This week was an interesting one. I have several buyers whom I’m working with and I can just feel the market ramping up. Most of the single-family detached properties that I inquire about are conditionally sold. Bottlenecks are starting to appear as buyers line up to view new listings.

I commented to one agent ahead of me in a showing queue that the market has kind of a “gross 2007 feel to it.” It’s frustrating for buyers when listings sell within hours of hitting the market, and before they can leave their workplaces.

Saskatoon home sales ramped up again this week with local REALTORS® reporting 80 firm sales to the multiple listing service®, up by ten from last week, to top sales for the same week last year by 19 units. 

Total residential sales for January are at 278, up 27 percent from January of 2020.

New listings managed to make some ground as they increased by 13 from last week to reach 128. That’s the second-highest weekly listing volume so far this year. During the same week last year, 115 Saskatoon homes hit the market.

The inventory of active listings edged up ever so slightly, closing the week at 1035 for a weekly increase of 17 and an annual drop of 290 units.

Today, buyers have a selection of 451 detached homes that appear to be active, equal with last week, but down from 763 at this time last year. Again, once one gets inquiring about these listings, we’re hearing, “sorry we’ve accepted an offer”, more often than not.

Additionally, there are 527 condominiums available, up from 509 last week, and further up from 493 a year ago. While things might even look a bit bleak for condo sellers, as the price of single-family homes increase (and that is very clearly happening right now) condos will grow in attractiveness to a segment of the market. 

Thirty-day sales grew sharply to 285 this week. That growth, coupled with a modest increase to the listing inventory, moved our “months of supply” measure lower from 4.2 last week to 3.6 months today, back into seller’s market territory. 

Today, we have a 2.4 month supply of single-family homes and a 7.1 month supply of condominiums.

Upper-end activity continued to be particularly strong. The median sale price for the week slipped nearly four thousand dollars to $311,250 while the weekly average price stayed stable at $341.404.

The six-week average price took its third consecutive weekly decline slipping about four hundred dollars to $343,752. That’s higher than it was at the close of the same week last year by 13K. The four-week median price fell twenty-seven hundred dollars from the week before to close the week at $312,250. That’s actually down ten thousand dollars annually.

I mentioned at the opening of this post that the market is challenging for buyers and that the overall feel of the market, for me, shifted this week.

Overbid sales went from three last week to eight this period. Those eight sales went, on average, $8,975 above the seller’s asking price. Most of that activity occurred in east side neighbourhoods that are south of College Drive and West of Circle Drive. Seven of the eight overbids occurred in these areas and most were single-family homes priced between $300,000-$400,000.

Still, 64 of 80 sales went for less than the asking price to net those buyers an average discount of $9,239.

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. 

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

TeamFisher.com hosted over 350,000 user sessions in the past year and displayed more than three million pages to our visitors. 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

Fortunately, math and numbers are still things we can count on.

That said, things are not always as they seem on the surface.

As the Saskatoon real estate market ramps up you’ll be hearing all kinds of reports about how hot the market is. Those reports will be true on a broad level.

Don’t make important decisions about your family’s financial future based on stats that apply to the broad market. You see, there are pockets of the local real estate market that are super hot. There are other pockets that are significantly weaker. In this video,

I present one simple statistical measure that you can use to ensure you understand how supply and demand dynamics apply to you. If you’re buying or selling a Saskatoon home this year you’ll be glad you took four minutes to hear about it.

________________________________

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

TeamFisher.com hosted over 350,000 user sessions in 2020 and displayed more than three million pages to our visitors. 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 local housing market continued to make large unit sales gains on a year-over-year basis as Saskatoon real estate agents reported 70 firm sales to the multiple listing service®. That’s up just two from last week, but higher on an annual basis by 18.

New listing activity fell lower for the second week in a row. A total of 155 Saskatoon homes were added to the MLS® over the course of the week, down 12 from the previous week but matching listings numbers for the same period last year.

The number of Saskatoon homes available on the MLS® grew again moving back above 1000 units for the first time in weeks. Today, we have a total of 1018 MLS® listings in the residential category. That’s up 25 units from last week’s close and 333 fewer listings than were available at this time last year.

The inventory consists of just 451 single-family homes, down from 776 a year ago, and 509 condominiums, higher annually by four.

In a nutshell, demand for Saskatoon housing is up 35 percent from January of last year, while supply has declined nearly 25 percent. Hold on, folks!

Thirty-day sales held steady at 240 units this week. That leaves our “month of inventory” up slightly from last week to 4.2 months. Condo inventory sits at 7.7 months today, while single-family homes inventory remains low at 2.9 months, which is an improvement from a week ago.

Sales activity for homes priced above $500,000 was through the roof this week, at least compared to the past few weeks. The weekly median price shot higher to $315,000 while the weekly average price grew by close to ten percent to reach $342,916.

The six-week average price fell lower for the second consecutive week. It settled at $344,122 losing just over two thousand dollars from the previous week but finished higher annually by ten thousand dollars. After falling lower in each of the last four weeks, the four-week median price changed directions and grew by three thousand dollars to take an annual drop of $3500.

Once again, three Saskatoon homes sold above the asking price but the amount of the overbids more than tripled from last week to $12,233. One of the three was a modest $100 over, one was $15,500 over asking, and the third went $21,100 above the asking price. All three were single family homes. Meanwhile, 55 of 70 sales sold for less than the asking price. Those buyers netted an average discount of $16,635 which is well above the average lately.

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. 

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

TeamFisher.com hosted over 350,000 user sessions in the past year and displayed more than three million pages to our visitors. 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 activity increased again over the second week of the new year. Local REALTORS® reported 68 firm Saskatoon home sales, up by eight units from last week to more than double sales for the same week last year when just 30 homes were reported sold. In the middle of January, we are showing a 28% increase annually.

New listing activity fell lower from 161 over the year’s opening week to just 127 units. That’s 18 fewer homes than were offered up for sale on the multiple listing service® over the same period last year.

Active listing inventory managed to make some gains, despite the increase in sales and the corresponding decrease in new listings. 

This morning, buyers had 993 options in the residential category of the MLS® system. That’s up just 18 from last week’s close. At this time last year, there were 1,331 Saskatoon homes for sale. It seems clear that there is significant momentum behind growing demand. Couple that with weak inventory levels, throw in some record low-interest rates and it looks like an interesting spring is ahead of us.

Buyers currently have 433 single-family homes to choose from. That’s up just six from the close of the previous period, and down nearly 340 units annually, a 43 percent decline. Condo inventory is at 497 today, an increase of nine from my last report, and a gain of three annually.

Now, let’s have a look at the balance between supply and demand. After falling to a low for the past six months of 238 sales, thirty-day sales began to rise again, this week hitting 240 units. With 993 active listings, that brings our months of inventory measure to 4.1, technically in balanced territory across the broader market. There’s no change to the months of inventory measure from the week before. 

Now, thirty days sales will continue to grow each week for the next few months, and with any luck, inventory will follow. The number of active listings appears to be the only thing keeping the market from exploding.

With just three sales reporting a price above $500K, and an impressive 24 sales below the quarter-million-dollar mark, the weekly median sale price made a rare appearance below $300,000. This week, that measure came in at just $295,750. You’ll recall that last week the four highest priced sales (averaged $1.3 million each) had pushed the average sale price for the week sharply higher. Absent those, this week’s average sale price tumbled roughly 90K to just $313,387.

Looking at price numbers over a slightly longer period of time, we see the six-week average price lose some ground. It slipped eight thousand dollars this week to $346,611 while maintaining year-over-year gains of twenty-one thousand dollars. The four-week median price fell again, now for the fourth consecutive week. It came in at $312,000 which is 15K below last week’s number, but up $12,000 annually.

After a complete shut-out last week, we saw three homes reported to have sold above the asking price by an average of $3,400. Meanwhile, 57 of the week’s 68 home sales reported a price below the seller’s asking price with an average discount of $11,491.

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. 

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

TeamFisher.com hosted over 350,000 user sessions in the past year and displayed more than three million pages to our visitors. 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 is already showing signs of ramping up as the first week of 2021 comes to a close. 

Local agents reported 60 firm residential sales to the multiple listing service® to nearly double production from the first week last year when sales had slipped to just 33 units.

The new listing activity also came on strong as sellers who are eager to take advantage of the lowest levels of inventory that we’ve seen in more than seven years. Saskatoon home sellers offered up 160 new residential listings. That’s way up from the annual low of just 34 new listings the week before, and it tops numbers seen over the same week last year by 25.

The number of active listings available for home buyers reversed course after a 15-week trend of declines. This morning, there were 975 Saskatoon homes for sale on the MLS®, up from 910 at the close of the previous week, but well down from the 1268 properties available at this time last year.

Single-family home numbers are at 427 today. That’s a solid increase of 27 from the previous week’s close, but it remains substantially lower than the 731 houses that were for sale a year ago. Condo inventory sits at 486 today, up 32 from a week ago, and up by nine annually.

Thirty-day sales fell again to 238, the lowest number we’ve seen since April of last year when the first COVID lockdown was well underway. With inventory at 975 units, that amounts to a 4.1 month supply of Saskatoon homes, the strongest number we’ve seen in many months. That actually moves us into balanced territory, but I expect that to be short-lived. This is not an ideal place to be as we begin moving towards spring and demand begins to grow.

The distribution of sales in various price ranges looked similar to the previous week. The median sale price of a Saskatoon home grew modestly to $321,950. Four big sales at the top of the value range that averaged nearly $1.3 million dollars each pushed the average price for the week sharply higher to $404,421.

The six-week average price soared to $354,624. That’s higher than it was last week by fourteen thousand dollars, and way up from the same week last year when it hit $326,815. The four-week median price slipped a bit lower to $327,000 for a weekly decline of two thousand dollars and an eleven thousand dollar increase from a year ago.

Home sellers hoping for an above list price offer were left wanting. There were seven new homes that reported a price at or above list price, but those typically include added improvements not anticipated in the list price (ie: buyer and seller agree to add basement development). Buyers made away with a discount averaging $11,964 on 53 of the week’s 60 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. 

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

TeamFisher.com hosted over 350,000 user sessions in the past year and displayed more than three million pages to our visitors. 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

Small habits lead to big changes that deliver extraordinary results

I came across a post in which someone committed to doing one minute of exercise each day.

It was met with snickering, which is no surprise.

I mean, how is one minute of exercise daily going to do anything for you?

But, it’s actually a pretty brilliant way to approach a lifestyle change of this kind (applies to any positive change).

If you don’t see yourself as someone who exercises, then it’s going to be a challenge to jump into a full-on fitness routine. Anyone can exercise for one minute, and doing so opens the door to mindset changes that can lead to you accepting yourself as someone who exercises regularly.

This is the story of how brilliantly that approach worked for someone else I know.

________________________________

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

TeamFisher.com hosted over 350,000 user sessions in 2020 and displayed more than three million pages to our visitors. 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

Happy New Year!

On behalf of all of us at TeamFisher, I hope that 2021 brings with it all that you’re hoping for. 

It’s my pleasure to bring you the final week in review for 2020. Thanks so much for reading.

Saskatoon real estate sales reached their lowest point since the opening weeks of 2020. Local agents reported just 34 firm sales, down from 53 last week and falling short of sales recorded during the same week last year when 43 Saskatoon homes traded hands. This was the first week in 30 in which sales failed to meet or exceed those recorded during the same period last year.

Meanwhile, 34 Saskatoon home sellers decided to get the jump on the competition and listed their properties for sale. That’s lower than last week by five, and down from the same week last year by 28.

The inventory of active MLS® listings took its biggest slide this year as 138 listings came to the end of their term without a sale to leave us with just 910 active Saskatoon real estate listings in the residential category. That number is down 126 units from the previous week’s close, and lower than 2019’s closing number by 309 properties. That is the smallest number of active listings for any week since December of 2013.

Today, the multiple listing service® is showing just 400 single-family homes as active, a drop of 71 from last week, and down from 706 at this time last year. Condo options are a bit better at 454, down from 503 last week, and roughly even with levels recorded a year ago.

Thirty days sales took a serious slide to just 248 units. With 910 Saskatoon homes for sale, our “months of inventory” measure saw another improvement, at least as far as buyers are concerned. That number grew from 3.4 months last week, to 3.7 months as this period wrapped up.

The weekly median price of a Saskatoon home grew this week to reach $317,500. The average selling price also saw some gains as it hit $340,044, thanks to a single sale that cracked the million-dollar mark.

The six-week average price took some gains to close the week at $340,367. That’s up a little more than three thousand dollars from last week, and higher than it was at this time last year by six thousand dollars.

The four-week median price moved in the opposite direction slipping four thousand dollars from last week to $329,000. That’s down $900 from the same week last year.

This week saw four sellers report a sale above their asking price. Three of the four overbids reached the five-figure range. Across the four deals, the average overbid was $7,625. Meanwhile, 30 of 34 sales went below the asking price netting those buyers an average discount of $13,887.

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. 

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

TeamFisher.com hosted over 350,000 user sessions in the past year and displayed more than three million pages to our visitors. 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