In 2007, pricing your home to market was not a factor as prices were escalating on almost a daily basis. The demand was so strong that within reason one could name their price and get it almost without delay. Current high inventory levels offer buyers more selection and reduce urgency to act. The result is the average home in Saskatoon takes 46 days to sell, an increase of 15% over the five-year average.
The sales to listing ratio currently sits at 34.4% which means that four homes sell for every 10 that come on the market. The homes that are selling are seeing sale prices in the neighborhood of 97.2% of the asking price. "Homes that sell do so because they are priced to the current market" comments Jason Yochim, CEO of the Saskatoon Region Association of REALTORS. With online access, buyers are educated and are not likely to pay more than current market conditions dictate. "Without expert advice it is very difficult to know where the price of a particular home fits into the market." He adds.
The average year to date sale price has decreased from $351,384 to $344,249, a 2% decline. More importantly, the median price has declined by 3.3% to $330,800 from $342,000. The CREA Composite Home Price Index continued its downward trend with a year over year decline of 2.4%. This is the most accurate indicator of where the market is trending. It had been declining slightly since July of 2015 until February of this year when the trend started to reverse upward. This is due mainly to increased sales in the spring market combined with a slowing of new homes coming into the market. Currently there are 1,965 residential listings for sale in Saskatoon, this is an increase of 1.6% over the same time last year. "Homes sell in any market, there is a right price for every home, in every area in every condition. In my opinion, if more of our current inventory was priced to closer to market it would sell within the average days on market and ease the inventory levels."
The total number of sales at the end of April for Saskatoon was 1,091, a 6% decline compared to the same period last year and 12% below the five-year average. The total dollar volume however was down 7.8% to $375.5 Million for the first four months of the year.
Properties in the market surrounding Saskatoon, which includes rural residential property, the cities of Warman and Martensville and smaller bedroom communities, have experienced a 13.4% decrease in unit sales year to date with 290 sales. The total number of active listings was up 8.4% to 1,152 properties. The average selling price in the surrounding market declined by 1.6% over the same period last year to $312,251. -Source: May 2016 SRAR Media Release
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