Real Estate Information Archive

The May numbers are indicating that we are seeing the market softening a bit. It is encouraging to see that the price range of $300,000 to $500,000 has shown an increase in unit sales of 16% higher than May 2009. Over all the unit volume was 4% lower in the same month last year. YTD units sales this year are up 8%. I noticed that things have tightened up since the CMHC rules were changed. They have made it more difficult to qualify by forcing people to qualify for the five year term, which is at the 6% rate. This change has made the buyers a little tougher in negotiations.

I was discussing the real estate mood with a car salesperson the other day. It was felt that the used car market is similar to the real esate market in that the buyers are tougher when negotiating their purchase.

There will always be people needing to buy homes and those who need to sell.  It may take a little longer sometimes and the prices may vary a little, but the is always a buyer for a good property.

Sales have declined in Canada overall. We are influenced by the national situation to some extent, but we have a stronger economy in Saskatchewan and particularly in Saskatoon.

All the rain we are getting will have a pretty significant effect on the farmers throughout the province. I guess we will see how much as the year passes. We were worried last year and it ended up being a very good year. It doesn't look good for the farmers as of this writing. I guess time will tell.

The ever changing market in Saskatoon continues to be interesting. The average selling price in the city has once again moved up. This indicates that we are seeing more sales of the higher priced homes, thus pushing the averages higher. We also saw an increase in the overall unit sales.

The CMHC rule changes came into effect after April 19th. This created a decline in activity in the latter part of the month. We also saw an increase in new listings resulting in higher inventory, which is typical for this time of year.

The positive sign we are seeing is encouraging and should create confidence in future buyers coming into the market.

Sellers can feel confident when placing their houses on the market. If priced competetively, they should sell in two - four weeks.

January was a great month for Saskatoon weather for most of the month, but not so great for real estate sales. We have seen unit sales decline in most of the categories. Dollar volume was down by 18% in the city. Unit sales were down by 16%. I believe this was due to low inventories in the lower to mid price ranges, where the demand is highest. I noticed this developing over the past 6 months, with the largest part of our sales under $400,000.00. I noticed an incease in unit sales in the $450-$500 range. This is encouraging. This price range has seen lower activity over the past year. While this was great, we saw lower activity in the above $500,000. range in January. Volumes were lower in most ranges. This may be good news for the sellers that have been waiting for prices to move up before selling their house. Now may be a good time to sell and get a better price than last year.

The average sale price dropped 3% from last January. I expect this is because of the short supply of the lower priced product available. We are now waiting for the break that will bring more product on the market at a little higher prices in the $200,000. - $350,000. range.

It seems to be more of a challenge to find the buyers for the higher priced houses.

With only 3 unit sales over the $500,000.00 in January we should be careful not to measure the expectations for the coming year on one month. I expect we will see an increase over the next few months.

Overall our economy is postive and the buyers are calling to check things out. When that senario is happening it is positive.

The number of residential listings in Saskatoon continues to rise.  There were 721 homes placed on the market in May 2009, compared to 694 in April.  At the end of May, buyers had 1,532 residential listings to choose from, up from 1,499 homes at the end of April.

Sales continue to rise as well.  In May, 372 homes were sold, up 5.4% from April's total of 353 homes.  This number is also up from May 2008, when 363 homes were sold.  The average sell price this May was $279,477 with an average of 41 days to sell. 

Out of May's 372 sales, 111 were condos, varying in price from $445,000 down to $79,000.

Area 1 (east of Circle Dr.) continues to be the most active area of Saskatoon with 242 units listed and 147 units sold.  The average sell price per unit is also the highest in this area at $306,936. 

Sales numbers in the $300,000 to $349,999 price range were the highest at 52 units sold.  The $275,000 - 299,999 range was a close second at 44 sales.

"Summer sales and listing activity is expected to remaining similar as the market continues to correct with excess inventory moving through the system. Saskatoon has been somewhat effected by the global recession but all indicators point to the local market remaining steady in the next few months"  (From SRAR June Media Release)

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