A closer look at the Saskatoon real estate statistics for January 2009
The Saskatoon Region Association of Realtors recently reported January results for the entire residential category of Saskatoon real estate, which includes single-family homes, condominiums, semi-detached properties, duplexes, mobile homes and vacant lots. Unit sales totaled 213 properties across all of these property types, and an average sale price of $278,545. Let’s have a look at how houses (single-family detached homes) and condominiums did in comparison to the entire residential category.
Following four consecutive months of declines, single-family home inventory showed an increase of four units, month-over month, closing January with a total of 688 properties available for purchase. While the active inventory of “houses” for sale is four times higher than it was last January when it fell towards record lows and reached just 169 units, some chatter can be heard within the industry that there just isn’t much to show, especially if a buyer isn’t interested in buying new.
Single-family homes sales were strong through the month of January finishing at 164 properties, up from 109 in December, and nine units higher than the 155 unit sales recorded in January of 2008.
Condominium inventory continued to decline through January, falling modestly to 363 units, from 381 the month before, but substantially higher than the 142 units which were available for purchase at the close of January 2008. There were no complaints heard from agents about any shortage of available product. ☺
Sales of Saskatoon condos showed marginal declines over December 2008 falling four units to 40 properties. If that doesn’t seem too bad to you, have a look back to January 2008 when 123 condos traded hands and you’ll get some appreciation for how much the condo market has changed. In hindsight, my recent thoughts that the “condo market is showing promising signs” may have been ahead of their time.
Following an amazing plunge in December when the average selling price of a Saskatoon house reached its low for the year at $274,521, prices rebounded nearly $19,000 to finish January at $293,079. Year-over-year, the average remained slightly higher by just over $3,000. In spite of a strong monthly average, the three-month average sale price continued to slide for the seventh consecutive month reaching $291,222, down approximately $4,000 compared to last month, but remaining about $21,000 higher than it was during the same month last year. The median price pushed higher to $277,450, up from $264,000 in December, and sharply higher than $255,900 in January 2008.
All but one of the five major trading areas experienced an increase in the average price per square foot through January. Area 3 saw the largest jump rising to $251 from $221 in December, and up $14 from the same month last year. Area 5 was the only area to record a decline. The average price per square foot came in at $237, down from $239 the month before. Across all five areas, the average price per square foot was up to $246 from $231 in December, and $10 higher than January 2008 when it reached $236.
In the Saskatoon condo market, the average selling price moved in the opposite direction falling over $16,000 from $236,986 in December, and reaching $220,406 over the first month of 2009. That number is up just $1,200 from the average recorded in January 2008. The three-month average slid to $227,590, down from $229,082 in December, and $229,056 last year. The median price for a Saskatoon condo remained stable month-over-month at $219,500, which represents a decline of $4,500 compared to January 2008 when it was $224,000.
The price per square foot number for Saskatoon condominiums continued on its downward trend reaching $213, down $6 from December and $9 from last January. Area 1 showed an increase month-over-month rising to $215 from $201 the month before, but down from $225 in January 2008. Area 3 showed the sharpest decline falling a whopping $36 to $223. You may recall that there were a couple of Spadina Crescent condo sales in December that pushed the average higher by $53 over the previous month. Still, year-over-year averages were down sharply in area 3, falling from $250 to $223. Area 2 showed the bleakest year-over-year numbers as the average price per square foot fell to $221 from $270.
The gap between the price of a Saskatoon house and a condo widened significantly through January. At times over the past two years, these numbers have gotten too close so it’s encouraging to see that gap widen some.
See a Google map displaying the boundaries of Saskatoon real estate “areas” here
Data collection and calculation for our statistical reports
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
There's 14 Comments So Far
April 16th, 2009 at 2:17 pm
Looks like inventory is bottomed out, at about the same time as last year. Will be interesting to see how high inventory can go, maybe exceeding last years with further conversions, new projects coming on line and all those cancelled listings still in play.
Nice to see the 3 month average price is still trending down, as is condo price per square foot – since condos seemed more over priced than houses.
I have to admit, I am surprised to see house prices so strong, and expect they will fall less than condos. Still, I’m expecting house prices to fall over time, maybe a longer time, with current inventory so much bigger than last years off season. If inventory doubles, even if sales are as high as last year which I doubt, I would expect a bigger drop in house prices.
Condos I expect to keep falling.
Prediction, $240,000 for mean price by Dec 2009.
April 16th, 2009 at 2:17 pm
Norm,
Are we still doing 2009 predictions, or is that off?
April 16th, 2009 at 2:18 pm
I read on the msn homepage that Harper is blaming the deficit on low oil prices! (all $85 Billion?)
Surprising, as the only province in a better financial situation than us is Alberta. And oil prices were on their way down during the election when Harper the economist (apparently actually dropped out of U of T first go around) was promising surpluses.
Why is this relevant? Well not really – as much as stock talk at least
Then again, if oil prices are leading Canada to deficit, Sask should be screwed
April 16th, 2009 at 2:18 pm
Norm,
I have a question for you about prices per square foot. On a resale home does this figure include the finished basement?
For example: A bungalow in Wildwood, built 30 years ago has 1400 sq. ft. on the main. The basement is fully finished with a family room, bedroom and washroom. The property is in good condition. How would one roughly get a ballpark price using your square footage calculation. How does one factor in the basement?
P.S. I know an actual property needs to be viewed by an agent and a CMA done before listing. I am just trying to get a handle on this square foot pricing.
April 16th, 2009 at 2:18 pm
Crikey,
“Are we still doing 2009 predictions, or is that off?”
You know, I was excited about that idea at first and then I start wondering, “what is the point in obtaining predictions from a whole bunch of anonymous people?”
I assure you that you are all more than “anonymous people” to me, but at the same time, most of you are kind of anonymous. Do you know what I mean? “And the winner is ANONYMOUS!” Where is the glory in that? I end up being the only person with a name attached to me prediction. When I think ahead, it kind of seems like playing a game with myself, except that I couldn’t possibly lose if I was actually playing myself. Feel free to set me straight.
Roger,
The cost per square foot number is calculated on “above grade” square feet and as you suggest, it’s not a reliable number to use in evaluating a home. Price per square foot doesn’t take into account important factors like location, additional development (basement, garage, etc), condition, or even the style of home (bungalows typically sell at a higher cost per square foot than a two-storey). I think that over time we can see some value trends in the cost per square foot numbers but you could not take it and apply it to the size of your house and feel the least bit confident that you’re even close.
April 16th, 2009 at 2:19 pm
Roger,
Further to your question, “How would one roughly get a ballpark price using your square footage calculation. How does one factor in the basement?”
You simply wouldn’t be able to draw any conclusions about the value of that property using this number. Consider this, Wildwood is in area 1. So is Sutherland, Arbor Creek and Briarwood (all very different areas, at different ranges of value). The cost per square foot for area 1 in January would just include too many potential variables to reliably use the number to value that Wildwood home. It’s quite possible that there isn’t even a Wildwood sale included in the average.
April 16th, 2009 at 2:20 pm
You’re right, there is no real point to the exercise, except that it would be kind of fun. Perhaps quite a bit more fun for us than you.
I’m not sure our anonymity an issue, though- yes, we are anonymous, but not really so anonymous to each other, either. Even if a name was attached to a prediction, I wouldn’t know a fellow blogger if I literally ran into them on the street.
Anyway, it is just a game and it doesn’t really matter- I’m just happy to hang out here once in awhile.
April 16th, 2009 at 2:20 pm
Thanks Crikey,
You make some good points.
The other part of it is just available time. The last time we discussed it, the interest level seemed a little limited and there were some different thoughts on how it should be done. Give me a few more days to think that through please. I do realize that the year is getting on.
April 16th, 2009 at 2:20 pm
I’d still be interested, if only as a bit of a ‘put your money where your mouth is, lay your predictions on the line for everyone to see’ bit of harmless fun.
I’ve got my predictions for January all lined up!
April 16th, 2009 at 2:23 pm
Interesting
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090212/ap_on_bi_go_ec_fi/retail_sales
April 16th, 2009 at 2:23 pm
Hey L.oki… it looks like those “70% off” and “3-for-the-price-of-1″ retail sales might be doing a little something, hmmm?
One might almost have expected a little better from poor Mr. Consumer.
April 16th, 2009 at 2:24 pm
Yes, as long as retailers are selling things below cost, buyers will buy.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t work well as a longterm business model.
April 16th, 2009 at 2:25 pm
Crikey and jrochest,
Please click me (Sound required for full effect)
Totally kidding of course.
April 16th, 2009 at 2:26 pm
Ah, darn it!
Low oil price cuts into Sask finances “helping to drop the province’s reserves to about $1 billion from $3.1 billion.”
http://tinyurl.com/busw25
$3.1 billion just doesn’t go as far as it used to.
Sask land sales plummet
http://tinyurl.com/cvsynd
Keen on Aberdeen?
http://tinyurl.com/bptcr4