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The 175-page document known as the City Park Local Area Plan was adopted by council at last night’s meeting, the first major step towards implementation of 38 recommendations which were developed in consultation with community stakeholders including area residents, business owners, and property owners.


Traffic, circulation and parking issues top the list of concerns in Saskatoon’s most densely populated community. In addition to the highest number of dwellings per acre of any Saskatoon neighbourhood, City Parkis also home to City Hospital and various attractions along the river’s edge that draw Saskatoon residents to this treasured community.


Read the City Park Local Area Plan here.


Norm Fisher
Royal LePage Vidorra

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Chickens have great personalities, according to one Willowgroveresident who petitioned council to allow her to raise a few in her yard, but they won’t be living amongst us anytime soon.


In an 8-2 vote, council voted in favour of receiving Debbie Johnston’s three-page request as information instead of referring it to city administration for a formal report.


According to a Star Phoenix story published this evening, Councillor Gordon Wyant warned that allowing people to raise chickens could only lead to bigger things. With that, Mayor Atchison declared the matter put “to bed once and for all” and Ms. Johnston left the meeting “pissed off.”


The idea of raising chickens in the city isn’t a new one. David Hutton reports that Vancouver is considering a proposal to allow residents to keep up to four hens in their yard. “Several marches” have occurred in Calgary to try to get the city to lift bylaws banning it there. A facebook page titled “Raising Chickens” has been “liked” more than 500 times.


I’m always happy to answer your Saskatoon real estate questions. All of my contact info is here. Please feel free to call or email.


Norm Fisher
Royal LePage Vidorra

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Walmart's move towards free standing outlets has left some gaping holes to fill in shopping centres across the country. Confederation Mall was faced with the prospect of filling 130,000 square feet of retail space when its longstanding anchor tenant built a new store in the Blairmore Suburban Centre and moved earlier this year.


The Confederation Park area mall announced yesterday that a new anchor tenant has been secured. Canadian Tire, a nationally recognized retailer will grab the space and set up shop by early 2011.


Speaking to the Star Phoenix, ICR Commercial Real Estate agent Ron Ritchie said, "We're going to see improvements to the whole mall - basically upgrading it and getting it up to date so it's going to compete in the marketplace with everybody else."

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With residential real estate inventory above benchmark levels, average home prices in Saskatchewan showed year-over-year declines of 5.5 per cent, but increased 2.2 per cent in the first quarter of 2009. According to Royal LePage’s quarterly House Price Survey, the year-over-year value of key housing types – detached bungalows, standard two-stories and condominiums – were down 10.9 per cent in Saskatoon, while Regina home values increased 7.8 percent over last year’s average. However, most Saskatoon housing types showed increases in the first quarter of 2009.


“The decline in Regina’s housing market started in 2008 – later than some other cities – so we lagged behind other markets,” said Mike Duggleby, Manager of Royal LePage Regina Realty Saskatchewan. “However, average 2009 house prices have increased over last year.”


After posting price gains throughout 2008, Regina South’s housing market has seen little activity so far in 2009 – with average prices for detached bungalows up 21.9 percent year-over-year to $295,000, standard two-storey homes up 13.7 percent to $290,000 and standard condominiums up 12 percent at $196,500. In Regina North, standard two-storey home prices were unchanged from a year ago at $200,000, while bungalow prices were up 2.6 percent to $238,250 year-over-year. Meanwhile, condominium prices declined 3.6% year-over-year to $141,111.


According to Duggleby, Regina’s buyers are sitting on the sidelines. “People are waiting to pick up bargains,” he said. “They’re waiting to see if prices go down further. Right now, there is an over-supply situation.”


Despite a slumping global economy, Duggleby believes it won’t be long before the province’s vibrant resource and construction sectors help drive all residential real estate prices back up. “House prices are connected to our local economy,” he says. “Construction is starting on a global transportation hub that will take air, rail and trucking freight from Thunder Bay and Vancouver. Work is also starting on a new western Canadian distribution centre for Loblaws.”


Although Saskatoon home prices have dropped over the past year, values have started to rebound with average price increases of 3.5 percent for key housing types within the first quarter of 2009 (not exactly how I would have characterized the first quarter, but I did point out that average prices and cost per square foot increased in January and February).


Condominium values took the biggest hits year-over-year, with prices down 13.6 percent in Saskatoon North and a decline of 16.4 percent for condos in Saskatoon East Central. Across Saskatoon, the average price of a detached bungalow was down 8.1 percent year-over-year, to $312,500, while two-storey homes were down 11.8 percent to $348,500.


The number of homes in Saskatoon for sale in March – approximately 1,400 – was down from a peak of 1,800 last year – but current supply levels are still very high and well above average.


“Prices have seen downward pressure over the last twelve months,” said Norm Fisher, Sales Manager, Royal LePage Saskatoon Real Estate Ltd. “This is the first time in this particular cycle that we’ve shown year-over-year price declines – from 4.5 percent to as high as 16.7 percent in a standard townhouse in the West End. It’s definitely a buyer’s market.”


Most of the 2009 activity in Saskatoon has occurred in the lower priced housing categories. Home ownership has become more accessible, with an average first quarter house price of approximately $282,700 – down from last year’s peak of $318,300.


“Through 2007 and the first half of 2008, Saskatoon experienced the greatest deterioration of affordability in Canada, so we were due for a correction. We want our young people to stick around and build a future here. Some first time home buyers are starting to come back to the market because of low interest rates.”


At the other end of the spectrum, Fisher notes that very few of Saskatoon’s half-million dollar homes sold in the first quarter of 2009.


I’m always happy to answer your Saskatoon real estate questions.  All of my contact info is here. Please feel free to call or email.


Follow our daily updates on Twitter @Norm_Fisher.


Norm Fisher
Royal LePage Vidorra

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Saskatoon real estate week in review: April 19-23 2010
Saskatoon real estate sales continued to push towards the high end of the range of unit sales that we’ve been seeing lately. Eighty-eight single-family homes and condominiums traded hands through the course of the week, seven fewer than last week, but right on par with the same period last year.


After posting two consecutive record weeks for this calendar year, new listings of Saskatoon homestook a tumble and fell to their lowest level in the past five weeks with just one hundred and thirty-six properties offered for sale, a decline of thirty-two units compared to last week, but still exceeding the number of houses and condos listed during the same week in 2009 by four.


Click the image for a larger version of the graph.


In spite of strong sales and weaker listing activity, the inventory of Saskatoon residential listings continued to grow gaining thirty-four units over the previous week to finish at 1,214. Still, total active listings sit roughly two hundred and fifty units lower than they did at this time last year. This week, the majority of the gains were counted in the condo category, which moved from 416 to 436, while single-family homes picked up just ten units over the week to finish at 717.


2008 and 2009 numbers provide little insight into what we might expect this year as the two could hardly be more different. The inventory started to grow late in 2008 and didn’t peak until September. The following year, we see inventory taking off earlier but peaking at lower numbers in early May. This year, inventory began to grow early like it did in 2009 but the growth line is clearly sharper and looking quite a bit more like 2008’s line.


Click the image for a larger version of the graph.


Cancelled and withdrawn listings amounted to thirty, but as usual, the majority of them (twenty-four) came back on the market during the same week bearing a pretty “new listing” banner with days on the market reset to zero. Additionally, a whopping seventy-one price changes were recorded with sixty-five of those moving lower and six edging higher. The inventory that saw increases were mostly new condos in the low $200’s, and two single-family homes priced in the mid $400’s.


The average selling price of a Saskatoon home pushed slightly higher on a week-over-week basis gaining thirty-two hundred dollars to $299,399 and picking up gains of fifteen thousand dollars compared to the same week last year. The six-week average inched up just eight hundred dollars from last week and finished twenty-seven thousand dollars higher than it was at this time last year to close the week at $291,153. The four-week median selling price of a Saskatoon home was $279,900, lower than last week by two grand but twenty-thousand dollars higher than the number recorded during the same week in 2009.


Click the image for a larger version of the graph.


After an unusually large spike in overbid activity last week, above list price sales took a dive and accounted for just three of the eighty-eight sales reported. The average overbid went in the opposite direction increasing by close to four times to $19,112. It was driven higher by one sale that went over by $45,000. Given that it was a new home, on the market for close to one hundred days I expect that the price probably included additional improvements that were not included in the asking price. Ten sellers managed to get their full asking price. Seventy-five negotiated with their buyer to the tune of $7,410 on average.


Click the image for a larger version of the chart.



I’m always happy to answer your Saskatoon real estate questions.  All of my contact info is here. Please feel free to call or email.


Norm Fisher
Royal LePage Vidorra

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According to the Saskatoon Star Phoenix, developer Ken Achs is gearing up for what he sees as "kind of a last hurrah here." Achs is preparing for a massive renovation of the Modern Press building on Second Avenue including the addition of a four-storey office building on the corner. Together, the completed project will boast the largest frontage of any downtown development, besides the Midtown Plaza.


Ken Achs sits down with Star Phoenix reporter Cassandra Kyle and shares his thoughts on downtown Saskatoon, River Landingand more.


Read: Building a legacy - Developer Achs putting unique stamp on downtown

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You don’t have to be an environmental activist to understand that reducing your use of energy at home is good for the earth, and it’s good for the pocketbook. Even small changes can have a significant impact if everyone chips in. Perhaps you’re already well on your way down this path, but if not, here are five cheap and easy steps that you can take at home to get you started in the right direction, courtesy of the Whole Home Quizfrom National Geographic.


Caulking and Sealing

Air leaks in your home can increase heating and air conditioning costs by as much as ten percent. Caulking and sealing them is cheap and easy, and doing it can cut your carbon footprint by as much as 865 pounds per year.

Set your water heater to its optimal heating temperature

Lowering the temperature of your water heater prevents scalding and reduces carbon emissions by up to 480 pounds per year. Temperatures in the range of fifty degrees Celsius tend to be about the right number to maximize savings.

Check your furnace and air conditioner filters monthly

Checking air conditioner and furnace filters monthly to be sure they’re clean improves the efficiency of your systems and can save you anywhere from five to fifteen percent on utility bills.

Lower your home’s temperature by as little as one degree

You can shave more than five percent off of your energy bill for every degree that you lower your thermostat below twenty-one degrees in the winter and two percent for every degree above twenty-two in the summer. Make it automatic and easy by installing a programmable thermostat.

Install low-flow toilets

Flushing generally accounts for more than one third of home water use. New and improved high-efficiency toilets use less than 1.3 gallons per flush, approximately sixty percent less than older models.


Are you interested in more ways that you can contribute to a healthier environment? Check out National Geographic’s Green Guide for Everyday Living.


Have a happy Earth Day Saskatoon!


I’m always happy to answer your Saskatoon real estate questions.  All of my contact info is here. Please feel free to call or email.


Norm Fisher
Royal LePage Vidorra

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Facebook is now one of the world’s most visited websites and it’s clearly a space where our team should be sharing information. We’ve spent a little time building TeamFisher’s Saskatoon Real Estate Page and we’d like to invite you to “Like” our the page. For those that don’t know, liking a page causes its updates to appear in your facebook news stream and it allows you to interact with the page and others who have “liked” it. Unlike “friending,” liking a page does not give the page’s creator a friend status in your own network. If you’re a facebook user we’d love to have the opportunity to share with you there.


Here’s what we have planned for our page. •    Updates on the local real estate market; •    The day’s most interesting news related to real estate and home life; •    Tips for making your home a better place to live; •    Ideas to make your home a greener, more earth friendly place; •    From time to time, a favourite listing or two; •    Fun things to do in and around Saskatoon; •    Lots of cool prizes just to say thanks for being part of our community; •    Any other awesome ideas that we, or you might come up with; •    and a free frickin’ MacBook for one of our lucky readers!


All you have to do for a chance to win great prizes including the MacBook is click through to www.facebook.com/teamfisher before May 15, 2010 and share a little “Like” love. How’s that for easy?


Contest details and prize winning rules can be found here.


Thanks so much for reading our blog, and thanks in advance for “liking” TeamFisher’s Saskatoon Real Estate Page on facebook.


Norm Fisher
Royal LePage Vidorra

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City council gave the proposed South Caswell Concept Plan the nod at last night’s meeting. If the remaining obstacles are overcome the seven million dollar plan will see a relocation of the Saskatoon Transit barns to make way for the redevelopment of two whole city blocks. The plan proposes affordable housing initiatives, some commercial space, a dog park of approximately 8,000 square feet and a 65,000 square foot neighbourhood park space.


Lots of work remains to rid the Caswell Hillarea of the smell and noise generated by the constant coming and going of buses. Council is awaiting a report outlining options for the relocation of the bus barns, which is expected to be complete by the end of May. Following the move, an extensive environmental cleanup would be undertaken to prepare the land for development.


Saskatoon, join us on facebook for an opportunity to win a free MacBook.


I’m always happy to answer your Saskatoon real estate questions.  All of my contact info is here. Please feel free to call or email.


Norm Fisher
Royal LePage Vidorra

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In a 10-1 vote last night, Saskatoon city council voted in favour of re-opening negotiations with Lake Placid Developments for the purchase of “Parcel Y” at River Landing in the Central Business District.


There are two major questions that still need to be answered.


1. Does Lake Placid have sufficient financing to complete the project?


City administrators will appoint an independent auditor to undertake a due diligence process to ensure that the dollars are available.


2. Can the two parties agree on a price?


Lake Placid had previously agreed to purchase the land for $4.6 million dollars. That deal fell apart in October of last year and the developer has asked that it be reinstated. Two professional appraisers have recently been done on the land. One suggested a value of $10.4 million and the other came in at $11.6 million.


City administration is expected to report its finding to council by May 25.


Read David Hutton’s story from the Star Phoenix here.


Saskatoon, join us on facebook for an opportunity to win a free MacBook.


I’m always happy to answer your Saskatoon real estate questions.  All of my contact info is here. Please feel free to call or email.


Norm Fisher
Royal LePage Vidorra

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According to recent appraisals of the land known as “Parcel Y” today’s current market value is somewhere between $10.4 million and $11.6 million, well over twice its value in 2006 when it was purchased by Lake Placid Developments for $4.8 million. That deal fell apart when Lake Placid failed to paythe purchase price when it was due on October 30 of last year.


Saskatoon city council had been preparing for another request for proposals on the land but on March 22 Lake Placid CEO Michael Lobsinger and a new partner, Dr. Karim Nasser appeared before council indicating that funding is now available and asking for reinstatement of the previous agreement. Council will likely vote on Monday and reach a decision on whether or not they will enter a negotiation with the developer.


Lobsinger and Nasser have indicated that they are seeking reinstatement of the previous agreement and have suggested that an interest penalty for late payment would be appropriate. They’ve also stated that they will not submit a proposal for the land if the city chooses to reopen requests for proposals.


The 2.43-acre site on the riverbank in Saskatoon’s Central Business District is intended to become to primary anchor at River Landing, and currently its use is restricted for a hotel, condominiums, street-level retail, a public gathering spot and parking. Lake Placid had proposed a $200 million developmentthat met the requirements.


The Star Phoenix coverage is here.


I’m always happy to answer your Saskatoon real estate questions.  All of my contact info is here. Please feel free to call or email.


Norm Fisher
Royal LePage Vidorra

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Saskatoon real estate week in review: April 5-9 2010
The Saskatoon real estate market once again performed in a lackluster fashion as agents reported just sixty-seven house and condo sales for the week, ahead of last week by two, and beating the same week in 2009 by just three. Following a comparatively strong performance in March, sales for the first full month of spring are lagging behind those recorded last April, which you may recall was nothing to write home about. Mind you, lots of month remains and the tide can certainly change but popular opinion had predicted strong sales leading up to the April 19 deadlinewhen new mortgage rules take effect. That doesn’t seem to be happening.


While buyers may have taken a bit of a breather, sellers certainly didn’t. New listingsreached their highest level for any week this year at one hundred and sixty-six homes, up on the previous week by twenty-four and ahead of the same week last year by seventeen. Houses once again accounted for the bulk of the activity with one hundred and nineteen units listed while forty-seven condos were offered for sale.


Click the image for a larger version of the graph.


The inventory of active MLS listings in Saskatoon took its steepest step up this year gaining seventy-three properties on a week-over-week basis to close the week at 1127 units. Total residential inventory is still sitting well below last year’s number of 1451. Available single-family homes surged forward moving from 630 last week to 675 by the weekend. Condos picked up nearly two-dozen units compared to last week and finished with 397 properties offered for sale. At this time last year there were 890 detached houses and 475 condominiums showing an active status on the Saskatoon MLS system.


Click the image for a larger version of the graph.


Cancelled and withdrawn listings came in at just twenty-five with a dozen of those returning to the inventory masquerading as a new listing. Forty-two sellers adjusted their asking price with all but two going lower. One seller, after 175 days on the market raised the asking price by roughly seven percent, an interesting approach to say the least.


A healthy share of home sales above the $500,000 mark pushed the average selling price of a Saskatoon home back towards the annual peak to reach $303,131 and recorded an increase on almost twenty thousand dollars from last week. The six-week average was up nearly four thousand to $286,172 and saw a gain of more than seventeen thousand dollars over the same week last year when it was close to its annual low. The four-week median also moved higher gaining roughly three thousand dollars from last week and nearly seventeen thousand dollars on a year-over-year basis to close at $276,750.


Click the image for a larger version of the graph.


Immediately on the heels of a week that produced the highest number of overbids this year, paying more than list price suddenly became un-cool and only two Saskatoon home sellers managed an over list sale price. The average overbid plummeted just as sharply falling from $7,743 last week to $1,132. Eight sellers managed to close a deal at the asking price while fifty-seven of the sixty-seven completed transactions finished below list price by an average of $7,565, a discount of roughly 2.5% off the asking price.


Click the image for a larger version of the chart.


I’m always happy to answer your Saskatoon real estate questions.  All of my contact info is here. Please feel free to call or email.


Real estate geeks can follow our daily updates on Twitter @norm_fisher.


Our Saskatoon home search tool offers MLS listings represented by all real estate brands, presented with more detail than you’ll find anywhere else. Check it out here.


Norm Fisher
Royal LePage Vidorra

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