Scott Schierling at Re/Max Saskatoon: April 2011

Wednesday, 20 April 2011

The First Quarter Residential Resale Home Market Ended Strong

The 2011 first quarter sales market activity continued to be strong. Saskatoon REALTORS® assisting 346 home buyers with the purchase of their dream home. This number was down 4% from March 2010 when 359 homes were sold. Year to Date unit sales numbers stand at 821 that number up 6% from 2010 when the total stood at 772. The $300,000 to $350,000 price range continues to be the most active. The average number of days to sell in the month of January was 36 days.

The average residential selling price in March was $294,025.00 this number up 4% from March 2010 when the average selling price was $282,393.00.

The average residential price is derived by taking the month’s dollar volume of homes sold and dividing that number by the unit sales number. The percentage of change should not be used unilaterally as prices vary from area to area. Consumers wishing an accurate estimate of value for their home should contact a REALTOR® member to do a comparative market analysis.

REALTORS® listed 694 homes in March that number down 6% from March 2010 when 739 properties were listed for sale. Year to date 1769 homes have been listed for sale that number up 11% when the 2010 first quarter ended with 1,599 being placed on the market. Home buyers had 1219 homes to select from at the end of March.

In areas surrounding Saskatoon sales activity was very active with 91 homes selling that number down 6% from March 2010 when 96 homes were sold. REALTORS® listed 274 properties in these areas in the month of March. That number is up 9% from March 2010 when 300 properties were placed on the market for sale. Year to date 664 properties have been listed for sale up 9% from the 2010 year to date number of 607. The average number of days to sell in areas around Saskatoon during the month of March was 66 days.

The new home market remains strong with steady city lot sales taking place. Interest rates remain unchanged being favorable to purchase that next home. Job creation in the Saskatoon area remains steady. The forecast for the next quarter of 2011 is for listing and sales numbers to continue to balance and for prices level or move up slightly due to demand.

Harry H. Janzen, CAE

Executive Officer

Saskatoon Region Association of REALTORS®

hjanzen@srar.ca

343-3440

Wednesday, 6 April 2011

Saskatoon Real Estate Largely Sellers Market Over Past Decade

People selling homes in Saskatoon dominated the real estate market over the past decade as market conditions favoured sellers five times as much as buyers since 2000, according to a new report.
The Re/Max Housing Barometer Report says Saskatoon has been a sellers market for much of the last 11 years, with buyers briefly controlling the market in the last half of 2008 and early-2009.
The report compared the ratio of monthly sales to new listings in 18 Canadian cities over an 11-year period, starting in January 2000 and ending in December 2010.
Based on the ratio, home sellers controlled the Saskatoon real estate market 48.5 per cent of the time. The market was balanced 43.2 per cent of the time and buyers had the upper hand 8.3 per cent of the time.
With the market balanced or in the seller’s favour 91.7 per cent of the time, the Re/Max report calls Saskatoon’s housing market a “picture of stability” for the past decade.
Saskatoon was a tighter real estate market in that period, according to the report. The city had a monthly-sales-to-new-listing ratio of 62.3 per cent compared to the national average of 60.4.
But Saskatoon also had one of the highest rates of price increases for homes in the last 11 years. Home prices rocketed from an average of $112,567 in 2000 to $296,293 in 2010, a compounded rate of a 9.2 per cent increase per year — the third-highest rate behind Edmonton (9.25) and Regina (9.56).
Overall, tight inventory levels have made the past decade one of healthiest periods of real estate for Canada and kept growth steady instead of rising and falling as past decades have seen, according to the report.
Meanwhile, January housing starts in Saskatoon were down about 26 per cent compared to the same month last year, according to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). In January 2011, 140 houses were started in Saskatoon, dropping from 161 started in the same period in 2010.
The CMHC believes Saskatoon and Regina will see a slower pace of home construction in the early months of 2011 compared to last year.
“Last year’s heightened pace of production fueled an increase in supply, particularly units under construction in both Regina and Saskatoon,” stated Michael Fabiyi, CMHC senior market analyst in Saskatchewan. “As a result, some moderation from last year’s elevated pace of activity can be expected in the early months of 2011.”
In Regina, more houses were started in January 2011 compared to the same month last year. The CMHC recorded 127 housing starts last month compared to 94 in the same period last year.
Of the new home construction in Saskatoon last month, 80 were single-detached homes, a 32 per cent drop from January 2010, but still good enough for the second strongest start to a year since 1988.
Multi-family home construction fell to 40 units last month from 43 in the same period last year.