Active Saskatoon real estate listings held steady this week showing a total of 393 units including 169 single family homes and 178 condominiums across all Saskatoon neighbourhoods and all price ranges. New listings dropped to 73 homes, from 85 last week.
Residential unit sales of both houses and condos inched back up over the 50 mark for the first time since mid-December. Area 1 was most active producing 22 of those sales.
This January has a similar feel when compared to the same month last year, at least when it comes to inquiries. The phone is ringing a lot and a steady stream of email inquiries continue to find their way to our inbox daily. It’s amazing though how much of an impact the additional listing we have this year makes. While it looks like we will probably exceed last January’s sale numbers, buyers are generally tougher and they don’t feel near the pressure that they were feeling at this time last year. That’s a good thing for everyone.
Just the same, there are some signs that the spring market is just around the corner. I note that this week produced the highest percentage of “at list” or “above list price” sales since the week of October 1-5.
Additionally, the average underbid declined again for the fourth week in a row. The difference between the average list price and the average sale price has been gradually, but consistently declining for several weeks now. The bottom line is that the inventory of Saskatoon houses is still very low, in spite of the increased level we have this year. Buyers just don’t have very many options and the market will likely continue to favour sellers through the spring months.
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.
Follow our daily updates on Twitter @SaskatoonHomes.
Norm Fisher
Royal LePage Saskatoon Real Estate
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{ 21 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi Norm,
I notice that housing demand in January has come down compared to the past few months by way of percent of listed houses selling. It looks like this happens every year, probably due to people recovering from Christmas spending. Based on the stats, we should see stronger demand from February on.
Other than that, the most noticable thing is the increased number of purchases being made at list price. At 29% that’s the highest I’ve see from you in your weekly stats. I agree that this in conjunction with a decreasing average underbid could show that things are starting to get more competitive.
My friends just bought a house at asking price. They thought they were putting out a “feeler” bid, but won the house a bit unexpectedly. It’s questionable whether there was much competition for this house, they may have been able to win it with an underbid. I think now they’re feeling some regret because it wasn’t exactly the house they wanted.
If people believe things are going to pick up in the spring we’re only going to see more of this type of buying. More people are going to be unsatisfied with their big purchase – especially if the house market recedes in the next couple years. I really hope people keep their wits about them this time around. With the stock markets in such turmoil, and the U.S. (in my opinion) already in a recession, our economy is going to be somewhat unstable.
Let’s hope that buyers maintain their cool.
If one is buying a house, it does not hurt to wait until the last minute to submit a bid. Have your realtor see how many other bids there are. If you are the only one, then give a reasonable offer. You and the seller can haggle over the price then. If there are more than 2 bids and you really want the house you may have to up the ante.
Heather D,
When a person is buying anything, house, car, a vacation. It gives them satisfaction that they got a good deal. I did this when I went on a vacation last year. I thought I had a great deal from CAA, told everybody about the great deal I got. Talked more about the deal than the trip. But if I would have waited a month later and booked on expedia, I would have saved almost $600 on a $3400 trip. But now,I just look at the trip and what I enjoyed instead of what I could have saved.
It seems like your friends would be more satisfied if they would have went lower in the price. Hopefully they like the house they are in and in the long run enjoy the house instead of dwelling on the couple thousand they could have saved.
George,
Good point. We’re not seeing many of these “delayed presentation of offer” listings right now so a buyer may also me wise to get their offer on the table early, before there are other offers and try to get an agreement quickly. Of course, a buyer always has their best chance if theirs is the only offer and sometimes that opportunity is early on.
Either way, “a reasonable offer” is probably the best approach regardless of what else in on the table. If another offer exists, it’s not unreasonable for a buyer to say, “We love your house and we’re interested in making an offer. Please let us know if you’re unable to reach an agreement with this other buyer, and we will put something forward.”
George
Waiting to the last minute and finding out how many other offer there are is a great plan if you are buying a house. If i was selling a house and found out my agent told people how many offers were all ready in and how much they were worth i would be very upset about it.
The price of a trip and the price of a house have two very different and incompatible impacts.
The price of your house results in an amount of interest that you pay over a long term.
The price difference on a vacation is cash up front, gone once.
Again, this forced compromise nonsense rears it’s benign head.
If you can’t get a home on an underbid, don’t bid on it. Drive the market down back to where it should be and do your neighborhood a favor.
Lest it fill up with renters and Pontiac Solstices.
Rob,
No realtors are NOT supposed to tell you how much someone’s bid is on a house, but they can tell you if there’s other people who are interested and if there are offers on the table.
Alex,
I’d love to see people sticking together and refusing to drive the market up even further. Unfortunately people are herd animals, I swear, the minute they hear russling in the bushes they leap to their feet and take-off without realizing it was just the wind. ;’)
(In this case the bush=housing market, and the wind=gossip)
http://www.cbc.ca/cp/business/080123/b0123100A.html
Canadian real estate market safe
Heather and Rob,
Heather’s correct that agents should not be disclosing details of other offers. It’s not only unethical, but it’s illegal.
Oddly, I know of one instance where it happened and it was ordered by a judge (I’m sure that it does happen occasionally). Our brokerage had a property listed for sale which was ordered sold by the courts. Upon presentation of a number of offers, the judge insisted that we tell each party what the high offer was. When my agent approached me, I called the Real Estate Commission to seek their advise. I was told that I best follow the court’s order. Apparently, a judge trumps the real estate act.
The Real Estate Act is silent on the issue of disclosing the existence of competitive offers though it does state that a registrant has an obligation to treat all parties to a transaction fairly. I suspect that would mean that if disclosure is made, it should be made to all parties and not just one.
Agency law imposes a duty of confidentiality on an agent and there is no right for an agent to disclose that a seller has received an offer without the seller’s consent.
Most of us understand that multiple offers improves the sellers position in most instances, but it’s not always the case.
Let’s say for instance that Rob and Heather both offer on the same property. Rob offers $325,000 and Heather offers $310,000. Both parties are informed by the seller’s agent that there is a second offer, but neither is aware of what price the other is offering. The agent has made this disclosure assuming that he is acting in his client’s best interest. Rob likes the house, but he’s not crazy about getting wrapped up in a bidding war, so he says, “you know, I’ve changed my mind and I’m withdrawing my offer.” The agent has just chased him, and $15,000 away.
An agent should always discuss the possibility of multiple offers with a seller, early on, probably at the initial listing appointment. They should advise the seller of all of the potential risks and benefits of disclosing the existence of other offers. This is an issue that the seller has to make the call on.
About three years ago, our board of realtors opted to add this procedure to our MLS rules.
Heather,
For sure. There’s no confusion over the reality of the situation for me. Often I skirt the obvious to see if the detractors are really in it to make a point – or just stroke themselves…
It is an unavoidable truth that you can’t coordinate an entire market with intentions. What you can do is reverse the stigma and create a kind of un-buzz.
One way or another, the booms across Canada are going to be met with some form of wealth-based issues. What we can do as citizens in communities is begin to taint the idea of houses-as-investments. Force that backlash sooner and thus, be prepared for it.
This means seeding resentment for the notion of rental units, flippers, etc… The second hand housing market needs to be left alone and the municipalities have to recognize that there is no point to fighting suburban sprawl. It just pits the wealthy against the less wealthy when you don’t.
I would love to see a healthy builder’s market, real estate market, etc… But it can’t be based on cannibalizing such delicate existing economies. There is a way that everyone can win.
(*Disclaimer* And if this all somehow leads to another visionary starting up a communist accusation, know this: I would never seek to favor a system that forces everyone to have equal wealth.
No, I simply would ensure they don’t get that money in the first place. I would make sure that we stop paying the rich more and paying the less rich for once.)
Norm, sorry about the tangents. It is all related, I assure you.
Jedi,
If the real estate association says housing will be fine, it must be true.
Let’s hope that we can maintain some stability on this side of the border. It would be kinda sad to see the economy tank just when Saskatchewan is finally starting to show some progress and hope (I don’t mean in housing specifically).
Alex,
No need to apologize. I’m looking forward to your ideas on how absolutely everyone can own a home. That would be a near perfect world I’m sure.
Norm,
I don’t necessarily say that everyone has to own a home. By the very nature of my concern is one important detail: Choice.
It’s the choice or the option if you want to call it that. If we remove that opportunity from everyone, that is when you encounter problems.
So, some people will want to continue renting, perhaps because they are in a job that has them moving. Perhaps they have a greater opportunity than owning a home to build wealth.
The most important bits here that continue to be missed are that we have to stop consolidating wealth under less people.
That doesn’t mean remove the right to run a business. That doesn’t mean tax the rich disproportionately to the less rich.
It means we need to stop taking every ounce of generated wealth in our economy and handing it over to the self important higher ups. For all their wealth, they could go a decade without a raise and live better than most a decade after that!
For people like myself? It is a known fact that the amount of money I am paid today is the bare minimum. Businesses know these numbers well because so long as they hit it, they can always act with incredulous surprise when people say “it’s not enough”.
So, we have a system in place where by “boiling the frog”, people can be made poorer and poorer without noticing. This slow, gradual change has finally moved out of that imperceptible range and has manifested new degrees of poverty with the sharp changes in property prices.
Norm,
That hypothetical situation seems odd, but I take it you’ve witnessed this happen before. If a person has already made an offer (of $315,000) and they are told there is another bidder, why would they not leave their offer ‘as is’ if they are not interested in going any higher, instead of withdrawing? Afterall, they’ve already bothered with all the paperwork. That being said, wouldn’t they also lose their deposit? People can be very strange, when the mood hits them. LoL
Alex,
I’m definitely doing my part to ‘unbuzz’ Saskatoon’s market. This can influence what happens in the spring and summer of this year. There will be less panic buying because more people are now aware of how their actions can affect the market. Also, many are realizing that steady growth is better for our economy than the craziness that ensued last year.
Alex said: “It means we need to stop taking every ounce of generated wealth in our economy and handing it over to the self important higher ups.”
Whoa… that’s a stretch. Some examples?
I agree about generating the un-buzz. When you look at some of the stuff on the mls right now, its quite ridiculous. How about that $499,900 2.5 story in Nutana. Looks like they ran out of money halfway through the flip. Hope to see more of that soon.
Mort,
If you take a critical eye and point it at just about any service you partake, the proof is there.
Sorry, that wasn’t intended as a deflection, but look at SaskTel. This is not a discussion of the merits of private vs. public as here in Manitoba, MTS is doing the exact same thing.
They are a greedy and despicable company with very deceptive practices. For most people, it’s a stretch to think that of their faithful telephone provider. I have only one name for those people: DirectWest.
If that isn’t enough for you, let’s look at cellular phone companies. If the current media attention they have been receiving isn’t enough of a red flag for you, study the industry a little harder. You’ll find that Canada is one of a kind in the arteficial limitations imposed on the services provided. Ultimately, the providers are being less than honest and simply milking consumer apathy.
This is what it all boils down to. Apathy.
We have been complacent with our wages. We have been disinterested to the destructive effects of property-as-an-investment.
More? Car prices, bank fees, gas prices. There is an assault out there of unfounded cost increases all designed to provide a profit without providing a product or service – or even an improvement to existing ones! People have become so accustomed to paying for nothing, the businesses know it.
So don’t be surprised when there’s an administration or system access fee attached to everything and anything. The free market “you want it, you subsidize it” is a huge dishonest ripoff designed to inflate the cost of the most menial things.
When will society say enough is enough? When will we draw the line? To hell with the anti-tax sentiment, at least that comes back to us somehow!
If you ask me, the malignant greed tax that is breeding in our economy needs to be put to an end. That requires honesty, standards and transparency.
Here’s a little more for everyone to read from CCPA:
http://www.growinggap.ca/node/85
If you read anything, read this:
http://www.growinggap.ca/files/WhatsWrongWithInequality%20Cunningham%20LONG%20FINAL.pdf
Thanks Alex.
I did read the paper and it’s pretty interesting stuff.
Did you check out the video that Northstar put forward a couple of posts ago? The interview with Aaron Russo? I watched the whole hour and found it fascinating. He goes off in some directions which we’ve been told are “crazy” but his basic premise is that the “elite” are in control of the US economy through ownership of the federal reserve and that their goal is financial domination of the world. He claims to have been invited into this elite society and that his insights come directly from the horse’s mouth. You would find it very interesting if you can find the time to watch it.
I’m not saying that I believe the guy but you’ll see similar concerns and ideas that are prevalent in the paper you’ve directed us to.
On the subject of economy…
If your not interested, don’t watch, but for me, something I came to realize a few years ago, while working 80 hours a week – a slave to the wage – and it doesnt make anyone that happy. That’s why I tried to avoid the same situation in Saskatoon. Rather be with freinds and familly than have a bunch of drywall chained to my neck.
http://www.storyofstuff.com/?gclid=CKCy2evbuZACFRGCGgodZxvDMA
Cindy,
Great video! Thanks for sharing that.
Sadly, when I look back on the last year of my life, those great moments with friends and family are few and far between. It wasn’t so much driven by consumption as just not knowing how to deal with the sudden rush of inquiries but there’s no question that I spent far too much time “in production.” I am taking steps on a daily basis to reclaim portions of my life and hoping to find greater rewards as a result. This video is a good reminder of what’s really important. Thanks again.
Cindy,
Yet another adept frame-up of some very real problems. I think the attitudes she draws attention to alone are worth it (not to say our planet isn’t).
Many problems I talk about relate closely to this presentation. The biggest one of all however is once again the employers.
Most of the work for cleaning up our economy is being pushed onto the people. Why? How?
Let’s look at her stick figure diagram:
Government, controlled by businesses is mislead into thinking that people are the core of the issue. We are to be retrained into a perception of a greener way of life.
Ultimately green solutions for people are a daydream at best. More expensive light bulbs that offer savings which take more time to realize than it takes to go bankrupt.
Hybrid technology cars while not only being a stifled and stillborn concept are also completely out of most peoples’ price ranges!
Trash disposal has become so regulated the difference between what you can throw out and what you can’t boils down to nothing more than presentation!
How can any one person possibly afford to carry the burden of punishment decided for the whole?!
Their wages and salaries?
So the employers want us to reduce how much we use, in spite of it costing us more to do so. Yet they don’t pay us more to ensure it is an option for us?!
Right. I curb my consumer habits, rest assured. I do it more and more with each passing day. Trust me, it’s tough even for a zero-brand guy like me: I have a lifestyle where I like to enjoy the latest and greatest technology. I don’t have a job if I don’t ride airplanes, rent cars, and stay in hotels!
I’m not criticizing the values in this presentation but – none of this is possible because of this warped “you want it, you subsidize it” thought disease.