Saskatoon real estate: Week in review (March 5-9 2007)
The Saskatoon real estate market continued at a frenzied pace with average sale prices exceeding average asking prices in every area of the city. A full 70% of the 82 residential sales reported to the Saskatoon Multiple Listing Service® sold either at or above the asking price. The average “overbid” which was recorded in instances where a home sold above the asking price increased substantially to $12,144 from $6,950 the week before. Here’s an overview of the numbers.
Notable sales from last week include:
- Lakeview condo sells $29,000 over list price at $132,000.
- Lakeview bungalow sells $30,100 over list price at $218,000.
- Erindale town home sells $30,100 over list price at $210,000.
- City Park two and one half storey sells $41,100 over list price at $261,000.
- City Park bungalow (720 square feet) sells $30,100 over list price at $210,000.
See a Google map displaying the boundaries of Saskatoon real estate “areas” here
Data collection and calculation for our statistical reports
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.
Follow our daily updates on Twitter @SaskatoonHomes.
Norm Fisher
Royal LePage Saskatoon Real Estate
8 comments so far. We'd love to hear your thoughts.
April 3rd, 2009 at 3:40 PM
Crazy week in Real Estate for Saskatoon. It’s so hard to believe that 200,000 is no longer enought to buy a nice home in a central area of the city anymore.
April 3rd, 2009 at 3:41 PM
Thanks Jeff. I have to agree. It seems insane and there are no real signs of it letting up. Things seem to be a bit wackier with each weekly review. Thanks again for stopping.
April 3rd, 2009 at 3:41 PM
I don’t know what to think.
If the properties were priced correctly – then I don’t know how they will make appraisal with contracts 10 or 15 percent over asking price.
That’s crazy!
April 3rd, 2009 at 3:42 PM
Doug, the vast majority of Canadian mortgages are processed without an appraisal. Mortgages where the buyer holds less than 25% equity are insured against default by a government housing agency. Applications are processed by “emili,” a computer system which contains lots of data on housing sales. She sizes up the transaction and measures it against other recent sales activity. If emili says “go” the mortgage is approved. If she says “stop” the transaction is sent to an appraiser. It would seem that emili is not the most conservative computer in the world because very few appraisals are ever requested.
Of course, to a large degree value is based on supply and demand and we certainly have a large imbalance right now. However, like you, I am having a difficult time understanding how prices can rise so quickly and dramatically. I’ve never experienced this is 15 years in the business.
Thanks for stopping.
April 3rd, 2009 at 3:42 PM
And thanks for clarifying that…
I still say it’s crazy!
April 3rd, 2009 at 3:42 PM
Doug, I totally agree with you.
Very ordinary homes are selling for inflated prices all over the city.
It’s a great time to be selling, but buying is another story altogether. I’m not an economist (Far from it) but something tells me that the dramatic increases in the value price of homes will ultimately be a bad thing for the city. Ultimately it’s not sustainable and people are going to get hurt.
April 3rd, 2009 at 3:43 PM
Doug, you’re absolutely right. It is crazy and I’m not having much fun working in it.
Jeff, the only questions which remain are who, when and by how much.
I have limited experience working in this type of market so I’m no expert either. It seems that even those who have the good fortune of owning a home manage to hurt themselves when a market explodes. They borrow against their “equity” and get themselves in far too deep. If the market corrects, as it usually does, they find themselves buried far deeper in mortgage than equity. We only have to look to US markets where one in every one thousand homes is in foreclosure.
At the other end of the spectrum we find those who don’t have the resources to buy being affected by increasing rents. Today’s Star Phoenix featured a front page story of renters seeing three increases in a year. Rents still fall short of carrying rental properties at the prices they’re trading at. I think many of these people are already being hurt.
As the father of two young adults I can’t help but feel some real concern about housing affordability in Saskatoon.
The sad reality is that there seems to be no end in sight. CMHC predicts that prices will rise through 2008. I have no idea if they’re right but it seems to me that there’s not much going on right now that will take much pressure off of the market.
Perhaps it’s time that the Calvert government pulled those “move to Saskatchewan” ads which boast of “affordable housing.” We seem less than prepared to handle the influx.
April 3rd, 2009 at 3:43 PM
That’s a great point Norm. So many have lamented our shrinking population, yet the flip side has challenges too!