It was a busy week for Saskatoon real estate agents in both new listings and sales.
This week, a total of 109 single-family homes and condominiums were reported sold to the Saskatoon MLS® system, the second-highest number for any week this year. That amounts to a gain of 18 units compared against the previous week’s sales, and it’s also up by the same amount when compared against sales reported for the same week in 2011.
New listings were also at their second-highest weekly level for the year at 179, up 34 from the previous week and higher than the total number of Saskatoon homes offered for sale on the market during the same week a year ago by 15. For eight of the ten previous weeks, new listings have tracked year-over-year gains.
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Still, gains to the inventory of active MLS® listings in the residential category are sluggish at best as it grew just twelve units this week to 1132 and finished the week lower on a year-over-year basis by almost 200 homes. In fact, the residential inventory listed on the Saskatoon multiple listing service® is at its lowest point in nearly four years for the time of year. It’s been that way for about six weeks. If the current trend continues we may be headed for the lowest levels of inventory since 2007 when supply diminished to almost nothing. There doesn’t appear to be any realistic chance that we’ll see the very low levels of 2007 again, but supply is softening while demand appears to be increasing. At present, there are 677 single-family homes and 383 condominiums displaying an active status on the system. That compares to 774 and 490 respectively at the same point in time during 2011.
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The average sale price of a Saskatoon home took a significant slide this week when compared against the last, finishing lower by about $35K at $318,778. With far fewer weekly sales above the $500,000 mark, and a handful more below $200,000 the weekly median fell even more as it slid more than $40,000 to close at just $302,000 for the week. At the same time, the six-week average sale price managed to inch up a little more than a thousand dollars from last week to close at a new record high of $343,821 and record an annual gain of more than $27,000. The four-week median took a serious slide dropping almost $15,000 from the previous week to finish at $325,000 for a year-over-year gain of just $12,500.
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I had an opportunity to participate in a social yesterday that was well attended by Saskatoon mortgage brokers. It was interesting to hear one of them talking about how insane the market is noting that there are all kinds of multiple offers and “everyone is over-bidding.” For the record, “everyone” is not overbidding. There were five overbid sales this week, not counting a few brand new homes that may have included extras not included in the original listing. That’s less than five percent of sales, and those that did sell above list went for an average of just $1,600 over. This is just a simple fact. For the majority of Saskatoon home buyers (those buying under $400K), they’re clearly facing a seller’s market but whether you’re buying or selling, it’s important that you’re not taken in by this kind of hype. Every situation is clearly different and a few sales that went well over list price have hit the stat sheet this year, but in most cases, even where multiple offers are a factor, homes are selling for somewhat less than asking price. That was the case in 82 of this week’s 109 recorded sales. Those buyers managed a discount averaging $7,406. Another 22 lucky sellers received offers at their full asking price and wrapped up a deal.
Other notable Saskatoon real estate activity this week includes 34 canceled and withdrawn listings, 38 properties that expired from the system without a sale and 48 price changes.
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I’m always happy to answer your Saskatoon real estate questions. All of my contact info is here. Please feel free to call or email.
Norm Fisher
Royal LePage Vidorra
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