By Norm Fisher November 2, 2013 - Just when you may be thinking things are slowing down the Saskatoon real estate market pulls off another big week as 96 single-family home and condominium sales are reported to the local MLS® system this week. That’s eight more sales than were reported during the previous week, 27 more than hit the sold board during the same week last year. New residential listings remained towards annual lows for the third consecutive week. Saskatoon real estate agents brought 106 properties to the multiple listing service®, down just four from last week’s numbers but still ahead of listings generated during the same week a year ago when just 96 new listings hit the system.
The inventory of active MLS® listings in the residential category showed its first real sign of softening in many weeks as the total number of homes offered for sale in Saskatoon fell by nearly 100 units from the previous week’s close to settle at 1284. That’s still well ahead of last year’s number of 1092, still at the highest point it has been during this particular week for the past five years, but a good sign that it won’t continue to climb as it had been. Today there are 804 houses showing an active status on the MLS® system, compared to just 662 a year ago. Condo inventory has grown less significantly increasing from 351 at this time last year to 391 today.
The average sale price of a Saskatoon home saw the most upward movement of all of the measures we track as it pushed higher by nearly five thousand dollars to close the week at $349,854. More activity at the lower end of the market saw the median price tumble lower to $336,950 to close about 13K behind last week. The longer term measures showed greater stability with the four-week median price sitting unchanged on a weekly basis at $349,900 while making an annual gain of nearly twenty-seven thousand dollars. The six-week average price of a Saskatoon home inched up about fifteen hundred dollars from last week to finish at $353,475 for a year-over-year increase of about seventeen thousand dollars.
Overbid sales doubled compared to the previous week as four lucky sellers found a buyer willing to pay an average of $7,350 more than list price. Another 79 deals closed below the seller’s asking price netting the buyer an average discount of $10,634. The other 13 MLS® listings were reported to have sold at the full asking price.
Other notable MLS® activity this week included 54 cancelled and withdrawn listings, 59 expired listings and 48 price adjustments.
Copyright Norm Fisher Royal LePage Saskatoon Real Estate