Saskatoon real estate week in review: March 29-April 2 2010
Just as the Saskatoon real estate market was showing signs of heating up a short work week brought unit sales back down to pre-spring levels. Local agents reported just sixty-five house and condo sales this week, down from ninety-four the week before and falling short of the seventy-four Saskatoon homes sold during the same week last year.
A short week didn’t keep prospective sellers from getting their property listed though. One hundred and forty-two properties were added to the MLS database as new listings over the course of the week including one hundred and two single-family detached houses and forty condominiums.
Click the image for a larger version of the graph.
The inventory of active MLS listings in Saskatoon moved higher for the ninth consecutive week pushing to 1,054 units, a gain of thirty-eight properties over the close of the previous week, but still down from this time in 2009 by nearly three hundred and fifty homes. As of today, there are 630 single-family detached houses for sale, up thirty-five from last week to mark the second consecutive week during which nearly all of the inventory gains could be attributed to this property type. There are currently 372 Saskatoon condos showing an active status, down from last week’s number by one. At this time in 2009 there were 859 detached houses and 453 condominiums for sale in the city of Saskatoon.
Click the image for a larger version of the graph.
Cancelled and withdrawn listings matched last week’s number of twenty-four. Seventeen of those homes were immediately relisted on the multiple listing service to set their “days on the market” back to zero. An additional forty-two properties took a price adjustment this week.
The average selling price of a Saskatoon home moved lower on a week-over-week basis by six thousand dollars to $283,496 and finished roughly ten thousand dollars above last year’s level. The six-week average slipped lower by thirty-seven hundred dollars to $282,234 to finish fifteen thousand dollars above the same week in 2009. The four-week median moved up by twenty-eight hundred dollars from last week to $273,839 and recorded a gain of nearly fourteen thousand dollars on a year-over-year basis.
Click the image for a larger version of the graph.
Ten of sixty-five sales reported a final price that exceeded the asking price by an average of $7,743. I believe that’s the highest average overbid and the highest percentage of overbid sales to date this year. Three properties received particularly large overbids, the likes of which we haven’t seen in quite some time, producing numbers that were $16,000, $17,000 and $20,000 above list price. Remarkably, eight of the ten overbid sales were priced well above Saskatoon’s average selling price including three that topped the $500K mark to prove that even a price range swimming in excess inventory can catch a lucky break with some preparation and a sound pricing strategy.
Click the image for a larger version of the chart.
Highlights from the news this week
Banks bump up mortgage rates
Our unstoppable housing market may have met its match
U.S. property plunge – How low will it go?
Tighter mortgage rules may lead to more cheating
Scrapping MLS would make everyone lose
End of historically low mortgage rates is here
High house prices stabilizing: Teranet
First time buyers make the jump
Many struggle to afford their homes
The Lotus has blossomed – Vancouver detached homes over $1 million in March
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
There's 18 Comments So Far
April 3rd, 2010 at 2:02 pm
Interesting, real estate in Regina is up, to an average of $250,000 per home.
So still a Regina bargain, even though we’re still (slowly) going up in price.
April 3rd, 2010 at 3:41 pm
Norm, what are your thoughts on the recent flurry of overbids? Seems a bit unusual… Maybe the April 19 deadline is starting to influence bidding.
April 3rd, 2010 at 5:58 pm
I don’t know Jason but we don’t have a single buyer who is expressing any concern about April 19. As I’ve said before, I think most of the major lenders have been qualifying their clients at the five-year rate for awhile. Interest rates are probably a larger concern and I expect that some of the fence sitters have probably been motivated by the recent increase. Still, this week was a bit out of step in terms of the percentage of deals that were overbid and the average amount. Could be a fluke.
I’m a bit surprised by the type of product that’s drawing the overbids. Lots of high end stuff, some where there’s really no shortage of inventory.
April 5th, 2010 at 11:07 am
Norm, it is interesting to be sure. So with respect to inventories, are we still looking at a very limited supply for entry-level and a fair bit more on the high-end – or are we starting to see things balance out in terms of more an equal supply in each category?
April 5th, 2010 at 6:11 pm
Jason,
It’s a similar situation to our past discussions. Houses priced 250-400 show a supply of about 2.5 months. It jumps to 9.9 months when you look at detached product over $400K. Condos priced 150-300 show a 2.8 month supply. There is nearly 15 months of supply above the 300K mark. Condos above $500K. 2 sales this year. Inventory at 40 units. Ouch!
April 5th, 2010 at 8:59 pm
Interesting Globe and Mail article
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/personal-finance/many-homeowners-should-have-rented/article1518767/
I think it was Crikey a year ago that said much the same – that renting initially, and saving the difference, was actually a better idea
April 5th, 2010 at 11:08 pm
Ouch indeed. That condo project in Varsity View still appears to be going ahead, too – and from what I recall most of those units are priced well in excess of $300k (with quite a few being in the high $300’s to mid $400’s). I haven’t heard anything on River Landing; has the city decided to give them another chance?
April 6th, 2010 at 6:25 am
That decision was referred to administration for a recommendation at an upcoming meeting. I expect it will likely move forward.
April 6th, 2010 at 7:33 am
What is the condo project in Varsity View called, and where is it going up? I couldn’t find any info on it.
April 6th, 2010 at 8:08 am
Mike,
I think Jason is probably thinking of the Silverleaf Condos, actually located a bit east of Varsity View in Greystone Heights at 2730 Main Street. If so, these units appear to start around $269,900 and go well into the high $400’s. I see they have a unit listed MLS that’s 1077 square feet with ne underground stall for $289,900.
April 6th, 2010 at 12:50 pm
Norm, I was actually referring to the one under construction on College Drive in Varsity View: http://www.jbblackestates.com (wasn’t aware of the Silverleaf ones). There’s no prices (that I could find), but I inquired about a year ago and they were uber-expensive (ie: $300k+) at that time. Not sure if they’ve refined the design or adjusted the price points.
April 6th, 2010 at 1:02 pm
Of course. My mistake. I forgot about those. This listing says, “32 luxury units ranging from mid $400,000 to $519,900.”
April 6th, 2010 at 2:32 pm
Hmmm… So with another 32 luxury units over $400k, how many years of inventory does that now leave us with?
April 6th, 2010 at 3:37 pm
Hard to know. If they have sold a handful of them it could actually lower the “years of inventory.”
April 6th, 2010 at 5:04 pm
“•If the cost of the house, today, exceeds the value of your human capital, in all likelihood you shouldn’t be a homeowner, period, regardless of how low the (current) monthly payments are or how low the interest rate is. This is likely another one of the most important concepts within strategic financial planning for individuals.”
– Moshe Milevsky
I haven’t completed the full article and wonder what is the guideline for one to know if the cost of the house exceeds the value of his/her human capital? Housing price v.s. assets? What percentage?
April 6th, 2010 at 5:14 pm
Woah those JB units are that expensive? I was in one of them, we did work in their show suite. That was a year ago or more. They’re tiny…
April 6th, 2010 at 5:50 pm
Mike,
So you think $478 per square foot is “expensive?”
I suppose they are probably decked out with all of the trappings of extraordinary wealth.
Cindy,
From Wikipedia: “Human capital refers to the stock of competences, knowledge and personality attributes embodied in the ability to perform labor so as to produce economic value. It is the attributes gained by a worker through education and experience.”
This could be a challenge to figure out, even for someone who is good with numbers.
April 6th, 2010 at 10:20 pm
Slightly (or totally) off topic, but was in the downtown grocery store this evening. Met the two owners – father and daughter – and they were absolutely delightful. I only had a couple of minutes so grabbed what I needed and didn’t have a chance to properly look around, but I’m determined to support good local downtown businesses so hopefully it works out for them.
I didn’t have time to tell if they were priced about the same as everywhere else. My husband and I were discussing about how they may have a fine line to walk in terms of selection. They will have the couples like us who are happy to pay embarrassingly stupid prices for unground coffee beans and yet still need to carry good basic cheaper goods for those living downtown on a tight budget. I can’t imagine that would be an easy balance for an independent grocer.
Hopefully, it all works out well.