Saskatoon real estate week in review: June 16-22, 2013

This week brought with it the busiest seven days of local home sales that we’ve seen in years. In fact, not since the housing boom of 2007 have Saskatoon real estate agents reported 121 firm house and condominium sales to the multiple listing service® for a single week. The previous best was pretty close at 120, but over the course of the past five years that number had only been hit once. This week’s numbers exceeded sales for the previous seven days by 20 units to finish ahead of the same week last yearby 15 homes.

At the same time, new listingsadded to the MLS® system slipped lower for the second week in a row to just 163 homes, down 16 from last week but well ahead of the same week last year when 143 properties were introduced to the Saskatoon real estate market. I expect that our peak listing weeks for the year are behind us now and that new offerings to our system will generally trend lower through the balance of the year.

The past few weeks have brought some sharp, and seasonally unusual increases to the total inventory of active MLS® listings in the residential category. Last week, the number of Saskatoon homes listed for sale reached 1350 for a year-over-year increase of about nine percent. This week, active MLS® listings fell lower for the first time in five weeks slipping back 45 units to close at 1305 for an annual gain of six percent. The week closed with 774 single-family homes in the active category, up roughly 30 properties from a year ago. Condo inventory currently sits at 443, ahead of last year by 32.

Greater activity at the upper end of the Saskatoon real estate market pushed the weekly average price and the median sale price higher to $357,326 and $334,900 respectively. Still, the four-week median price managed to continue on a downward trend for the fourth consecutive week falling about three thousand dollars on a weekly basis to $320,089 and finishing up on a year-over-year basis by just two thousand dollars. The six-week average price inched higher compared to last week and reached $351,391 to see an annual increase of roughly eleven thousand dollars.

Overbid sales took just a bit of an uptick to eight. Those eight buyers closed a deal paying an average bonus of $1,877 to the seller. Another 23 transactions were reported to have sold at the full list price. Meanwhile, 90 of the week’s 121 sales closed with a discount to the buyer which averaged $10,154.

Other MLS® activity this week included 67 cancelled and withdrawn listings, 12 expired listings and 57 price adjustments.

Highlights from the news this past week

2013 housing sales off to a better start than expected - Financial Post
Home sales bounce back, but a rate test lies ahead - Globe and Mail
Canada’s impending housing crash not in sight - Financial Post
The alarming decline of housing affordability - Globe and Mail
Housing crash won’t hurt Canadian banks at first - Financial Post
Canadians obsessed with real estate, poll suggests - CBC News
Canadian household debt ratio falls - Financial Post
TD Bank to Paul Krugman: You’re wrong about Canada- Globe and Mail

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Norm Fisher
Royal LePage Saskatoon Real Estate