The total number of new MLS® residential listings in Saskatoon this year reached 7,111 by the end of October. This represents a year-over-year decline of 12 percent. By this time last year, 8,065 properties had been listed for sale. The number of residential listings for Saskatoon and region is now at 10,929, down ten percent from last year. New listing numbers have seen year-over-year declines each month this year.
This decline in new listings has contributed to lower inventory levels in Saskatoon. At the end of October, there were a total of 1,808 homes for sale in Saskatoon and an additional 1,095 in the regional market surrounding the city. The five-year average for active listings in Saskatoon is 1,806. The ten-year average is 1,487.
“Since 2015, the Saskatoon market has experienced higher inventories of active listings. This puts downward pressure on prices and upward pressure on the sales to new listing ratio,” comments Jason Yochim, CEO of the Saskatoon Region Association of REALTORS®.
The average price of a Saskatoon home was $332,000 at the end of October, down four percent in a year. It’s now lower than it was two years ago by $20,000. Although much focus in real estate is on the average price, this measure can be misleading and is easily skewed by shifts in popular price ranges.
A better indicator of what is happening with home prices is the Home Price Index (HPI). The HPI establishes attributes for “benchmark homes” of various types and tracks price changes for those homes since 2005. The price of a benchmark single-family home in January of 2005 was $140,400. This category reached its peak price in May of 2015 at $329,500. Currently, the benchmark price of a Saskatoon single-family home is $312,600. That’s up slightly from last month, and $1500 higher than it was a year ago. The benchmark price for a typical townhouse in Saskatoon was $222,900 at the close of October. Apartments closed the month at $180,100.
MLS® sales were at 285 for Saskatoon in October, unchanged from the same month last year, but down nine percent from October 2016. Year-to-date, the total number of residential sales on the MLS® system in Saskatoon was 2,964, down two percent from last year.
For Saskatoon and region, the total number of sales was 4,074, a one percent decline from 2017.
“It's encouraging to see home sales at a comparable level to last year in spite of economic challenges and the “stress test” changes to financing earlier this year," comments Yochim.
Jason Yochim CAE, CRAE Chief Executive Officer – Saskatoon Region Association of REALTORS®
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