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Norm's Saskatoon real estate market update for February 2020

Norm's Saskatoon real estate market update for February 2020


February was the sixth consecutive month of increasing Saskatoon home sales and prices now appear to be on the rise.


If such things interest you, this video contains an overview of activity and my thoughts on where the market is headed.



Transcript

All right, this one is for the nerds.


It's a bit of an update on MLS stats for February of 2020. Interesting results that just came out last week. 230 Saskatoon homes sold in February. Up 9% from February of last year. And making February the sixth consecutive month in which unit sales increased on a year-over-year basis. In fact, over the past 14 months, we've seen increases in 10 of 14 months and double digit gains in six of those.


Taking a little bit closer look by category here, I see that single-family home sales actually fell in February seven units, to 150 from last February. Condos though really cleaned up. They increased nearly 50%, jumping from 49 sales last February to 73 this February, so, strong indication that first-time buyers are actively engaged in this market, and that the current pricing levels are being warmly received by that group. And this is an encouraging bit of news that seems to be obvious over the past six months. I mean first-timers getting re-engaged with the market because, without a healthy first-time buyer market, you really don't have any kind of market at all. So, you know, that's really positive.


Looking at prices, though, I think tells a remarkable story. I mentioned at the end of January that the six-month rolling average price had increased $5,000 on a year-over-year basis. At the end of February, that measure is actually up $7,000. Single-family homes, the benchmark home price index price rose $3,000 on a year-over-year basis at the end of February. That's up from $1300 at the end of January. So, really accelerating price growth. Townhomes though, bang, homerun here for that category. Up $16,000 year-over-year at the end of February. At the end of January, that category was up $7,000. So, you can see that there's some price momentum happening there in that particular category.


You probably heard last week that the major lenders dropped mortgage rates a half a percentage point. It remains to be seen how that combined with other things that are in the news right now, like the coronavirus, how those things are gonna affect the market as it unfolds over spring. But typically, you would expect low-interest rates, an interest rate of that magnitude to really set the market on fire, and that's certainly a potential possibility.


I remain reserved about price growth over the year, and the reason for that is I think that there's a whole bunch of pent up supply laying about out there. There are lots of sellers who would have liked to have unloaded a Saskatoon property over the last couple of years but have been unable to because they are maybe in a negative equity position. And I think as we see prices grow some, more property will come on the market and that will really temper potential price growth, or at least, you know, runaway price growth, so that's not a big concern for me at this time, but I think it's becoming clear that we've hit the bottom, and prices are beginning to rise again.


So, if you have any questions, I'm actively engaged in the market as a realtor and a broker. I'd be happy to hear from you and the best way to contact me is through my website at TeamFisher.com. Have a great day and thank you for watching.

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


TeamFisher.com hosted nearly a quarter of a million user sessions and displayed more than 1.2 million pages to our visitors in 2019. 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

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