The following is a media release issued by the Saskatoon Region Association of REALTORS® regarding residential sales and listing statistics for the month of October 2016. The charts are brought to you by TeamFisher of Royal LePage Vidorra.
Home sales in the Saskatoon market last month were up eight percent over October of 2015. "This is a very positive change and speaks to consumer confidence in our market," states Jason Yochim, CEO with the Saskatoon Region Association of REALTORS®.
Recent changes to lending rules by the federal finance minister were also a contributing factor in activity as buyers scrambled to beat the October 17th deadline when these changes came into effect. "Regardless of the factors leading to a sale, it is always good to see stronger sales activity," he adds. “Every home sale contributes almost $50,000 of additional economic activity in the local economy." ?
Strong sales in August and October of this year coupled with an overall decline in new listings has resulted in an 11 percent reduction in the inventory of active listings in Saskatoon. Active listings peaked at 2,047 units in June of this year and have declined steadily to 1,745 at the end of last month. This will have a positive impact in several areas. It will help maintain the average price as well as start to move the market in the direction of a seller's market, although we're not there yet. The total number of sales for Saskatoon year-to-date were 3,249 compared with 3,457 for the same period last year. The sales-to-listing ratio indicates whether we are in a buyer's or seller's market. It is determined by dividing the number of sales by the number of new listings for a period of time. A 50 percent ratio is considered balanced. Currently, the market is at 42 percent, which is a buyer's market.
Another positive sign is the "days of inventory" which determines how long it would take to liquidate the current active listings at the current level of sales. Based on October's numbers there is just over 5.5 months of inventory. This is just slightly above the five-year average of five months. The overall dollar volume for the Saskatoon and surrounding market is only down three percent from last year and currently sits at just over $1.5 billion dollars. Overall dollar volume has remained strong in spite of a six percent year-to-date reduction in sales. This is largely due to an increase in sales of homes priced over $750,000. Year-to-date there were 51 units sold between $750,000 and 800,000 compared to 40 last year. Comparatively, sales were down ten percent year-to-date for homes priced between $250,000 and 450,000.
“In a market with an average selling price approaching $350,000 there is no doubt that the recent federal change for home buyers qualifying for a mortgage will further impact the market for homes," comments Yochim. "It remains to be seen how much the impact will be."
The good news for those selling is that homes are selling for 97 percent of their asking price. Sellers who choose to list too high over the market are finding it difficult to obtain that sale. The closer the asking price is to market value the tighter the offer will be to the list price.
Sound pricing and timing advice can be provided by one of the 640 professionally licensed and trained REALTOR® members of The Saskatoon Region Association of REALTORS®. REALTORS® also subscribe to a strict code of ethics and are dedicated to developing professional standards and continuing education in the real estate profession.
Jason Yochim CAE, CRAE Chief Executive Officer - Saskatoon Region Association of REALTORS®
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