Saskatoon home sales were up 6.7 percent compared to April of last year with 335 units selling last month. This represents a third of home sales in Saskatoon so far this year. Although year-to-date sales for the first four months of 2018 are down 4.8 percent from 2017, last month’s increase in sales helped to close the gap. The increase in April sales was also a welcome reversal of a two-month trend of declining sales seen during February and March. Unit sales for April showed increases for homes priced under $350,000. “Homes that are properly priced in that entry level have been seeing competing offers in many cases,” comments Jason Yochim, CEO of the Saskatoon Region Association of REALTORS®. Sales of homes in the $400,000 to $450,000 range increased by 30 percent in April over the same month last year with 39 sales being reported.
Also of note, year-to-date there have only been two residential sales over $1M in Saskatoon compared with six for the first four months in 2017.
The number of active residential MLS® listings in Saskatoon at the end of April was 1,834. This is consistent with the five-year average of 1,830. The drop is largely due to a decrease in the number of new listings brought to the market. The number of new listings for the first third of 2018 was 2,594 compared to 3,024 by this time last year, a 14 percent decline, year-over-year.
The sales to listing ratio improved to 43 percent, up from 37 during the same month last year. The sale to listing ratio is a comparison of the number of sales for a period of time to the number of new listings. “Although the sales to listing ratio is moving towards balance, I emphasize we are still in a buyer’s market,” cautions Yochim. The increase in this ratio in April was largely due to the 6.5 percent reduction in new listings and the comparative 6.7 percent increase in sales. Last month, the average home in Saskatoon took 53 days to sell compared with the five year average of 47 days.
The average sale price saw its first increase this year as it grew by 1.75 percent to $318,729 in April. For the first quarter of 2018, the average home sale price in Saskatoon was $333,826. Since averages can be misleading, a better reflection of the market is the median. The median home sale price increased slightly from March to $320,000. The five year average for median residential home sale prices in Saskatoon is $332,650.
The Home Price Index Composite Benchmark Price (HPI) increased slightly for the second straight month to $294,100. This appears to indicate an upward trend for home prices going forward. The HPI is the most accurate indicator of where home prices are trending.
Jason Yochim CAE, CRAE
Chief Executive Officer
Saskatoon Region Association of REALTORS®
Comments:
Post Your Comment: