything less than four months is into seller’s market territory.

If you’ve been thinking about selling, this appears to be about the best opportunity that we’ve seen in a few year's time. 

Action in price categories below the $300,000 mark was exceptionally strong. That brought the median price for the week lower to $309,000. The average price for the week fell slightly to $327,564.

The six-week average price fell a little under two thousand dollars from the previous week to $346,702. That’s up just over ten thousand dollars from a year ago. The four-week median price came down nearly five thousand dollars to $325K. That’s four thousand dollars lower than it was at the close of the same period last year.

Like last week, only one resale home seller managed to close a deal for more than their asking price. They made off with a decent $4,100 bonus. Meanwhile, 98 of the week’s 108 sales closed below the seller’s listed price by an average of $9,956. That is the smallest average discount recorded any week this year, another indication of the strengthening position of Saskatoon home sellers.

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

Verbal offers serve one purpose; to "save time" for "professionals" who get paid well to not cut corners.

There's only one way to avoid misunderstanding when negotiating to buy or sell a home. That is to have the complete details in front of you.

Transcript

Over 27 years in the business, I've literally been involved in hundreds of negotiations and they often unfold the same way.

The buyer's agent writes an offer and brings it to the seller's agent who presents it to the seller, who writes a counter-offer and returns that to the buyer's agent.

And the buyer wants to try another number, and rather than write a new offer, their agent suggests that "well, I'll just call the seller's agent, and I'll discuss it with them."

And usually, they're looking for a concession in the range of a couple of thousand dollars to bring the deal together. But they haven't taken the time to actually write another offer, and my response to them is always the same. I'd be happy to present that to my seller if you would bring me another offer.

And oftentimes that buyer's agent calls back after a half an hour or an hour and says "it's okay, my buyer decided to accept the counter-offer." And my perception of what's happened here is that somebody just doesn't want to take the time to write another offer, and they convince the buyer to close on that counter.

If you're involved in a negotiation, do not fall for the verbal "let's discuss this" position. Insist that your proposal be put on paper, or on an electronic document as the case may be today.

As the old saying goes, a verbal offer is not worth the paper that it's written on. And that's why the Real Estate Act, one of the definitions of an offer is that it is made in writing.

So insist that your agent put that offer in writing so that you know that it's being presented and considered by the seller.

Good luck.

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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 Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) announced mortgage default insurance rule changes this week that will impact home buyers using their service in three significant ways.

This two-minute video provides an overview of how the new rules, effective July 1, 2020, apply. 

Transcript

When you purchase a primary residence in Canada with a down payment of less than 20%, you're required to purchase mortgage default insurance through one of three Canadian providers that offer service in Canada, CMHC being the most prominent of those.

This week, CMHC announced some changes that are coming July 1 to their program, and I had an opportunity to talk with Tyler Hildebrand at oneSt. Mortgage yesterday, and he's brought me up to speed on those changes.

The most significant of the three is the change to the debt-service ratio. That is the percentage of your income that the lender will allow you to spend on mortgage service, property taxes, and heating. Prior to July 1, CMHC's limit is 39% of your gross income. That's gonna drop to 32%. That's gonna affect your buying power by roughly 10%. So a $400,000 house pre-July 1, 360 afterward.

The second change that's also fairly significant is at least one buyer on the application, the mortgage application has to have a credit score of 680 or higher. A credit score is a number that a credit bureau puts together based on your past performance in repaying your debt, and perhaps the amount of debt that you're carrying now. You're definitely gonna wanna revisit your mortgage broker and find out if your preapproval is still good because this is gonna affect a lot of people.

Finally, they're eliminating the ability to borrow any portion of your down payment. You previously could put some portion of your down payment on a secondary line of credit, and you can no longer do that with a CMHC-approved loan after July 1.

There are still two other mortgage insurance providers in Canada; no details on whether or not they'll follow suit. But as for CMHC, effective July 1, those are the new rules.

________________________________

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

After showing strong growth for three consecutive weeks, Saskatoon real estate sales leveled off. Local agents reported 97 firm residential trades to the multiple listing service®, down just two from the previous week, and up by eight when compared to sales for the same week last year.

New listing activity continued to grow and that resulted in the highest volume listing week this year as agents added 209 Saskatoon homes to the MLS® system. That number is up 51 units on a weekly basis, and down by 31 annually.

Active MLS® listings slipped lower by five this week to settle at 1532, down from 1946 a year ago.

Today, Saskatoon home buyers can find 879 single-family homes for sale, down from 1155 a year ago. There are also 577 condominium units available, down from 718 at this time last year.

The split between middle to upper-end homes and entry-level properties remained pretty consistent compared to the previous week. The weekly median price grew by just three thousand dollars to $327,900 while the weekly average sale price of a Saskatoon home slipped considerably to $331,921 due to fewer deals above $500,000.

The six-week average price moved just a couple of hundred dollars lower to $348,677. It’s up about 15K from the close of the same week last year. The four-week median price fell for the second consecutive week to settle at $329,990. That’s down seven thousand dollars from the previous week, but higher than it was a year ago by a few hundred dollars.

There was a little overbid activity with one seller seeing an offer for $4900 more than they’d asked, and two others picking up a $100 bonus. On the flip side of the negotiating table, 84 buyers managed to negotiate a discount averaging $12,648.

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

This short video will shed some light on what a lender is looking for when they view your mortgage application and gives you three things that you should not do just before, or after you apply for a mortgage loan. Doing any of them could derail your purchase plans.

Transcript

When you apply for a mortgage loan, the lender has one major question in mind, will you pay back the money we're lending you? And they don't just guess at that.

They're gonna look at your credit file to see what kind of history you have on making good on your promises. They're gonna look at your current employment status and your history to ensure that you have a stable and reliable income to service the loan. And they're gonna look at your total debt to make sure that you're not overextending yourself.

With that in mind, here are three tips, things that you should not do when you're about to apply for a mortgage or you've just applied for a mortgage, but not yet closed on your home sale.

Number one, don't make any major purchases that would require you to take out another loan. The lender will almost certainly recheck your credit before closing, and if you've purchased a $50,000 car with an $800 a month car payment, that may disqualify you from buying the house that you've selected. In that case, you'd be unable to close. And you'd actually lose your deposit when you collapse that sale.

Secondly, don't make any employment changes. Those can send up red flags and make lenders nervous.

And finally, don't open any new credit accounts. If you open a $50,000 line of credit, the lender may become nervous. They'll almost certainly view that amount as a debt, even if you haven't taken any money out on that credit account.

So, follow those three tips. You should be fine to make it to the finish line and get into your new home.

________________________________

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

Saskatoon real estate sales showed remarkable improvement during the month of May as both buyers and sellers grew more comfortable with the idea of getting into the market. The number of firm residential trades grew from 213 in April to 326 in May.

To be clear, 326 sales amounts to a drop 22.6% compared to last May, but April had plunged 46% so the May stats deliver some relief. It’s also worth noting that sales numbers grew each week through May.

New listing numbers also saw significant growth on a month-over-month basis. Over May, local REALTORS® added 756 Saskatoon homes to the MLS® database, up from 494 the month before, and down 155 units when compared to May of 2019.

The total number of Saskatoon homes for sale increased by 140 over the course of the month to settle at 1500 at the close of May. That number is down about 23% on an annual basis.

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The average selling price of a Saskatoon home hit $359,304. That’s up about 26K from last May. At a glance, this number appears to have been skewed higher by a solid number of sales above the $700,000 mark.

A closer look at the MLS® Home Price Index numbers shows that the benchmark price of a single-family home slipped roughly $2700 from last May to $306,500. Townhome prices showed annual growth for the fourth consecutive month. The benchmark price in this category is $236,200 and that’s up more than $17,000 annually. The benchmark apartment price was $169,100. That’s exactly where it was a year ago and it’s the first time in roughly five years that this category did not show an annual decrease.

The Saskatchewan REALTORS® Association has not issued their media release but I will add it to the comments below when they do.

________________________________

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