Saskatoon real estate: Week in review (February 11-15 2008)

The inventory of active Saskatoon real estate listings slipped marginally to 361 units by the end of the week including 189 houses (single-family detached homes) and 133 condominiums. At the same time, this week brought the largest number of new residential listings since the week of October 22-26 and I expect that we’ll continue to see this trend continue in the weeks ahead.

It was also an exceptional sales week with 94 Saskatoon homes trading hands, the highest number of unit sales for any week since the week of July 16-20, and well ahead of the same week last year.

Interestingly, the average selling price of all houses and condos took a fairly big dip from last week to $244,248, the lowest weekly average since the week of November 5-9. This large drop can be attributed to an unusually high percentage of condos which appeared on this week’s sold list. For instance, 24 of the 31 homes sold in area 1 were condominiums. It strikes me as strange that only six house sales were recorded in this huge area, especially considering that there are 62 active single-family home listings. A closer look reveals that all but two of them are priced over $300,000. Over 50% are priced above $500,000 so they’re a little out of reach for typical Saskatoon home shoppers.

The percentage of homes which drew “overbids” this week declined by about 10% from last week and the average overbid dropped by about $4,000. I’ll also mention that each of the five areas had one or two very large overbid sales which skewed the numbers up. The majority of homes which sold high were not particularly exceptional.

Notable sales

• Brevoort Park bungalow at 1,088 square feet, no garage at $355,000.
• Massey Place bungalow at 860 square feet, no garage at $252,500.
• 1,180 square foot bungalow in Parkridge with a single garage is $305,000.

This week marks the first anniversary of the “week in review.” My thanks to all of the loyal readers who have contributed to some terrific discussions over the past year.

See a Google map displaying the boundaries of Saskatoon real estate “areas” here Data collection and calculation for our statistical reports

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