Saskatoon real estate week in review: May 26 - June 1, 2013

Good afternoon. My apologies for the delay in this week’s review. Most weeks, my schedule allows for a Saturday in the office with the writing of the review taking top priority. This week, our team has worked extra hard getting a lot of work done for our clients. That work always comes first, and this week, it required an all out effort from everyone on the team to get things done well. Here we are, wrapping up last week as the new week begins. Thankfully, I was able to use a few short downtimes over the past two days to get this together. Thanks for your patience.

The Saskatoon real estate market saw increased activity this week as sales of single-family homes and condos increased by ten units compared to the previous weekreaching 95 for a year-over-year decline of four properties.

New listings also saw some gains over activity recorded the previous week as a new high point for the year was found. Saskatoon real estate agents brought 204 new house and condo listings to the multiple listing service®, an increase of 46 homes compared to last week and ahead of listings added for the same week last yearby nearly 50.

The total inventory of active MLS® listings in the residential category took one of its largest weekly leaps for this year as it grew by 57 properties from last week’s close to finish up on levels recorded at this time last year by 71 homes. Today, single-family homes inventory sits at 769 units compared to 717 a year ago. 434 active condo listings can be found on the MLS® system today, up from 405 at this time last year.

A sharp increase in activity at the upper end of the Saskatoon real estate market, including a couple of sales above $800,000 and one above $900,000 saw the weekly average and the weekly median prices spike. The median increased more than $23,000 to $353,000 and the average selling price of a Saskatoon home reached a new weekly high for the year at a whopping $378,941. That’s up more than seven thousand dollars from last week and higher than it was a year ago by about $16K. The four-week median price went against the grain this week and slipped nearly $1,500 lower from where it was a week ago to $342,500.  That’s $17,500 higher than it was a year ago today.

Overbid activity took a bit of a downturn as just six sellers managed to close a deal above their asking price. The buyers involved in those sales offered an average of $5,167 more than the seller had asked. An additional 12 buyers agreed to a full price purchase while 77 of this week’s 95 deals finished up at the negotiation table netting the buyer an average discount of $9,085.

Other MLS® activity this week included 45 cancelled and withdrawn listings, 10 expired listings and 41 price adjustments.

Highlights from the news this past week

“I wish them bad luck,” Jim Flaherty says of those shorting Canada - Globe and Mail
Home construction slowdown may be good for real estate - Globe and Mail
Worried about the housing market? Five strategies for peace of mind - Globe and Mail
Ottawa’s retreat from mortgage market sends CMHC insurance sales tumbling - Globe and Mail
Why it’s dangerous to short Canadian banks- Financial Post

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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