Please note that many of the association’s comments touch on “year-to-date” numbers, and some are based on all sales within the board’s trading area. The charts which you see, as always, reflect activity within the city of Saskatoon on a month to month basis over the past several years.
Increased activity in the real estate market in Saskatoon in the month of April made up for some of the lost ground in the first quarter of the year. Listing activity was up a modest three percent while sales activity was up eight percent when compared to April 2012. "Activity dropped off in the first quarter of 2013 for the first time in many months," says Jason Yochim, Executive Officer of the Saskatoon Region Association of REALTORS®. "I was confident that we would see an increase based on the steady economic activity our city and province are experiencing. Saskatchewan is fortunate to not be in a 'boom' but rather steady economic growth which doesn't have that nasty downside that follows a drastic increase in market activity."
The year-to-date increase in the average sale price of a home is steady at four percent ($340,500) which has been the norm for the past number of years. The market remains comfortably in balanced territory with almost three months of inventory in Saskatoon. At the end of April there were 1,182 active listings on the market and a total of 439 sales for the month compared to 406 in April of 2012. The rural market surrounding Saskatoon is quite different with 917 active listings and only 117 unit sales in April equating to almost eight months of inventory. "In spite of the over-supply, the average price in the rural market still increased by nine percent to $327,000," according to Yochim.
Click the image for a larger version of the chart.
Click the image for a larger version of the chart.
Home sales between $300,000 and $400,000 saw a nine percent reduction or 16 fewer units change hands in April of 2013 compared to the same month last year. On a year-over-year basis, the upper range of homes continued to sell well compared to this time last year with a 35 percent increase in sales over $500,000 representing 255 units compared with 189 a year ago. The Saskatoon market has seen a total of six homes sell in excess of one million in 2013.
I’m always happy to answer your Saskatoon real estate questions. All of my contact info is here. Please feel free to call of email me.
Get the most current market intelligence with our FREE Market Snapshot including prices of homes recently sold in your area. Get it here, now.
Norm Fisher
Royal LePage Saskatoon Real Estate