I apologize for the delay in posting the September MLS® sales and listing stats for Saskatoon. The House Price Index (HPI) numbers needed some work following an August upgrade to the MLS® system and I was not comfortable moving forward before that was completed.
A media release from the Saskatoon Region Association of REALTORS® with an overview of residential MLS® sales and listing activity for the month of September 2017 follows. I have edited the original release for grammar, and to include the updated HPI numbers to the corrected stats, which show a year-over-year decline, as opposed to an increase that was originally reported with this release. Please do note that I have also already added the October 2017 stats to the charts.
The Saskatoon real estate market saw a 19 percent decline in MLS® home sales in September compared to the same month a year ago. MLS® sale for September of 2016 totaled 324, compared to just 262 in 2017. Year-to-date, there have been 2,745 MLS® sales within the city of Saskatoon, an annual drop of six percent from 2016 when 2,935 homes had traded by this time. Overall, the number of sale transactions recorded by the association in Saskatoon and surrounding areas was 3,701 at the end of September compared to 3,957 by the same date in 2016. This marks a ten percent decline in dollar volume, a drop of roughly $140 million dollars.
The number of properties for sale declined by around 100 units from August to September with a total of 2,082 now on the market. The five year average for active listings is 1,797 units.
“Ideally it would be nice to see the number of active listings around that five-year average or lower,” comments Jason Yochim, CEO of the Saskatoon Region Association of REALTORS®. “That level would bring us closer to balanced market conditions.” By comparison, in 2007 when the market was a strong seller’s market with escalating home prices, there was an average of just over 400 active listings through the year. Ten years later that average is just under 2000 active listings.
The average length of time for a home to sell is 55 days, just slightly above the September five year average, which is 46 days. The sales-to-listing ratio is a comparison of the number of sales for the month relative to the number of new listings taken. It is considered to be a balanced market when this ratio falls between 40-60 percent. A number above this range is considered a seller’s market while a one below is seen as a buyer’s market. The sales-to-listing ratio for September was 34 percent, well below the five year average of 42 percent. “In a buyer’s market with elevated inventory levels it is critical to understand pricing and to properly prepare your home to compete against other homes in your price range,” cautions Yochim.
This year, the average selling price of a Saskatoon home fell by 1.4 percent to $347,043. The median price also declined slightly by 2.1 percent to $327,900. In July of this year, the Saskatoon Region Association of REALTORS® elected to remove lot sales from the aggregate number of home sales to give a more accurate picture of pricing, however, in the short-term this change has propped up the average price to some degree in comparison to last year. The MLS® Composite Home Price Index (HPI) Benchmark Price fell lower to $301,800, down 4.3 percent from a year ago when it was $315,400. The Composite HPI measures the rate of change in a benchmark price for a typical home and is the most accurate indicator of pricing direction in a market.
For further information, please contact:
Jason Yochim CAE, CRAE
Chief Executive Officer
Saskatoon Region Association of REALTORS®
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