Saskatoon real estate week in review: December 29, 2013 - January 4, 2014

And, they’re off, like the proverbial herd of turtles, you might say. This past week and the one before represent the slowest of the slow weeks in this business and that trend was true to its history this time around. Somehow, while most Saskatoon real estate agents would have been busy enjoying the holidays with family and friends some business did manage to get done. This week, the Saskatoon multiple listing service® processed 32 home sales (houses and condominiums) for a weekly gain of two units. As bad as that might sound it’s actually well up over the same week a year agowhen just 15 sales were recorded.

A handful of agents broke away from holiday celebrations to take new listingsthis past week as well. A total of 70 Saskatoon houses and condos were added to the Saskatoon MLS®, up two from the previous week, but 14 fewer homes than were listed during the same week last year. Over the past few months, this is just one of a few weeks in which new listings fell on a annual basis.

A whack of residential listings expired as the calendar turned to bring us a new year. With that, the total number of active listings on the Saskatoon MLS® took its largest slide this year falling to 1032 homes, down 93 from the close of the previous week, but still well up on the same week last year when buyers could find just 891 listings on the system. At this time last year there were 541 houses and 267 condominiums being offered for sale. Today, those categories are sitting at 632 and 320, respectively.

The median sale price of a Saskatoon home stayed steady at $310,000 this week, but with a third of all sales reported coming in at less than $200,000 the average selling price slid sharply lower to $317,698. The six-week average price slipped for the seventh consecutive week, though just barely this time. It fell about three hundred dollars from last week to $336,562 for an annual loss of roughly eleven thousand dollars. Meanwhile, the four-week median price lost about six thousand dollars from the last week and settled at $325,000 to finish a little more than 12K lower than it was for the same week last year.

Buyers took advantage of the market’s quiet tone and in most cases insisted on a bit of a price break. Just one lucky seller saw an offer that exceeded their asking price. The extra $5,100 was surely a nice, unexpected surprise to brighten their holiday. Another four buyers were feeling the giving spirit and agreed to pay full list while 25 of this week’s home buyers ground their seller for a deal finishing up with an average discount off $8,534.

Other notable MLS® activity this week included 28 cancelled and withdrawn listings, 98 expired listings and 11 price adjustments.

Highlights from the news this week

Canadians head into 2014 with a rosier attitude - Financial Post
Five Canadian mortgage market predictions for 2014 - Globe and Mail
Saskatoon real estate shifting to buyer’s market - CBC
Saskatoon real estate cooling off?- CTV

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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 Saskatoon Real Estate