Saskatoon real estate sales continued at a pace that more closely resembled a week one would expect in April than the final week of August. Local REALTORS® reported 107 firm residential sales to the multiple listing service®, down six from last week and up 14 when compared against the same week last year. This is now 12 consecutive weeks of annual gains in unit sales.

New listing activity was also “spring-like” as 181 Saskatoon homes were added to the MLS® over the week. That number is ten fewer than last week and the second week in a row in which new listing numbers fell lower. That said, it’s a substantially larger number than hit the market over the same period last year when just 145 new listings were made available to buyers.

The total number of residential listings appearing in the “active” category grew for the fourth consecutive week, which is also a bit unusual for the season. Gains have been quite modest. For instance, we moved from 1523 to 1542 over the course of the week. That number is down from 1869 a year ago.

A closer look at the major housing categories shows single-family detached houses at 869 today. That’s up by ten from last week’s close, but down annually by 248. Condo inventory is at 576 today, up just four on a weekly basis, and down by 64 annually.

For those who haven’t been following regularly, I’ve been sharing what we call “months of inventory” which is a measure used to weigh demand against supply. You arrive at this number by taking the total number of residential listings in the inventory and dividing that by sales over the past month. That gives you “months of inventory.” It’s generally accepted that a four to six month supply is considered to be a balanced market in which neither buyers or sellers have an advantage over the other. Anything above six months is a clear buyer’s market, and anything below four months is considered to be favourable to sellers.

Our 30-day sales figure this week is 464, down for the second week in a row, and falling pretty solidly this week by 33 units. When measured against a modestly growing supply, the months of inventory number is now 3.3 months. That’s still into seller’s market territory but it is moving back towards balance rapidly and now for a few consecutive weeks.

Home owners considering a sale should be aware that not all segments of the market offer the same advantages and proper pricing is still critical to success. If you’d like some advice on a specific property, reach out for a chat. You can book that here.

After falling lower last week, the median weekly sale price of a Saskatoon home grew by 10K to $340,000. In spite of the fact that we had just one sale over $700,000 this week, strong buying activity of homes priced between $450,000 and $700,000 pushed the weekly average price up by $8,000 this week to $359,808.

The six-week average price grew again, now for the sixth week in a row. It wrapped up the week at $357,222. That number is up more than $31,000 from a year ago, and close to its highest point this year. Meanwhile, the four-week median price also took some gains as it grew to $336,500 for a weekly increase of more than six thousand dollars and an annual gain of $36,500.

The number of overbid sales fell by close to 50% as just six sellers struck a deal above their asking price, while the average overbid increased more than $1,100 to $5,083. On the other side of the negotiating table, 89 of the week’s 107 sales closed below the listed price to net those buyers an average discount of $10,292.

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. 

Clearly, some steam remains. Good luck out there, and remember, we have a team of highly trained pros who know the market inside and out. Happy to hear from you if we can help.

I've seriously upped 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

Just when you thought the end might be in sight, Saskatoon real estate sales surged higher again, back into three-digit territory. Local agents reported 113 homes firmly sold this week, up from 92 the week before. Sales grew annually for the 11th consecutive week. They were up by 32 units compared to the same week last year.

At the close of business Friday, total Saskatoon home sales year-to-date stood at 2,634 for an annual increase of 196 units. Who could have guessed that we would be showing annual sales gains of nearly nine percent at this time of the year, given where we’ve been? Our numbers are now about where we would have optimistically hoped they’d be if COVID hadn’t been a thing.

New listing activity maintained a brisk pace as Saskatoon home sellers opted in to take advantage of favourable market conditions. 191 residential properties made their debut on the multiple listings service®. That is down by four compared to last week’s volume, and up by 33 annually.

Active listing inventory remained stable at 1523, up just three from last week’s close. That number reflects a drop of 417 listings compared to what was available a year ago.

Currently, the inventory consists of 866 single-family homes, down three from last week. That’s 290 fewer detached homes than a listing search would have delivered a year ago. Condo inventory is now at 572, up one from the previous week, and down 101 from a year earlier.

Our 30-day sales number fell from 517 last week to 497 today. That pushed the “months of inventory” measure back above 3 months for the first time in weeks. Again, a four to six month supply is considered to be a balanced market in which neither buyers nor sellers have an advantage over the other. Anything above six months is a clear buyer’s market, and anything below four months is considered to be favourable to sellers. It continues to be a challenging market for buyers.

Home owners considering a sale should be aware that not all segments of the market offer the same advantages and proper pricing is still critical to success. If you’d like some advice on a specific property, reach out for a chat. You can book that here.

A bit more activity at the entry-level brought the median sale price of a Saskatoon home lower this week to $330,000 even as the average sale price for the week managed a modest bump to $352,623. That increase occurred because of some big dollar sales including four home sales that exceeded $900K.

The six-week average price moved higher again for the seventh consecutive week and reached $355,343. That’s up about four thousand dollars from last week and up thirty thousand dollars annually. Meanwhile, the four-week median price also edged higher. It closed the week at $340,000 for a weekly increase of a thousand bucks and an annual spike of forty-two thousand dollars. 

Overbidding was back in vogue as 11 Saskatoon home sellers closed a deal for more than their asking price. They netted an average bonus of $3,909. Meanwhile, 98 of the week’s 113 sales reported a price below the listed price. The average discount came in at $12,457.

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. 

Clearly, some steam remains. Good luck out there, and remember, we have a team of highly trained pros who know the market inside and out. Happy to hear from you if we can help.

I've seriously upped 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 first time in ten weeks, Saskatoon real estate sales cooled enough to fall back into double-digit territory. Over the past seven days, local agents reported 92 firm residential sales, down from 106 last week, but way up from the same week last year when just 50 Saskatoon homes traded. This was the tenth consecutive week in which sales grew on an annual basis.

Meanwhile, 195 new residential listings hit the market. That’s up from 173 last week and it tops listings for the same period last year by 29 units.

The large gap between sales and new listings brought active listing inventory higher to 1520 for a weekly increase of 30, and an annual drop of 502.

Today’s tallies show a selection of just 869 single-family detached homes for sale, up 30 from last week and down from 1118 a year ago. Condo inventory slipped lower by three this week to  571 which is sharply lower than the 775 units available at the close of the same week last year.

Sales for the past 30 days came in at 517. That leaves us with a supply that would take just under three months to exhaust. A market that strongly favours sellers persists. Of course, as usual, things can look very different from one area, or one category to the next. If you’re curious to know how your property fits into the market, reach out for a chat. You can book that here.

Brisk sales activity for homes priced between $200,000 and $300,000 brought the weekly median sale price lower by 10K to $332,450. In spite of some big sales, including one over a million dollars and two others that topped the three-quarter million-dollar mark, the average sale price for the week also fell lower. It came in at $351,200, nearly 20K lower than last week.

The six-week average price moved higher for the sixth week in a row. It closed the period at $352,860 which is up about fourteen hundred dollars for the week and more than 20K annually. The four-week median price fell lower by $2,500 to finish the week at $338,950. That’s nearly 14K higher than it was at the close of this same week in 2019.

There seemed to be a notable difference in the pace and tone of the market this week. The activity was softer on the sales side, and there was far less overbidding. Just three sales were reported above the seller’s asking price this week. The average overbid was $3,033. Buyers managed a discount averaging $10,227 in 84 of the week’s 92 sales.

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've seriously upped 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

Transcript

What I'm about to share with you might seem like a statement of the obvious, but it's remarkable, to me, how few people really give this the consideration that it deserves when they're purchasing real estate.

So, first of all, what is real estate?

Well, real estate is the land and the improvements on the land. If you were buying real estate to farm, you'd look for a property that has rich, fertile soil and an appropriate level of moisture, so that you could grow good crops. If you wanted to buy land for a commercial space, you might look for something with good drive-by traffic. When it comes to residential real estate, only you can decide what utility you expect to get from your property. But it's important to understand that land and improvements on the land, that the land really is the only permanent part, right?

Houses will come and go, and a good house that's well built and well maintained can last for centuries, but your land is forever. It'll be here as long as we are. So it's important to be thinking about it in that context.

As you look forward, what utility do you need that land to provide for you? And, for residential real estate, it's primarily going to be location, right? The one thing about the property you purchase that you cannot change, it's permanent. It's always going to be in that location. So be thinking forward. How is your life going to change over the next five or 10 years? And does the location that you require change with that? Because, again, you know, you can throw an addition onto your house. You can change out the kitchen. You can do lots of things to improve it and adapt it to your changing needs over time, but you can not change the location.

And if the location no longer serves you, you will have no choice but to sell and move somewhere else.

________________________________

I’ve upped 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 recently released statistics for MLS® sales in the month of July 2020. The following text is taken directly from their media release.

Media Release.

Welcome to the 700th consecutive weekly edition of the Saskatoon Real Estate Week in Review.

That's a lot of weeks and I want you to know that I sincerely appreciate those who show up to read this little blog each week. I don't know if I have another 700 in me, but I'm feeling no urge to quit while you're here reading. Thanks again.

Coming off of a record sales week in which 147 Saskatoon homes traded hands, sales fell lower to 106 this week producing the ninth consecutive week of annual sales growth. Over the same period of 2019, Saskatoon real estate agents reported just 71 sales.

New listings showed no sign of slowing. Local agents added 173 residential listings to the multiple listing service® this week, up 26 from the previous week, for an annual increase of eight.

In spite of the large gap between sales and new listings, 65 expired listings kept the inventory from growing much. We close the week with 1490 active residential listings, up just seven from last week, and down 410 from a year ago.

The listing inventory now shows 838 single-family homes, for a weekly drop of seven and an annual decline of 277. Condo inventory is at 574 today, up 14 from a week ago and down by 98 annually.

“Months of supply” increased modestly to 2.8 with a total of 530 sales recorded over the past 30 days. That remains firmly in seller’s market territory.

Activity across all price ranges remained brisk but heightened interest in homes below $300,000 brought the weekly median price down a touch to $342,450. Meanwhile, the weekly average price held tight at $370,017.

The six-week average price made its fourth consecutive weekly gain as it grew about two thousand dollars for the week to reach $351,433. That is an annual increase of just over 20K. 

The four-week median price grew for the third week in a row to finish higher weekly by seventy-five hundred dollars. It closed the week at $341,500 to claim an annual increase of $27,500.

Overbid sales fell from 18 last week to just six this week. Those lucky sellers sold their homes for an average of $4,750 more than they had asked. Still, 88 of the week’s 106 sales closed below the seller’s asking price netting those buyers an average discount of $11,981.

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've seriously upped 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

I've been showing a lot of property lately and one thing is clear. Sellers be getting lazy.

Here are the three simplest and lowest cost ideas to help prepare your home to be well received by the market.

Transcript

I've been showing a lot of property lately, And there's one thing that's really clear to me. Sellers be getting lazy.

Listen, we've talked about presentation being the cornerstone of your entire selling effort. If the home doesn't look great in person and online, you're sunk. At the very best, you're losing thousands of dollars.

Look, I wanna give you three tips that you can do quickly and easily that will cost you practically nothing that you absolutely must do before you put your house on the market.

Number one, declutter. Put stuff away. And when I say put stuff away, I mean, put it into boxes and containers and get it the heck out of the house. Into storage if you need to. You need to create a spacious, clean, clutter-free environment. Anything less than that comes off as chaotic to the buyer. And it makes them anxious when they're in your house. So get rid of as much stuff as you possibly can before you put the for sale sign up.

Next thing, depersonalize. Take down family photos, degree certificates, things of that nature. Anything that might identify you as an individual. You want people to see themselves in your house, not your stuff. So allow them to have that vision by removing things that are highly personal.

Finally, deep clean. Listen folks, we all live in our houses and our houses get dirty, but nobody wants to buy your dirt. So, in fact, your dirt is gross to them. So you need to clean up around the bathtub, the caulking, food from in the kitchen. Make that place shine.

These are things that take some elbow grease, that take a little bit of time, but they don't cost a lot of money and they'll give you a great edge in the market. Without them, you could be sunk. You're certainly losing thousands.

________________________________

I’ve upped 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 week saw the highest number of Saskatoon real estate sales for any week, ever. I went back through weekly sales to the beginning of 2009 when I started tracking these numbers on a spreadsheet and no other week comes close.

Local REALTORS® reported 147 firm home sales this past week, up 28 from the previous week, for a year-over-year increase of 60 units. Huge!

This marks the ninth consecutive week in which sales grew annually. As July closed, we are now at 2324 sales for the year, up from 2234 at the same time last year.

Sales for the past 30 days are at 550, the highest level this year, breaking a run of three weeks of modest declines.

New listing activity matched sales at 147 units, That’s down 31 from last week, and lower than the same period last year by 21. This was the first week in four in which new listings fell below last year’s levels.

As the calendar turned, 67 listings came to the end of their term and dropped out of the inventory bringing the total number of active listings available to local home buyers lower. As of this morning, there are just 1483 MLS® listings in the residential category, down from 1567 a week earlier. At the close of the same week last year there were 1877 Saskatoon homes for sale.

Today, there are 845 detached houses displaying as active, down from 1100 a year ago. Condo inventory is at 560, lower than it was a year ago by 115.

With 550 sales over 30 days and active listings at 1483, the “months of inventory” measure fell to just 2.7 months, the lowest level we’ve seen since 2007.

With far fewer sales at the entry-level this week, the median sale price for the period bounced back nearly 70K to $354,900. Upper-end sales, including a deal that topped the $1.5 million mark drove the average sale price for the week sharply higher to $369,020.

The six-week average price took another step higher this week. It grew by just over eight thousand dollars to reach $349,458 for an annual increase topping 11K. The four-week median price also saw a nine thousand dollars weekly gain. It reached $334,000 to top the number recorded for the same week last year by $19,000.

There were 18 resale trades that reported a sale price that was higher than the seller’s listed price. That’s a new record for this year. There was one home that went more than 20K above list, and a few others that were five-figure overbids, and many were over by just a hundred bucks. Overall, those overbids averaged $3,784. Meanwhile, 115 of the week’s 147 sales went for less than list price to net the buyers an average discount of $11,217. 

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've seriously upped 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