A closer look at the Saskatoon real estate statistics for July 2008
After two months of sluggish sales in the Saskatoon real estate market, demand picked up some in July. Total unit sales of condominiums and houses came in behind July 2007 numbers (411 units), but slightly higher than sales in 2005 (340) and 2006 (337), and up just over 10% compared to June, which closed with 299 sales. Average prices in this category didn’t fair as well, falling nearly $19,000 from their peak of $313,109 to settle at $294,306. Year-over-year, prices in this category were up nearly 20% from $245,306. Average days on the market increased from 21 days in June to 30 days in July.
Any loss to unit sales can be attributed to the “houses” category as record level prices curbed demand. Unit sales fell to 228, up from 212 in June, but down significantly from July 2007 when 315 houses traded hands. The average price of a Saskatoon house remained up about 27% over July 2007 when prices reached $253,446, but slid from nearly $340,000 in June to $322,715 in July. The average cost per square foot of a Saskatoon house dropped $9.00 through July when compared to last month.
Remarkably, condo sales for the month of July reached 111 units, up from 87 in June and actually beating July of 2007 when 96 condos traded. Prices took a fairly significant slide dropping to $235,952 from $248,681 last month, and up just 6.5% from $221,495 in July 2007. The average cost per square foot in the condo category increased $5.00 suggesting that the units that traded were smaller on average than those that sold in June.
See a Google map displaying the boundaries of Saskatoon real estate “areas” here
Data collection and calculation for our statistical reports
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Norm Fisher
Royal LePage Saskatoon Real Estate
There's 6 Comments So Far
April 29th, 2009 at 10:38 am
Wow, condos up just 6.5% from July 2007?
That’s surprising. Wonder how much they are off their peak. Actually very possible condo prices could fall another 6.5% or more because of huge supply and more conversions.
To actually have condos worth less than last year would be a pretty be symbolic sign of a correction. And in upcoming months, condo prices will be competing against higher 2007 prices.
April 29th, 2009 at 10:38 am
Last August, condos were up to $230 on average. I’m going to guess that we come in below that for August 2008. It will mark the first, “down from last year.” Probably not by much, but by some I would guess.
April 29th, 2009 at 10:38 am
A very impressive and interesting site Norm. You seem to advocate transparency for your vocation. Could you tell me with all of the statistics that the industry gathers and reports, can it also tell us how many properties have been purchased by the same people who moved in? It doesn’t seem that it should be that difficult. In my view, what the industry or Municipalities seems not to want to report is just how many of the sales are by speculators from both inside and outside of the Sask marketplace. Wouldn’t this be something of interest to most folks?
April 29th, 2009 at 10:39 am
Colin,
Thank you.
This would be interesting to know. The real estate industry in Saskatoon s made up of about 40 different companies. Our local association has tried in the past to gather information about buyers but so far, brokers have been fairly uncooperative in supplying details about their clients. I don’t know of any other way that one could find that out.
April 29th, 2009 at 10:39 am
Norm,
I’m going out on a limb here but I’m quite certain VIREB – Vancouver Island Real Estate Board, “requires” (used loosely), a survey form be completed with each sale/listing. I am not sure of the time frame but I think they compile the information annually. While not particularly relevant but as an aside and with some degree of irony, their EO used to be at your board.
The results they get cover a wide spectrum of community from Duncan in the south to the north of the island. I have seen this report from time to time and it is an eye opener that fits into Colin’s suggestion. I don’t think it is published on their web site but you may know a realtor there who can help you out if it is of interest.
Some of us wanted this done in Vancouver but we have a much bigger elephant to move so it never happened. The board did commission a report 1.5 years ago and while informative it really didn’t give us a look at the speculator side.
April 29th, 2009 at 10:40 am
FWIW: Landcor.com in BC estimate ‘foreign’ ownership by tracking where tax assessments are mailed to…