Saskatoon real estate week in review: July 5-9 2010
Following a soft sales week, largely precipitated by a short Canada Day work week, unit sales bounced back as Saskatoon real estate agents reported a total of ninety house and condo sales to the local MLS®. Compared to the previous week, unit sales moved higher by thirty-two but finished just below the ninety-one homes that traded during the same week last year.
New listings also came on strong with 126 home sellers offering a house or condo for sale on the Saskatoon MLS® system, a gain of forty units compared to last week and almost two dozen more than were listed during the same period in 2009.
Click the image for a larger version of the graph.
After tumbling fifty-five units as we entered the month of July to mark the first substantial weekly decline we had seen in 2010, the inventory of active residential MLS® listings snapped back to the near straight line that it had been following for the five weeks prior. Total inventory remained steady at 1373, a gain of just one on the previous week, but fifty units more than were available at the close of the same week one year ago. By this time last year active listings were in steady decline falling almost every week through the balance of the year. While inventory seems to be a bit more stubborn this year, active sellers may be somewhat encouraged that it’s lower now than it was six weeks ago, and that many of the listings that expired at the end of June may remain on the sidelines for now.
Click the image for a larger version of the graph.
Cancelled and withdrawn listings bounced higher to reach fifty-one units but as usual, roughly half of those were immediately re-listed to add to the active listings numbers once more. Most of them came back at a lower asking price. An additional seventy-six MLS® listings recorded a price change over the course of the week.
The average selling price of a Saskatoon home surged back this week, reaching $296,479 and continuing the erratic up and down bounce that has been going on for several weeks. The six-week average inched higher and continued near the peak range for the year growing by nearly three thousand dollars over the previous week. The new number of $298,616 represents a gain to the six-week average of nearly seventeen thousand dollars over the same week last year. The four-week median price showed its fourth consecutive slide producing modest week-over-week declines to finish just below $275,000 for the first time since early April. This week’s four-week median price of $274,350 fell short of the number generated during the same week in 2009 when it was $276,500 and marks the first year-over-year decline in the four-week median sale price since February opened.
Click the image for a larger version of the graph.
The vast majority of the firm sales reported to the Saskatoon multiple listing service® this week showed a selling price below asking (83/90). The average underbid came in at $9,108, a three percent discount. Four sellers reported an above list sale price with the numbers being severally skewed by one new home sale including some extras and produced a sale price that exceeded asking by $60K. With that sale excluded, the average overbid was just $1,475. Three sellers got their full list price.
Click the image for a larger version of the chart.
Highlights from the news this week
First-time buyers want more for less
BMO lowers mortgage rates
Housing market stable (local)
House prices and sales to decline: Royal LePage
Remai buys choice 8th Street site (local)
Drop in home sales may be sign of peak
My mover sounded great on Craigslist
New-house prices rise in May
Entry-level houses prices rise, condos gain most (local)
Calgary tower now Canada’s second tallest building
Prices of new homes rose this spring (local)
House prices level
High marks for Canada’s real estate market
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.
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
There's 13 Comments So Far
July 10th, 2010 at 1:01 pm
Hi Norm,
Great work on the blog as always. I was wondering if you have stats for Caswell Hill detached houses (single and/or two storey).
July 10th, 2010 at 1:52 pm
Jon,
Thanks. It’s not really possible to get meaningful general stats from one area over the short term because the sample size is so small. We do have a few numbers on our Caswell Hill neighbourhood page including a six-month rolling average for single-family homes. It’s under the “2009 sales” tab about two-thirds of the way down the page.
http://www.teamfisher.com/saskatoon-neighbourhoods/caswell-hill/
July 11th, 2010 at 2:19 pm
I feel the median price tells more about the market.
Also, Norm, what is the trend for price per sqft recently?
July 11th, 2010 at 3:50 pm
Cindy,
Houses are roughly 10% higher in June 2010 compared to June 2009. Condos are up an obscene amount on a ppsf basis.
July 11th, 2010 at 3:53 pm
Hey Norm,
Thanks for the blog entry this weekend. Is there anyway to tell the total number of active single family homes and condo listings at this time?
July 11th, 2010 at 4:19 pm
Hey Toby,
820 single-family homes and 437 condos.
July 12th, 2010 at 1:27 pm
I guess the ppsf has been driven high by entry level houses? I have a feeling that houses over $400,000 didn’t experience such increase if not a decrease. They are more decent in terms of ppsf and quality-to-price. Maybe I’m wrong…
But Norm if the price does come down in the near future, which will suffer more in your opinion, the entry-level homes or higher end ones?
July 12th, 2010 at 1:38 pm
Oh, another thing. I feel in today’s market, any detached homes that hasn’t been well renovated or not in a quiet location or only with 2 bds can sit in the market for a fairly long time. Even though the selling price is higher compared to 07, counting in the time and money put in the upgrade of the properties, the increase seems fairly reasonable. But this seems not true for new homes or condos… Any different opinions?
July 12th, 2010 at 3:40 pm
Cindy,
if a house is sitting on the market 3,4 or more months it is not priced right. Sellers need to be competitive in order to move their house. Gone are the days of bidding wars and this past week saw 83 sales out of 90 that under bid the listing price if I read that correctly. Inventory is high but not sky high and sales are doing well here, but if we catch what is ailing some other places in the country, there will be reason for worry for sellers. But if they price it right, it should move.
July 12th, 2010 at 7:59 pm
Cindy,
I think your observations are pretty much bang on though I don’t discount the significance of the cost PSF change. In Q2, sales over 500K were higher than they were last year. That said, there hasn’t been much upward movement at that end because of the large amount of inventory. I think the lower end of the market is feeling the greatest pinch right now.
So true that it’s hard to get noticed if you don’t have an attractive location or excellent condition. Absent those qualities, the price has got to be right just as Doug suggests.
July 13th, 2010 at 8:15 am
Hey Norm,
Any upside left in the Area1-2 market?
You thoughts? Thanks,
July 13th, 2010 at 10:06 pm
L.oki,
Personally, I don’t think prices will be any higher at this time next year. July and August look like they’ll be quite and then the units really begin to decline. I still feel that ongoing population growth will keep us from crashing but I think that new home builders are probably bringing on enough new product to prevent a real shortage.
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