Saskatoon real estate: Week in review (June 8-12 2009)

Sales of houses and condos slowed this week as Saskatoon real estate agents reported just seventy-three units sold, down from ninety-four last week, and ninety-three for the same week last year. The softer sales week brought an end to a four-week winning streak of year-over-year gains in homes reported sold.

New listing activity also fell substantially in comparison to last week as a total of one hundred and twenty Saskatoon homeswere offered for sale on the multiple listing service, down from one hundred and sixty last week, and more than forty percent lower than this week last year when two hundred and four properties were offered for sale.

The inventory of active listings gained a little traction and moved up from 1,478 last week, to finish this week at 1,495, up from 1,326 at this time last year. As of this morning, there are nine hundred and eight single-family detached houses and four hundred and ninety-three condominiums showing an active status on the Saskatoon multiple listings service.

Click the image for a larger version of the graph.

Seventy-one home sellers made a price adjustment this week, while a further twenty canceled their MLS listing only to re-introduce it with a new MLS number, and in most cases, a new price.

Average selling prices took a tumble this week, largely due to a lack of single-family home sales in area one, a district that consistently produces the greatest number of sales, normally at the highest prices. Area one managed to maintain its reputation for the most unit sales, but just barely. Fifteen of the twenty-one sales reported were condominiums causing the area’s average to plummet to just $241,195. Overall, the average price for the week fell nearly thirty thousand dollars from $284,404 last week to $254,737. The six-week average slid approximately $3,500 from last week to $277,189, down from $305,125 for the same week last year. The four-week median dipped just slightly compared to the previous week to finish at $267,450, about $18,000 lower than it was at this time last year.

Click the image for a larger version of the graph.

Strong sales of lower than average priced homes brought the average underbid lower as it slipped below the ten thousand dollar mark for the first time in awhile to settle at $9,486. The average discount, as a percentage of the asking price came it at one of its lower recorded levels, just 3.6 percent. Discounts in the “over $25,000” category slid right off of the chart and nearly three quarters of all Saskatoon home sales recorded were completed within $10,000 of the asking price.

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Norm Fisher
Royal LePage Vidorra