The Saskatoon real estate market continued to move at a steady pace for the third week in a row as local agents reported 75 firm residential sales to the multiple listing service®, down just one from the previous week. That’s eleven fewer sales than were reported over the same period a year ago.

New listing activity fell lower as 175 Saskatoon homes hit the MLS®, for a weekly decline of 16 and an annual drop of 26.

MLS® inventory continued to gain ground as it almost always does at this time of year. By this morning, there were 1798 Saskatoon homes listed for sale on the service, an increase of 48 compared to last week’s close, but down from 1999 at the close of the same week last year. It’s certainly possible that things could change as the spring market heats up, but it’s beginning to look like inventory may continue at four-year lows like it has been for the past nine weeks. Most of the annual declines can be counted in the single-family home category which sits at 949 today, up just 14 from the week before, and down from 1073 (about 11 percent) a year ago. Condominium inventory is now at 755 as it grew by 35 units this week to come within four of where it stood at this point during 2017.

Some high-priced home sales pushed both the median price and the average price for the week considerably higher to $329,900 and $347,473 respectively. In spite of the weekly strength, the four-week median price barely budged as it moved just five hundred dollars higher to $320,000 which is about nineteen thousand dollars lower than it was a year earlier. The six-week average price gained some ground as it increased by more than five thousand dollars to close the week at $337,556 which is down nearly fifteen thousand dollars compared to the final numbers seems at the end of the same week last year.

Just one fortunate seller managed to get an offer above their asking price. That deal paid them a small $100 bonus. Another 68 sellers found themselves in a negotiation that wound up netting the buyers an average discount of $14,207. That number was skewed by some large discounts on the three highest priced sales for the period.

Here is a breakdown of what the sales to listing price ratio looked like on this week’s sales. Please note that those sales that do show a sale price that is greater than the list price are all new properties that spent some period of time on the market, and most likely included additional improvements that were not reflected in the original list price. We report these to you as “at list price sales”, which is likely too generous in some cases, but it’s simply not practical to obtain the full details of each sale.

More weekly stats and numbers for those who love them.

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 Vidorra

Saskatoon real estate sales in the residential category hit 76 this week, falling one from the previous period, to finish up on an annual basis for the first time since the final week of January. There were just 54 sales reported during the second week of April last year.

Meanwhile, new listing numbers saw a slight decline falling to 191 from 199 the week before. Just as sales numbers increased annually for the first time in a long while, this is the only week this year in which the number of new listings generated exceeded those recorded for the same period during the previous year. Over the same period of time in 2017, there were 13 fewer Saskatoon homes listed for sale on the multiple listing service®.

Active residential MLS® listings continued a slow trend of broadening annual declines, even as the database grew by 28 over the past seven days to reach 1750. That number is now down by 213 homes from where it stood a year ago. Once again, the numbers are at a four year low (for this particular week), now for the seventh consecutive week. A closer look at the major housing categories shows 935 single-family homes for sale in Saskatoon, up from 912 a week earlier, and down from 1054 at this time last year. Condo inventory grew by just six this week to reach 722, which represents a drop of 25 units from a year earlier.

A strong showing of home buyers at the market’s entry levels, combined with weaker sales at the upper end, brought both the weekly median price and the average sale price for the period lower to $314,450 and $314,056 respectively. The six-week average price dropped a bit more than two thousand dollars from last week’s close to $332,135. That’s roughly twelve thousand dollars below levels recorded at this time last year. The four-week median price also edged lower, falling by $500 on a weekly basis to settle at $319,500. That’s just over three thousand dollars lower than it was a year ago.

A few sellers found some buyer love this week as three deals closed above the asking price by an average of $12,767. That average was heavily skewed by one sale that went $38,000 above the seller’s list price. On the other hand, 68 of this week’s sales required some grinding to bring to a close. Those buyers saw an average discount of $12,268 but the time the dust had settled.

Here is a breakdown of what the sales to listing price ratio looked like on this week’s sales. Please note that those sales that do show a sale price that is greater than the list price are all new properties that spent some period of time on the market, and most likely included additional improvements that were not reflected in the original list price. We report these to you as “at list price sales”, which is likely too generous in some cases, but it’s simply not practical to obtain the full details of each sale.

More weekly stats and numbers for those who love them.

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 Vidorra