It was another reasonably strong week for Saskatoon real estate sales as buyers took advantage of the beautiful fall weather and kept a brisk pace shopping for a new home. Local REALTORS® reported a total of 80 house and condo sales to the Saskatoon multiple listing service® over the past week, up just three from the previous week, and well ahead of the 54 Saskatoon homes that traded during the same period last year.
Interesting, at least to me, is the fact that by the close of this week 3,840 residential sales had been reported for the year. That’s nearly 300 more Saskatoon homes than had been sold by this time last year, and 28 more sales than had occurred by this date, in what turned out to be the strongest year ever for the number of Saskatoon homes that traded hands, 2007. It’s looking like 2014 is likely to be the new record holder for the largest number of residential trades. Don’t be fooled into believing that the market is weak. If you’re trying to sell now, and failing, you are actually letting a pretty good time pass you by. New listings activity reached its lowest point since the first week of March with just 137 new listings of single-family homes and condominiums being added to the MLS®. That’s 38 fewer homes than were listed the previous week but still well up on last year’s numbers by 25 homes.
Following three consecutive weeks of declines, the inventory of residential properties displaying an active status on the Saskatoon multiple listing service® took a very small step in the opposite direction growing by two to reach 1543 for an annual increase of 141 properties. Single-family homes make up the lion’s share of the inventory with 1096 homes for sale, up from 884 a year ago. Condo inventory sits at 426, about even with the number of condominiums that were actively for sale at this time last year. Those with some sharp math skills might be asking, “how can single-family home inventory be up 212 units from last year, but all active listings have increased just 141?” It would seem that the difference is in the categories of revenue type properties like duplexes, semi-detached homes, and so on which are nearly non-existent this fall.
A little more activity towards the upper end of the Saskatoon real estate market saw the weekly median price of a home grow to $345,000 this week. The average price went the same way increasing to $352,707. The six-week average price held stable on a weekly basis at $353,592 for a year-over-year gain that wouldn’t by a family of four dinner at Mickey Dee’s, or about forty bucks. The four-week median grew nine thousand dollars compared to last week and finished the the period at $337,000 to find itself down on an annual basis by eight thousand dollars.
Three lucky sellers found some love with a buyer willing to pay them more than they were asking. Those overbids were pretty generous too, averaging $4,300. Buyers who were insistent on grinding a bit of a deal fared pretty well with 63 trades closing below asking price for an average discount of $10,971. Another 14 sales hit the books having been reported sold for the full list price.
Other notable real estate activity this past week included 81 cancelled and withdrawn listings (52 and 29 respectively), just three expired listings and 54 price changes.
Highlights from the news this week
Royal LePage CEO predicts slower growth in house prices - Globe and Mail
Even Canadian real estate companies see house price growth slowing - Globe and Mail
Canadian homeowners paying down mortgages faster than thought - The Star
Canadian home sales climb 10.6 percent and outpace expectations - BNN Canadian home prices up, but moderating - CTV News
A cooling market but one with legs - Globe and Mail
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Norm Fisher
Royal LePage Saskatoon Real Estate
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