Where Saskatoon talks real estate

Saskatoon real estate sales numbers continued to bring hope that spring is on its way as agents reported a total of sixty house and condo sales to the local MLS, a drop of just three properties from last week and a gain of eleven compared to the same week last year.

The new listings that were conspicuously absent for last week’s review made a comeback as one hundred and one homes made their way to the market, a welcome addition to what feels like a tight inventory, especially in the price ranges that are at or below the average selling price of a Saskatoon home. New listings were much higher than last week’s number of fifty-eight homes but fell far short of the one hundred and forty-two properties offered for sale during the same period in 2009. Most years, we start to see pretty good upward spike in the number of new listings offered for sale right around this time, so hopefully, supply will increase in the weeks ahead.

This week, the inventory of active residential listings inched just slightly higher over the previous week moving from 734 to 749, to sit at roughly two-thirds of last year’s level, which reached 1,124 by this time. There are currently 411 single-family homes and 290 condominiums for sale.

The cancellation and re-list strategy was back in full swing this week as thirty-three Saskatoon home sellers put the kibosh on their MLS listing and twenty-three quickly resurfaced as a “new listing.” Nineteen sellers adjusted their asking price, all of them moving lower.

The average selling price of a Saskatoon home reached its highest point since Christmas week at $290,133 up from $269,289 last week and falling short of last year’s number by just a few hundred dollars. The six-week average slid by less than one thousand dollars from last week to $275,759, about eighteen hundred dollars higher than it was for the same period in 2009. The four-week median inched higher to $259,000 showing gains of two thousand dollars on a week-over-week basis, but sat six thousand dollars lower than it was at the same time last year.

Click the image for a larger version of the graph.

There was some notable change at the negotiation table as eight home sellers (13 percent) managed to complete a deal at a price greater than their asking price. The average overbid was $2,337. Seven of the eight overbid sales were from areas 1 and 2. The average asking price for these properties was $308,042. Four of the seven properties were town house condos priced at an average of $277,900. An additional three sellers got all they were asking and forty-nine went for less than the asking price by an average of $8,557. The average negotiated discount was just three percent, well below the 3.6% average from the week before.

Highlights from the news this week

Building permits spike in Saskatchewan
Why CIBC sees a double dip in U.S. house prices (report)
The little house that went to market
Six banks urge Ottawa to tighten mortgage rules

A map displaying the boundaries of Saskatoon real estate areas is here.
An overview of data collection and calculation practices for our statistical reports is here.

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.

Real estate geeks can follow our daily updates on Twitter @norm_fisher.

Our Saskatoon home search tool offers MLS listings represented by all real estate brands, presented with more detail than you’ll find anywhere else. Check it out here.

Norm Fisher
Royal LePage Saskatoon Real Estate

{ 0 comments }