Saskatoon real estate week in review: February 15-19 2010

Saskatoon real estate sales cooled off this week as just fifty-one house and condo sales were reported to the local MLS, a drop of thirteen units compared to the previous week, but ahead of sales for the same week last yearwhen just forty-five homes changed hands. Reports of multiple offers continued, especially in the $250,000-$350,000 range, though buyers are clearly proceeding more cautiously than in past years as evidenced by the relatively small number of overbid sales. Most agents would probably tell you that the lower number of sales is related to a shortage of inventory in this key price range. While the lion’s share of the buying activity for single-family homes occurs below the $350,000 mark, about fifty-five percent of the houses that are currently for sale are priced above that.

New listingsremained steady on a week-over-week basis with ninety-seven new listings coming on the system, but fell sharply compared to the same week in 2009 when 121 properties were offered for sale. This week’s listings included seventy-five houses and twenty-two condominiums.

Total active listings inched up again climbing above the eight hundred mark for the first time in a few months. Listings sit at 801 today, up for 766 at the close of the previous week and down from 1,242 for the same time last year. Most of the growth we saw this week was in single-family homes, which moved ahead thirty-six units over last week to 449. Available Saskatoon condominiums were fairly steady moving higher by just two properties to 309 units. Last year at this time there were 753 houses and 409 condos showing an active status on the Saskatoon multiple listing service.

Cancelled and withdrawn listings came in low at just fourteen units. Eight of those immediately re-entered the system as a new listing, most at a new lower price. Ten sellers took the shorter route by simply reducing their asking price.

Slower sales and a slightly higher inventory didn’t hold prices back as the average selling price of a Saskatoon home surged ahead to reach its highest point since the week of September 15-19, 2008at $312,362. That’s nine thousand dollars higher than last week’s number and roughly eighteen thousand dollars higher than the same week last year. Higher sale prices over the past two weeks pushed the six-week average to a six-week high of $286,421 gaining nearly seven thousand dollars over the previous week and about three thousand over the same week in 2009. The four-week median also moved higher reaching $286,995 up nearly eleven thousand compared to last week and twenty-one thousand dollars higher than the number recorded for the same period last year.

Click the image for a larger version of the graph.

The number of overbid sales fell again as just four units traded above asking price by an average of $7,503. Four more sellers got what they asking while fifty-one settled for a discounted price that averaged 2.6 percent of the asking price, or $8,470.

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Norm Fisher
Royal LePage Vidorra