Saskatoon real estate week in review: October 14-20, 2012

Saskatoon real estate sales headed in a downward direction this week and reached their lowest point since the third week of January. Local agents reported just 53 firm house and condo sales to the Saskatoon multiple listing service®, down 25 sales from the previous week and 11 fewer than those recorded during the same week last year. Meanwhile, new listingsremained stable on a week-over-week basis as 116 houses and condos were added to MLS®, an increase of 18 units from the same period last year.

The inventory of active Saskatoon MLS® listings in the residential category continued to hold pretty steady, moving down by just seven properties from the close of last week to reach 1192. That’s still slightly fewer homes than were available at the same time in 2011 when 1225 Saskatoon homes displayed an active status on the MLS® system. Today’s tallies show 725 single-family homes and 376 condominiums. Looking back to last year, these two categories of housing stood at 746 and 411 respectively.  While the inventory levels are remaining stable, declining sales effectively increases inventory, from a “months of supply” perspective. Over September, we saw our supply of inventory rise to 3.7 months, up from 3.3 months at the end of August, and 2.8 months at the close of July. By anyone’s measure, that moves our inventory level into balanced territory.

Strong activity in the entry level market pushed the median sale price of a Saskatoon home lower by sixteen thousand dollars to $319,900 this week. The entry-level market had such a strong showing, relative to homes priced above $400K that even a sale above the million dollar mark couldn’t keep the average sale price for the week from slipping lower. It fell about $5K to $326,627. The six-week average price of a Saskatoon home came in just slightly lower at $326,197 to reach its lowest point since April. That represents a decline of over six thousand dollars from last week and an annual gain of just a few hundred dollars, the narrowest annual gain that I can recall for 2012. The four-week median moved in the opposite direction gaining five thousand dollars on the week to reach $320K and finished ahead of where it was at this time last year by twelve thousand dollars.

Overbid sales were completely absent from the Saskatoon real estate sales landscape but 11 sellers did manage to secure an offer at their full asking price. The other 42 recorded sales closed at a price below the seller’s list price by an average of $9,231.

Other notable MLS® activity this week included 58 cancelled and withdrawn listings, 13 expired listings and just 58 price adjustments.

Highlights from the news this past week

Home sales rise for first time since March but down 15% year-over-year - Financial Post
Canadian debt soars into danger zone - Globe and Mail
Rate hikes needed to tame swelling consumer debt, bank warns - Globe and Mail
We’re $7,900 richer than thought, but deeper in debt - Globe and Mail
‘This is not the Great Depression’: Mark Carney - Globe and Mail
Year-over-year home sales plunge 15.1 percent in September - Globe and Mail
Canada’s housing markets: Who’s winning, who’s losing - Globe and Mail
Commercial real estate market climbs across Canada- 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