New listingsalso slid lower as Saskatoon home sellers offered up seventy-four single-family homes and forty-one condominiums for a total of 115 listings, a drop of nine from the previous week and a gain of just one when compared with the same week in 2009.
Click the image for a larger version of the graph. 
A few weeks ago, the total number of residential listings available on the Saskatoon MLS® reached its highest point for the year at 1427 units. Coincidentally, that number pretty much matched the levels we saw in both 2008 and 2009 for very same week. Of course, in 2008 and 2009 inventory levels headed in different directions after that week and the obvious question that came forward was, “Which of the two paths will this year’s inventory follow?” Just a few weeks later, the answer seems to be “neither.” We did see a bit of a drop as listings that expired at the end of June came off of the system, but since then the total number of Saskatoon homes for sale has remained steady. This week, total inventory finished at 1374 units, up just one from last week and higher than it was at this time last year by sixty-four units, or roughly five percent. As of this morning there are 810 single-family homes and 484 condominiums showing an active status on the Saskatoon MLS® system.
Click the image for a larger version of the graph. 
Cancelled and withdrawn listings came in at forty-three with just twenty of those actually staying off the market. Twenty-three returned on the same day they were cancelled disguised as a new listing. Sixty-five home sellers adjusted their asking price this week.
Encouraged by two high-end sales that averaged $870,000 each, the average selling price of a Saskatoon home moved higher for the second week in a row and reached $304,676. The six-week average still managed a week-over-week decline of almost four thousand dollars and slipped to $295,514 to finish about fourteen thousand dollars higher than it was for the same week last year. Following four weeks of declines the four-week median sale price took a fifty six hundred dollar gain when compared with the previous week. It closed the week at $279,900, up just nine hundred dollars on a year-over-year basis.
Click the image for a larger version of the graph. 
Once again, the majority of reported sales came in at a price that was lower than asking. Sixty-eight of seventy-four successful home sellers gave up an average of $10,221 or 3.3 percent of the asking price. Two sellers hit their number and four managed a deal above the asking price with an average overbid of $5,113.
The changes that we’re seeing in the market really don’t come as much of a surprise to me given that nearly everyone who normally has a voice in the Canadian housing market has warned of a slow down in the second half of the year. It started in May with very marginal declines. The drop in unit sales accelerated in June and we finished the month seventeen percent lower than the previous year. July is definitely feeling even slower. After the close of business on July 15 just 154 sales had been reported so far for the month putting us on pace for total monthly sales of 308 units, assuming the pace continues at its current level. That would amount to a thirty-percent decline over the previous year and sales that are twenty-one percent below the five-year average for July. Add five percent to the inventory of active listings and it a very different market. Here’s hoping that it doesn’t get much worse than that. ☺
Click the image for a larger version of the chart. 
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.
Our Saskatoon home search tool offers MLS® listings represented by all real estate brands, presented with more detail than you’ll find anywhere else. Check it out here.
Norm Fisher
Royal LePage Vidorra
Comments:
Post Your Comment: