Saskatoon real estate sales continued to move at a sluggish pace this week with just 36 houses and condos being reported as firmly sold to the Saskatoon MLS® system, the lowest number for this particular week in the past five years. For those keeping track, this is actually the ninth consecutive week that sales fell short of the same week from the previous year. This week’s sales were behind last week’s by six units and down from the same week a year ago by 16.
New listings moved in the opposite direction as many Saskatoon home sellers moved to get a jump on the competitive spring market. Local REALTORS® brought 128 new house and condo listings to the multiple listing service®, 32 more than were listed last week, also up on the same period of 2012 by 32 homes.
Residential inventory levels took a solid jump higher growing by almost 70 units over the course of the week to close at 977 properties, up nearly 60 listings from the same date last year, and also at its highest point for the week since 2009. This week’s surge brings the largest year-over-year gain that we’ve seen in the inventory, which has been arguably low, since the fall of 2010. Pretty much all of the growth to the MLS® listing inventory is in the single-family home category which has risen to 591 properties from 535 on year ago. Condo numbers are actually down slightly having slipped to 299 listings compared to 305 last year.
Coming off of our strongest sales year since the “boom” of 2007, a handful of slow weeks hardly tells a story but nine weeks of declining sales and seven weeks of increased listing activity can quickly produce a bit more leverage for buyers as motivated Saskatoon home sellers see their opportunities to consider offers dwindle. With two-thirds of January behind us already we’re 30 percent off of last year’s numbers in the key single-family and condominium categories.
Driven down by fewer sales above the $500K mark, the average sale price of a Saskatoon home took a strong dip this week falling more than ten thousand dollars to $327,126. There were just two sales above a half-million dollars this week compared to five over the previous seven day period. The weekly median price held pretty firm at $315,075. Meanwhile, the longer term measures both took a pretty good beating. The six-week average selling price of a Saskatoon home was $335,972 at week’s end, almost $30,000 lower than it was at the close of the previous week and still nearly eighteen thousand dollars higher than it was at the close of the same week last year. The four-week median plunged a little more than forty-four thousand dollars from last week to finish at $314,250 for an annual gain of less than five thousand dollars, one of the smallest year-over-year increases we’ve seen in months.
This week’s sales saw just one MLS® listing selling above the seller’s asking price. That home’s buyer topped up their offer with a $100 bonus. Another three sellers managed to convince a buyer to pay their full asking price. Meanwhile, 32 buyers insisted on a negotiation that averaged them a discount of $8,318 on the home they purchased.
Other notable MLS® activity this week included 16 cancelled and withdrawn listings, 14 expired listings and 22 price adjustments.
Highlights from the news this past week
Cooling in housing market seen as ‘healthy’ - Globe and Mail
Are stubborn sellers killing the real estate crash? - Financial Post
“I don’t mind prices coming down a bit, too”: Flaherty - Globe and Mail
Canadian home sales slump in year-over-year sales - Financial Post
Home sales plunge, market ‘clearly in correction mode’ - Globe and Mail
For clues to Canada’s housing future, look to Australia - Globe and Mail
Are we about to see a coast to coast real estate correction? - Globe and Mail
Who’s losing the housing slump? Real estate agents - Financial Post
How single women are shaping the new housing market - Globe and Mail
Banks see more evidence of slowing mortgage growth - Financial Post
Is the slump in home sales nearing bottom? - Globe and Mail
A map displaying the boundaries of Saskatoon real estate areas is here.
An overview of data collection and calculation practices for our statistical reports is here.
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Norm Fisher
Royal LePage Vidorra
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