By Norm Fisher June 15, 2013 - Saskatoon real estate sales continued at a brisk pace this week topping 100 sales for the second consecutive week. That’s the first time we’ve seen that happen this year. Local agents reported 101 firm sales of single-family homes and condominiums to the Saskatoon multiple listing service®, down six from the previous week to finish well above sales for the same week last year when just 87 Saskatoon homes were reported sold. New listings added to the MLS® system cooled from the previous week dropping by 26 homes to 179 beating activity recorded for the same period last year by about 36 homes.
The total inventory of active MLS® listings in the residential category took another solid leap growing by 50 properties from the close of last week to finish at 1350, up from the same time last year by 113 homes. Residential MLS® inventory had closely followed last year’s trail until the third week of May when it took a sudden and sharp upward trend. After four weeks of steady gains it’s not hard to see that similar activity over the next few weeks would move us to the highest levels we’ve seen in five years time, at least for this time of the year. That said, we are just a few weeks away from the time at which inventory numbers typically begin to decline for the balance of the year. Taking a closer look by category, an active listing search of Saskatoon houses produces 793 results, up from 735 at the same time last year. Condo inventory sits at 468 for a year-over-year gain of 40 units.
Even with one sale in the mix that topped $1 million the average sale price of a Saskatoon home stayed pretty close to the bottom of the slide where it found itself last week. The weekly median slipped lower to $317,900. Meanwhile, the six-week average price dropped seven thousand dollars this week to settle at $350,107 for an annual gain of about twelve thousand dollars. The four-week median saw its third consecutive week of declines as it shed nearly twelve thousand dollars this week and slid to $323,000 to finish just three thousand dollars ahead of where it was one year ago, its lowest point since late March.
The total number of sales reporting a final price that exceeded the seller’s asking price was pretty steady at six. Those buyers offered an additional $1,433 on average. Another 19 sales were reported to have sold at the full listed price. The remaining 76 firm deals that hit the MLS® this week were reported to have sold below the asking price by an average of $11,264. That’s the largest average discount recorded since the second week of April.
Other MLS® activity this week included 54 cancelled and withdrawn listings, 8 expired listings and 65 price adjustments.
Copyright 2010 Norm Fisher, Royal LePage Saskatoon Real Estate