New listing numbers came in remarkably strong given the season with thirty Saskatoon home sellers listing a property during the six days leading up to Christmas, down for fifty-five last week, but substantially higher than the same week in 2008 when just fifteen properties were offered for sale. Both sales and listings recorded a one hundred percent year-over-year gain.
Click the image for a larger version of the graph.
Active listings continued to slide as total residential inventory lost nearly five percent of its weight on a week-over-week basis and finished fifty-six percent lower than was one year ago. Total active listings are at 728 including 417 single-family detached houses and 264 condominiums. By this time last year there were 1,292 residential properties listed on the Saskatoon MLS system including 782 single-family homes and 429 condos. Last year, there were more houses available for sale than the total of MLS listings available this year. Nationally, as talk of growing home prices has been grabbing headlines residential inventory began to show some signs of turning around as the Canadian Real Estate Association reporteda five percent month-over-month increase in residential MLS listings and posted the largest gain since January of 2008 with 69,110 properties being offered for sale during the month of November.
This week, there were just three cancelled and withdrawn listings and not a single one made a return bearing the new listing flag. Five sellers adjusted their price, four taking the traditionally practical downward approach. The other added ten percent to his asking price while visions of sugar-plums danced in his head.
Speaking of sugar-plums, it was nothing short of a plum week for high-end home sellers as five of the thirty home sales reported recorded a price between $642,500 and $795,000. The average selling price reached its highest point this year at $310,143 gaining nearly $100K over the same week last year when a run on low priced condominiums pushed the average price through the floor. The broader six-week average returned us to reality and slipped just under a thousand dollars from last week to $286,389 but showed strong gains over the same week in 2008 when it slid to $270,282. The four-week median took an upward direction once again gaining four thousand dollars on the week to finish at $284,000, well above last year’s number of just $245,000.
Click the image for a larger version of the graph. 
The average underbid on the twenty-nine of thirty Saskatoon homes that sold for less than asking price was $10,420, up marginally from last week when it was $9,924. The average discount as a percentage of the asking price grew from 3.2% last week to 3.4%.
As this year draws to a close let me just say thank you all for reading and contributing here. I’m looking forward to a great 2010 and hope the same for all of you.
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.
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Norm Fisher
Royal LePage Vidorra
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