The following is a media release issued by the Saskatoon Region Association of REALTORS® regarding residential sales and listing statistics for the month of April, 2016. The charts are brought to you by TeamFisher of Royal LePage Vidorra.
In 2007, pricing your home to market was not a factor as prices were escalating on almost a daily basis. The demand was so strong that within reason one could name their price and get it almost without delay. Current high inventory levels offer buyers more selection and reduce urgency to act. The result is the average home in Saskatoon takes 46 days to sell, an increase of 15 percent over the five-year average. The sales to listing ratio currently sits at 34.4 percent which means that four homes sell for every 10 that come on the market. The homes that are selling are seeing sale prices in the neighborhood of 97.2 percent of the asking price. “Homes that sell do so because they are priced to the current market,” comments Jason Yochim, CEO of the Saskatoon Region Association of REALTORS. With online access, buyers are educated and are not likely to pay more than current market conditions dictate. “Without expert advice it is very difficult to know where the price of a particular home fits into the market,” he adds.
The average year-to-date sale price has decreased from $351,384 to $344,249 from a year ago, a two percent decline. More importantly, the median price has declined by 3.3 percent to $330,800 from $342,000. The CREA Composite Home Price Index continued its downward trend with a year-over-year decline of 2.4 percent. This is the most accurate indicator of where the market is trending. It had been declining slightly since July of 2015 until February of this year when the trend started to reverse upward. This is due mainly to increased sales in the spring market combined with a slowing of new homes coming into the market.
Currently, there are 1,965 residential listings for sale in Saskatoon, this is an increase of 1.6 percent over the same time last year. “Homes sell in any market and there is a right price for every home, in every area, in all types of condition. In my opinion, if more of our current inventory was priced to closer to market it would sell within the average days on market and ease the inventory levels.”
The total number of sales at the end of April for Saskatoon was 1,091, a six percent decline compared to the same period last year and 12 percent below the five-year average. The total dollar volume, however, was down 7.8 percent to $375.5 million for the first four months of the year.
Properties in the market surrounding Saskatoon, which includes rural residential property, the cities of Warman and Martensville and smaller bedroom communities have experienced a 13.4 percent decrease in unit sales year-to-date with 290 sales. The total number of active listings was up 8.4 percent to 1,152 properties. The average selling price in the surrounding market declined by 1.6 percent over the same period last year to $312,251. The most notable statistic is the sales to listing ratio of 24.9 percent, a 14 percent decline over last year which is firmly a buyer’s market.
Jason Yochim CAE, CRAE
Chief Executive Officer – Saskatoon Region Association of REALTORS®