Sales of Saskatoon houses and condos continued at a rather lackluster pace this week as local real estate agents reported just forty-seven sales, up two units from last week, but nearly half the number reported during the same week last year when ninety-two such properties sported a sold sign.

Residential listing activity remained brisk as seventy-four single-family homes and forty-four condominiums were offered for sale on the Saskatoon multiple listing service, down two units from last week, and up nine from the same week in 2008. Total active residential listings gained ground again for the fourth week in a row suggesting confirming that we are now into our spring listing market. At the close of business Friday 1,298 residential listings were showing an active status, up 56 properties from the previous week, and well ahead of the 370 properties available at this time last year when inventories pushed towards record lows and just 204 houses and 127 condos were for sale. Today, take your pick from 785 houses and 429 condominiums.

Thirteen of twenty-six canceled or withdrawn listings made another appearance as a new listing, most offered at a lower price. An additional seventy-four sellers adjusted their asking price in hopes of getting a jump of the competition. Condo sales had a strong week accounting for nearly one in three sales, and pushed the average selling price for the week down sharply from $295,014 last week to $269,628, just fourteen dollars higher than it was for the same week in 2008. The median sale price for the week sank even further and settled at $253,500, down just over $30,000 from $285,000 last week. The six-week average came in at $281,573, down just $2,000 from last week and about $23,000 higher than it was the same week in 2008. The median also fell slightly week-over-week to $263,750 but maintained a gain of $15,500 over the same week last year.

While home buyers definitely weren’t out in droves, those that did buy clearly took it easy on their seller of choice as the average underbid reached its lowest level since the week of August 25-29, and came in below $10,000 for the first time since that same week. The underbid graph presents a picture that we haven’t seen before as a full forty percent of the week’s sales recorded a price within $5,000 of list and an additional thirty-four percent came in between $5,001 and $10,000. The $10,001-$15,000 accounted for 11% of sales compared to 16% last week while the $15,001-$20,000 category picked up a single percentage point and finished at six. The $20,001-$25,000 category more than doubled to nine percent while the underbids which exceeded $25,000 completely fell off of the chart for the first time since I started publishing these stats.

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

Sales were sluggish for the third week of February with Saskatoon real estate agents reporting firm sales on a total of forty-nine residential units including thirty-six single-family homes, nine condominiums, three semi-detached homes and one mobile. At just forty-five houses and condos (the units we track here), that number represents a drop of fifteen properties compared to last week, and a fifty-four percent decline from the same week last year when ninety-eight homes traded hands.

Residential listing activity remained brisk as 127 properties were placed on the Saskatoon multiple listing service, among them, thirty-four condos and eighty-seven single-family detached houses. That’s fairly even with the numbers posted during the previous week, and represents about a twelve percent increase compared to the same week last year. Total active residential listings crept higher again finishing the week at 1,242 properties, up twenty-nine units from 1,213 last week. The current Saskatoon housing inventory includes 753 houses and 409 condominiums. At this time last year, there were 189 houses and 135 condominiums for sale in the Saskatoon real estate market.

Fifty-one price changes occurred over the course of the week and seventeen of twenty-seven cancelled listings came back to the system as a new listing, most showing a new price.

Once again, with the majority of the week’s sales being captured by detached houses (80% houses, 20% condos), and a strong median of $285,000, prices remained strong. The weekly average sale price pushed higher to settle at $295,014, up from $278,727 last week. The six-week average selling price moved a small amount to $283,609, up approximately $1,800 from last week, but ahead by nearly $27,000 compared to the same week last year when it was just $256,860. The four-week median made larger gains finishing at $265,500, up $6,500 from the previous week and gaining $18,500 over the same week last year when it closed at $247,000. Please refer to last week’s review for a bit of an explanation of how the average is staying high, while prices are more or less level with last year.

While nearly everything that sold traded below the seller’s asking price, the average underbid declined to just $12,294 and reached its lowest level since the week of September 8-12. The percentage of deals that were struck within $5,000 of the asking price declined from 27% last week to just 20% this week, but the $5,001-$10,000 category ballooned to 44% from just 17% the previous week. All other categories, except the $25K+ that grew from 7% to 11%, shrunk this week.

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

The Saskatoon Region Association of Realtors recently reported January results for the entire residential category of Saskatoon real estate, which includes single-family homes, condominiums, semi-detached properties, duplexes, mobile homes and vacant lots. Unit sales totaled 213 properties across all of these property types, and an average sale price of $278,545. Let’s have a look at how houses (single-family detached homes) and condominiums did in comparison to the entire residential category.

Following four consecutive months of declines, single-family home inventory showed an increase of four units, month-over month, closing January with a total of 688 properties available for purchase. While the active inventory of “houses” for sale is four times higher than it was last January when it fell towards record lows and reached just 169 units, some chatter can be heard within the industry that there just isn’t much to show, especially if a buyer isn’t interested in buying new.

Single-family homes sales were strong through the month of January finishing at 164 properties, up from 109 in December, and nine units higher than the 155 unit sales recorded in January of 2008.

Condominium inventory continued to decline through January, falling modestly to 363 units, from 381 the month before, but substantially higher than the 142 units which were available for purchase at the close of January 2008. There were no complaints heard from agents about any shortage of available product. ☺

Sales of Saskatoon condos showed marginal declines over December 2008 falling four units to 40 properties. If that doesn’t seem too bad to you, have a look back to January 2008 when 123 condos traded hands and you’ll get some appreciation for how much the condo market has changed. In hindsight, my recent thoughts that the “condo market is showing promising signs” may have been ahead of their time.

Following an amazing plunge in December when the average selling price of a Saskatoon house reached its low for the year at $274,521, prices rebounded nearly $19,000 to finish January at $293,079. Year-over-year, the average remained slightly higher by just over $3,000. In spite of a strong monthly average, the three-month average sale price continued to slide for the seventh consecutive month reaching $291,222, down approximately $4,000 compared to last month, but remaining about $21,000 higher than it was during the same month last year. The median price pushed higher to $277,450, up from $264,000 in December, and sharply higher than $255,900 in January 2008.

All but one of the five major trading areas experienced an increase in the average price per square foot through January. Area 3 saw the largest jump rising to $251 from $221 in December, and up $14 from the same month last year. Area 5 was the only area to record a decline. The average price per square foot came in at $237, down from $239 the month before. Across all five areas, the average price per square foot was up to $246 from $231 in December, and $10 higher than January 2008 when it reached $236.

In the Saskatoon condo market, the average selling price moved in the opposite direction falling over $16,000 from $236,986 in December, and reaching $220,406 over the first month of 2009. That number is up just $1,200 from the average recorded in January 2008. The three-month average slid to $227,590, down from $229,082 in December, and $229,056 last year. The median price for a Saskatoon condo remained stable month-over-month at $219,500, which represents a decline of $4,500 compared to January 2008 when it was $224,000.

The price per square foot number for Saskatoon condominiums continued on its downward trend reaching $213, down $6 from December and $9 from last January. Area 1 showed an increase month-over-month rising to $215 from $201 the month before, but down from $225 in January 2008. Area 3 showed the sharpest decline falling a whopping $36 to $223. You may recall that there were a couple of Spadina Crescent condo sales in December that pushed the average higher by $53 over the previous month. Still, year-over-year averages were down sharply in area 3, falling from $250 to $223. Area 2 showed the bleakest year-over-year numbers as the average price per square foot fell to $221 from $270.

The gap between the price of a Saskatoon house and a condo widened significantly through January. At times over the past two years, these numbers have gotten too close so it’s encouraging to see that gap widen some.

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

Following a month end retreat in January, the total inventory of Saskatoon real estate listings pushed higher this week and settled at 1,186 units, up from 1,124 the week before. One hundred and fifty-three residential properties were offered for sale on the Saskatoon MLS system including eighty-nine single-family homes and fifty-three condominiums to claim the largest listing week since October 6-10. House and condo listings increased fifty-four units compared to last week and gained thirty-nine units over the same week last year.

Fifty-one residential properties found a new owner, with forty-nine single-family homes and condos counted amongst them. Sales increased by three properties compared to last week, and were down by nineteen units compared to the same week last year when sixty-eight firm home sales were reported by Saskatoon real estate agents.

While the numbers suggest that overall demand is reasonable compared to longer-term averages it’s fairly hard to miss the stark differences when comparing this year’s real estate activity to last year’s numbers. Unit sales are down in five of the six weeks so far this year lagging 2008 sales by eighty-eight units. Frankly, I’m surprised that sales have been this strong given current economic conditions. I guess it’s that “Saskatchewan advantage” thing helping us keep our heads above water as some major markets deal with declines closer to 50% year-over-year. Sales may be reasonable, but to me the potentially greater concern sits on the other side of the supply and demand equation as new listings have been higher in five of six weeks this year, showing an increase of ninety-one units over the same period in 2008, and already forming some high spikes on our graph, approaching levels that we didn’t see until March last year.

Forty-two price changes were recorded over the course of the week, and nineteen cancelled listings returned to the market offered at a new price.

Encouraged by another $1 million house sale, the average selling price for the week pushed higher again reaching $298,004, up from $290,407 last week and reaching its highest level since June 23-27. Remarkably, the weekly median also increased fairly significantly climbing $15,000 over last week to reach $280,000. Still, the four-week median managed to decline marginally to $264,500, down just $500 from the previous week but up about $12,000 from the same week last year.  The six-week average climbed higher to $281,773, up from about $274,000 last week, and a full $26,000 higher than it was this week last year.

Two lucky sellers managed a sale price which exceeded their asking price this week, but the overbids were fairly small by historical standards reaching $2,100 in case and just $100 in the other. Two other sellers managed a deal at the asking price while forty–five Saskatoon home sellers sharpened their pencil to strike a contract under list price at an average underbid of $17,018, the highest weekly underbid since December 8-12. Still, over 50% of this week’s sellers sold within $10,000 of the asking price.

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