Saskatoon real estate week in review: May 19-25, 2013

Saskatoon real estate sales softened this week on both a weekly and an annual basis. Local agents reported a total of 85 single-family home and condominium sales to the Saskatoon multiple listing service®, 10 fewer sales compared to the previous week, and down an equal amount when compared against sales for the same week a year ago. After a pretty strong roll in April, May has delivered four consecutive weeks in which sales have softened from the previous year. May of 2012 was an exceptional month with a total of 459 residential real estate sales. This year, we’re sitting at 333 with just one week remaining so it seems certain that we’ll come up a bit short for the month.

New listingactivity also softened, just slightly, as Saskatoon real estate agents added 158 properties to the MLS®, a drop of just seven compared to last week but up from the same period a year ago by eight homes.

On the heels of a week that saw a bit of a dip, the total inventory of residential MLS® listings gained some ground as it grew by 38 from last week’s totals to reach 1219, its highest point for the calendar year to finish ahead of levels recorded at this time last year when it stood at 1215. On a year-over-year basis we see single-family homes selection improving marginally from 733 last year to 752 today while condos record a very slight decline slipping from 399 a year ago to 392 today. Active Saskatoon MLS® listings have traced last year’s numbers pretty closely through the first five months of this year.

Far more activity at the lower end of Saskatoon’s real estate market, including nine sales below the $200,000 mark, assisted in ushering both the average and median sale price of a Saskatoon home lower. The average slipped 17K from last week to $347,530 while the median fell an additional thousand to finish the week at $329,500. The six-week median also softened as it slid close to four thousand dollars lower than the previous week to $347,530 to finish ahead of where it was the same week last year by just a thousand dollars. The four-week median price managed to gain nearly four thousand dollars on the week to settle at $343,950 and claimed an annual gain of nearly thirty thousand dollars.

After a bit of a cooling period last week, the number of sales that reported a price above the seller’s asking price tripled to nine while the average overbid increased sevenfold to $8,800. This number was skewed by a couple of properties that fetched more than $20K higher than list price. On the other side of listing price, 63 buyers managed to grind themselves a bit of a deal talking their seller lower by an average of $9,271. Another 15 homes traded at the asking price this week.

Other MLS® activity this week included 45 cancelled and withdrawn listings, 8 expired listings and 50 price adjustments.

Highlights from the news this past week

Mortgage rules help fuel rent hikes - Canadian Mortgage Trends
Canada’s housing slump only beginning: Capital Economics - Financial Post
Transition to higher rates could be very painful - Globe and Mail
Home ownership: What drives our passion to own a home? - Financial Post
Rental housing shortage now a national disaster - Globe and Mail
Canadian home building to plunge 30% by 2015 - Financial Post Low interest rates can raise risks for lenders - Star Phoenix
Canadians are paying off mortgages quickly - Financial Post
Slowdown? Nearly half of Canadian homeowners eager to buy property - Globe and Mail
Low rates help keep affordability stable: report - Globe and Mail
Flaherty: No housing bubble but still concerned about CMHC- Globe and Mail

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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.

Norm Fisher
Royal LePage Saskatoon Real Estate