If you’ve been shopping in the Saskatoon real estate market for longer than a couple of months I don’t have to tell you that the rules have changed this year, and they’ve changed dramatically.
At the close of 2006, resale inventory had dropped to an all-time low of around 250 active listings and while we’ve started to see more homes being listed for sale they are getting snapped at a pace which hasn’t allowed inventory levels to rebound at all. Today, the Saskatoon MLS® system shows 244 active house and condo listings across all price ranges and in all Saskatoon neighbourhoods.60-70% of those properties probably have offers pending and the majority of what remains are the laggards which most prospective buyers have passed on for one reason or another.
New MLS® listings are attracting attention and viewings quite quickly and in many cases, they’re generating multiple offers resulting in a bidding war. Last week, almost 25% of the homes which were reported sold on the Saskatoon MLS® showed sale prices which were above the asking price. The number of overbids ranged from a low of $10 over the list to a high of close to $30,000 above list price. The average overbid in most areas was less than $5,000.
Nobody wants to pay too much for a home. One might look to the aforementioned sale which went close to $30,000 above the list price and ask, “Are those buyers’ nuts?” I’m going to suggest that they just might be a little sharper than you think. See, these folks now own an interest in some Saskatoon real estate. While the other 37 buyers who viewed this home continue to struggle to find a place in the market, these buyers have locked in and any gains that the market experiences over the coming months will be theirs. If you believe that the market is going to continue to grow at its current pace, you might feel okay about paying a bit too much today in an effort to avoid paying much more tomorrow.
I’m not suggesting for a moment that a $30,000 overbid will be the prudent thing to do in most situations, but you will likely need to think beyond what the home is worth today if you truly want to be the successful buyer in a bidding war. Try to give some thought to where you think the market is going for homes in your price range. Will prices increase 10-20% over the next few months? How many opportunities will come up over the next few months? How might rising prices and limited inventory affect your ability to secure a suitable home at an affordable price if you miss out on this one? Is the property you’re considering underpriced for today’s market (some are)? Ask your agent for his or her thoughts on what price the home will sell for when all of the offers are in.
I’m always happy to answer your Saskatoon real estate questions.
Norm Fisher
Royal LePage Vidorra
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