Saskatoon real estate week in review: April 6-12, 2014

For the fourth consecutive week the Saskatoon residential real estate market continued to record sales well above what would be expected at this early stage of the spring season. Local agents completed 100 firm sales of house and condominiums this week, about even with last week’s numbers and up on sales for the same week last year by 22. At the same time, new house and condo listings brought into the multiple listing service® continued to outpace previous years even as they cooled slightly from levels seen a week earlier. By week’s end, real estate agents had added 173 Saskatoon homes to the MLS® system, 44 fewer than hit the market the week before but higher than numbers for the same period last yearby ten.

Even with some stellar sales weeks on the board, the inventory of MLS® listings in the residential category grew by 33 this week to reach 1369 for an annual increase of 245 Saskatoon homes. So far this year, elevated levels of listing inventory don’t seem to be very problematic, unless you’re a seller fishing for a dupe that will pay too much. Homes priced at or around their realistic market value are turning reasonably quickly. At the close of business this week buyers could find 824 single-family homes for sale, up from roughly 680 at the same point in the previous year. Meanwhile, the number of condominiums for sale in Saskatoon climbed to 435 from about 350 a year earlier.

Real estate sales activity was strong across all price categories but there was elevated activity at the lower end of the market which caused the median price of a Saskatoon home (point at which half of all homes sold above) to slip lower to $328,750. Still the mix of sales on either said of the median came in with lower numbers overall and the average sale price of a local home slipped down from last week’s extreme high to hit $341,524. That’s it’s lowest point in four weeks. The six-week average price fell lower as well losing more than three thousand dollars from last week’s number to settle at $354,933 for one of its smallest annual gains in many weeks, about eight thousand dollars. Meanwhile, the four-week median price held stable at $349,900 for the second consecutive week, enough for an annual gain of about 19K.

Overbid sales saw a bit more play this week as they crept higher from two last week to four this week. The average overbid on those homes was $3,100. On the flip said, 81 of this week’s closed deals were recorded at a price below the seller’s asking price by an average of $9,227. The other 15 deals hit the books with a full price sale.

Other notable MLS® activity this week included 51 cancelled and withdrawn listings, 17 expired listings and 48 price adjustments.

Highlights from the news this week

Conservative growth in Saskatoon housing prices - Star Phoenix
Spring sparks real estate rebound - CTV News
Real estate or stocks? Which will make you richer? - Globe and Mail
Real estate markets turning the corner - Financial Post
Mortgage in retirement means big sacrifices- Financial Post

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Norm Fisher
Royal LePage Saskatoon Real Estate