Saskatoon returns to more normal stable market environment: SRAR
The average selling price of a residential property in Saskatoon slid for the second consecutive month to land at $279,366 down from its peak of $310,386 in June of this year.
Here is the news release issued by the Saskatoon Region Association of Realtors yesterday.
Saskatoon REALTORS® listed 805 properties in the Month of August that number up 17% from August 2007 when 686 properties were placed on the market. Year to date 5,947 homes have been placed on the market for sale that number up 41% from August 2007 year to date numbers.
Unit sales were down 44% from August 2007’s frenzied market with 224 residential units selling as compared to 397 homes being sold in August 2007. Unit sales numbers are more on par with 2003 to 2005 sales numbers indicating a return to a more normal stable market environment.
The average residential selling price in August was $ 279,366.00 up 11% from August 2007 when the average selling price was $252,268.00. Year to date the average price is holding its own at $288,918.00 that number up 28% from August 2007. Year to date REALTORS® have sold $786,725,000.00 of residential real estate 4% ahead of August 2007 when $753,279,000.00 of real estate was purchased.
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 comprehensive market evaluation.
Similar market activity was experienced in those areas in and around Saskatoon. Inventory levels increased with 331 homes being listed for sale up 66% from August 2007 when 199 homes were placed on the market for sale. The average selling price remained stable at $242,864.00 up 24% from August 2007 when the average selling price was $195,490.00.
Unit sales in areas around Saskatoon were down by 13% with 81 properties selling as compared to 93 in August 2007. Year to date 690 homes have sold that number down 13% from 2007.
Increased inventory levels are common place across Canada. Saskatoon continues to experience strong employment numbers with many corporations and companies seeking to hire skilled labour all of which require housing. Market activity is expected to remain the same in the coming months as the market goes through a correction.
The Star Phoenix story related to this release is here.
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
40 comments so far. We'd love to hear your thoughts.
April 27th, 2009 at 7:43 PM
“Unit sales numbers are more on par with 2003 to 2005 sales numbers…”
I said it before, and I’ll say it again: no they’re not.
- 224 is 75.7% of the 296 homes sold in August 2004
- 224 is 70.2% of the 319 homes sold in August 2005
- 224 is 64.0% of the 319 homes sold in August 2006
- 224 is 56.5% of the 319 homes sold in August 2007
Even discounting the last two years (Remind me why we’re discounting 2006 again? Avg. residential price was $161k …) we’re still off 30% from 2005 and 25% from 2004. (Norm, is there anywhere to find 2003 numbers?) I would hardly consider that ‘on par’.
April 27th, 2009 at 7:43 PM
Bloody heck, that’s what you get for not checking closely. Should be 350 in August 2006, 396 in August 2007.
Put another way:
Aug 2004 –> Aug 2005 =~ 108%
Aug 2005 –> Aug 2006 =~ 110%
Aug 2006 –> Aug 2007 =~ 113%
Aug 2007 –> Aug 2008 =~ 57%
Nice, steady growth pattern there… right until it falls off a cliff.
April 27th, 2009 at 7:43 PM
Bookrat,
Lol. You are all about the facts aren’t you?
To me, August ’08 looks like the weakest August in a decade but that kind of a comment sinks like a lead balloon in a realtor association. My friend Harry has one helluva job doing these releases.
August 2003 – 240 units (It would be the second weakest August in a decade.
Yikes.
Interesting also that the average selling price is now up just 11% compared to August of last year. Seems like a long time since we’ve seen such paltry year over year gains.
April 27th, 2009 at 7:44 PM
10% down in 3 months.
Safe to say if your house does not sell in a month, the drop is about 3% per month. 500k house in June is now 450k, but good luck selling.
The drops in prices and sales will continue with a slower season coming up and the Oct. death of loose mortgages and lax lending.
Very possible with Nov. or Dec we have 0 gains yoy, maybe even negative.
April 27th, 2009 at 7:45 PM
Read from another blog
Think of owning a house now like owning a car, once you buy it and turn the key for the first time, it’s worth less.
House prices, apartment rents and housing starts in Canada
http://www.cbc.ca/news/interactives/map-real-estate-prices/
very neat website
New home price increase yoy in Saskatoon
58.3% (Feb. 2007-Feb. 2008)
while throughout Canada it was 6.3%.
Take a look at the real estate food chain and see who benefits.
http://bp0.blogger.com/_5Unw8_SY09A/RnquWEGsayI/AAAAAAAAABU/S1XGE37RXJI/s1600-h/RealEstate_ValueChain.gif
April 27th, 2009 at 7:45 PM
I am not a real estate expert, but since when does “stable” describe an environment of rapidly increasing prices followed by a sharp decrease?
Looks anything but “stable” to me.
April 27th, 2009 at 7:45 PM
I don’t live in Saskatoon but have been reading a lot about Rivergreen Ecovillage project. I’m curious to hear your thoughts on green building. Is there much demand for it in Saskatoon? Are people more interested in homes with green products? Is there a price premium for green homes?
April 27th, 2009 at 7:45 PM
Norm,
Sorry, I’m feeling a bit dense… I’m looking for the number of active listings as of Aug. 31/08 in the most recent post, and I just don’t see it.
BTW, you’re right- the Avg. price/3-and-6 month rolling average graph is looking much more interesting now!
April 27th, 2009 at 7:46 PM
Norm wrote:
“What are they going to say in a few months, when the average price is DOWN year over year? That it’s up decade over decade?”
Well, if Calgary is any indicator – the realtor association talking heads will trot out the “year to date” pricing. Since prices gained so much in 2007, if you “average” out the whole year, Saskatoon is still up when you “average” out the 2008 prices. The CREB pulled it out in Calgary when prices started to be down year over year in Q1 2008.
Of course that has completely ignored the trend in Calgary home prices that a 6 year old child could point out (a condo in Calgary is now cheaper than it was in September of 2006 – that’s two full years ago)…but it sure sounds better than “lower prices year over year”.
April 27th, 2009 at 7:46 PM
NormFan,
Lol. “Stable” and “normal” do seem strangely out of place, don’t they?
Alex,
When it comes to housing, everyone is interested in one kind of “green.” Seriously though, there hasn’t been much happening on that here yet but it is coming and there seems to be some demand.
This on a coming condo project at River Landing. http://tinyurl.com/5o7atj
Crikey,
1,676 at August 31. I’ll have to plug the numbers into the graph you prepared for me. Thanks.
Also, I understand that one of the land developers is planning to hit a target of some percentage of green homes in a soon to come subdivision. Sorry, but I can’t recall the details right now, nor can I find the newspaper story.
Warren,
Glenn Beck on the National Association of Realtors predictions, “Perhaps we shouldn’t trust housing predictions from those who make their living selling houses?” (or something like that)
I feel for the guys responsible to do these releases because they’re in a very tough position. I bet they wish they didn’t have to do another media release.
April 27th, 2009 at 7:46 PM
What’s your point Warren? Do you think Calgary prices are going to fall to zero? That you should be the CREB Pres so you can inform the local citizenry of that fact?
April 27th, 2009 at 7:47 PM
George I’m LMAO, local media selling ads as #2 on your pyramid! Calls into question Saskatoon’s unbiased local news media, who ignore negative predictions, and negative results of our economy (crummy GDP growth) and real estate (big increase in listings, no way prices go up!). Really, Saskatoon’s continually growing housing inventory, dropping sales, weakened demand and sharp drops per square foot should be weekly top stories – just like the boom, really just as newsworthy!
Warren average of 2007 v. average of 2008? That’s hilarious. Maybe more so than the pyramid. Just another way to disguise that prices right now in Saskatoon (more so in Calgary) are already down from peak, and pretend they’re up, because at some time this year they were higher than some time last year! With so few houses selling now, not like the year’s average is being affected that much anyways.
I’d expect this from Global, but a little disappointed tax funded CBC isn’t doing a little more hard hitting journalism into the lack of fundamentals for the Saskatoon housing market at present, worse with more new condos and houses coming on line.
April 27th, 2009 at 7:47 PM
Nick, that’s because the CBC is full of Peter Principles. Everyone has to be their own Edward R. Murrow these days…
April 27th, 2009 at 7:47 PM
Callum:
Ummm…
I thought my point was fairly painfully obvious. Dan (I had originally misidentified the post as originating with Norm) had asked what the real estate talking heads’ spin on prices would be when they inevitably go down year over year.
Since Calgary seems to be leading Saskatoon in this bubble, I pointed out that in Calgary the CREB suddenly invented the “year-to-date” price when that situation loomed on the horizon in Q1 of this year. This figure (to my knowledge) had never been mentioned before.
Could you tell me what purpose it serves? What insight does it give into the market? At least they didn’t start using 7 year averages though…
Why would you think that I expect Calgary home prices to go to zero? I expect what I’ve always expected – that Calgary’s home prices (along with Saskatoon and the rest of the industrialized world that has taken part in the U.S. originated housing bubble) will fall until the average family can afford the average home. I have ranted about this ad nauseum – I can recycle any number of figures that show this currently is simply not the case.
As for me being CREB president, I wouldn’t want the job – I can’t lie to people (I had a very, very, very brief career in sales and found that I wasn’t any good at it). I would however enjoy the same size bully pulpit that the CREB has in Calgary (and the SRAR has in Saskatoon) to express my opinions and views. And I would enjoy it if the media stopped asking opinions on housing from people whose PROSPERITY IS DEPENDANT UPON HOUSING.
Take this most recent article from the Calgary Herald:
http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/calgarybusiness/story.html?id=c8aaa400-0354-468a-932c-ab418414e85d
And who did the Herald interview for information in this hard hitting journalistic expose on the plumetting property values in Calgary…a realtor!
“Realtor Lana Wright, with Re/Max Professionals, said August is typically quiet for herself and husband, Steve, but this past month has been busy for her despite what the CREB numbers indicate.
“We’re getting a lot more buyers coming in and, in our experience, they’re not as pessimistic as other buyers have been,” she said. “They’re very well-educated. They know what’s going on. I think that they’re realizing that the market has stabilized and waiting any longer may not do them any justice. So most will take advantage of what’s out there in the market.”
Ummm…”despite what the CREB numbers say”??
Ummm…”they’re realizing that the market has stabilized”
I’d like to know what part of the Calgary market the interviewee found most “stabilized”?
The fact that all medians and averages were down again? Month over month and year over year?
The fact that a condo is now cheaper than it was in September of 2006? A house is now cheaper than it was in February of 2007?
The fact that if you bought a median house in July of 2007, you have lost $41,000 (or 9.3%) in just 13 months? That’s over $100 a day – that’s more than a lot of people earn working all year.
Or the fact that all the factors that have contributed to falling prices (bloated inventory, record low sales, tightening mortgage conditions) are all still present?
I guess that’s my question to you…
April 27th, 2009 at 7:48 PM
Warren- beautifully executed response.
Your posts are always a pleasure to read.
April 27th, 2009 at 7:48 PM
“I don’t live in Saskatoon but have been reading a lot about Rivergreen Ecovillage project. I’m curious to hear your thoughts on green building. Is there much demand for it in Saskatoon? Are people more interested in homes with green products? Is there a price premium for green homes?”
Alex, I e-mailed their office the other day and got a quick response. It sounds like there is DEFINITELY demand for their green housing. They tell me that they have taken $1000 deposits (not much, but something) for more units than their development will have (the latecomers are on a waiting list and their money will be refunded if they don’t get a unit).
There definitely seems to be a premium for going green as well. They said they were looking at around $350/sq ft. To save you the math, that would work out to around $300,000 for a two-bedroom 850 square foot condo unit.
In any case, there’s lots of cool info on their website! It sounds like a cool project, but it’s definitely out of my price range . . . especially considering the way prices have been going lately.
April 27th, 2009 at 7:48 PM
I was just thinking that if we analyzed commodities like bead and gas the same way as real-estate, ie affordability, we would find that a lot of them are at least 200% over valued. Maybe we should all stop buying them too!
April 27th, 2009 at 7:48 PM
My husband and I would like to “move up” and have been watching the market closely. we probably won’t be moving in the next year – but we have been attending some open houses to help “figure out” what we want.
I am sooooo sick of the agents at the homes telling us “we need to buy now” because the market is going to pick-up soon. We went to see a house this weekend that has been on the market since June – this house will need A LOT of work – but it is in a neighbourhood we really like and we enjoy doing renovations. It would be easier to have “faith” and be willing to make offers – if there was some level of reality in the sales pitch. This house has been on the market since June, needs a lot of work and we are getting a high pressure pitch that if we don’t buy now – the market is going to spike to unbelievable heights! Come on!!!
I wish the sellers of the homes realized that we often walk out of their homes (that we may have started to consider offering on) because of the BS we are hearing. Don’t treat buyers like we are stupid – we aren’t and I think most buyers are far more informed than ever before.
When we sell our home – we will be setting the list price below the average price in our neighbourhood, and not expecting to make a fortune on a small bungalow – but it seems like people are so unrealistic about what the market is doing. there are also so many houses that buyers like us who don’t need to move immediatly don’t have to “settle” for a less than stellar product.
April 27th, 2009 at 7:49 PM
Armoth,
Was your stock affected by today’s selloff? Looks like every market got hit pretty bad.
April 27th, 2009 at 7:49 PM
TSX 3-day loss near 1,000 points:
http://tiny.cc/BDCyS
Anyone need a drink?
I sure do.
April 27th, 2009 at 7:50 PM
I am glad to see that I am not the only one railing against the deplorable state of the media, both locally and nationally. It is quite obvious the fourth estate have a vested interest in promoting the interests of their advertisers. Much more than they have an allegiance to the truth and their readers.
April 27th, 2009 at 7:50 PM
Ahhhh, the back and forth of the housing debate…
This story on the CBC Saskatchewan site:
“Speculators adding to affordable housing crunch in Regina.”
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/saskatchewan/story/2008/09/04/house-speculators.html
Basically about absentee landlords buying up rental housing in the core.
What’s funny are these two successive comments from different bloggers:
“The bigger the boom, the bigger the bust… For sale sings are springing up in Regina like dandelions in the spring… Prices have already come down 10-15% from their frenzied peak. My prediction is that they have a long way to go down.
Florida, Nevada, California (to name only a few) had massive housing bubbles followed by massive busts. In every case housing shills claimed that “it’s different here because ______. Prices won’t go down, only plateau.”
*Next comment*
“There’s no reason to think SK is heading for a real estate bust. Our homes were very undervalued compared to other communities. You can’t compare it to the US crash, because that crash was a direct result of sub-prime mortgages, which we don’t have here.”
LOL!!!
Thank you Norm for this wonderful blog! Without it I’d be clueless!!
April 27th, 2009 at 7:50 PM
It’s their job to be positive Warren. If a bear-blogging-addict was the president of a Real Estate Board we’d all be stocking ammo and building bomb shelters. What do I care what someone SAYS about the market? It’s all there in the numbers for any intelligent person to see.
April 27th, 2009 at 7:51 PM
But, Callum, the numbers are selectively presented: Bookrat’s point, that sales are 100 units lower than the previous lowest August sales, gets turned into ‘a return to normal’.
Normal is between 396 and 319. A far cry from 224.
And you’ll notice that total inventory isn’t mentioned.
April 27th, 2009 at 7:51 PM
Until housing starts gets slashed, inventory will just keep climbing. Nothing else will eat into inventory unless the specs start renting units and hope for the spring bounce.
April 27th, 2009 at 7:52 PM
This afternoon is the first time my independent count of MLS listings has come in at over 1700 listings — 1709, to be precise. It’s been hovering around 1670 or so for the last couple of weeks.
I know, I know, it’s inaccurate: there are pending sales and things comin’ in and things goin’ off, but still.
1709.
Listings are still climbing.
April 27th, 2009 at 7:52 PM
Come on bears. Nobody has problems with sask’s massive job creation stories making the news today?
April 27th, 2009 at 7:53 PM
Well since you asked Mark,
Massive job creation. I’d love to hear exactly what those jobs are. I wonder if they are like the ones they were talking about on CBC radio the one morning after stating the jobs were up up up and how everywhere you go there are help wanted signs…usually the real career jobs, won’t have ‘help wanted’ signs. The real career jobs will post on thier own websites etc not just toss up a help wanted sign in the window. All I can say is thank goodness for university students. That outta suck up a few thousand of those jobs for the time being at least.
April 27th, 2009 at 7:53 PM
Mark,
job creation is great but has little effect on housing now. Take a look at Edmonton or Calgary, there are tonnes of jobs there. But their housing has been tanking since last summer. Calgary house is down from a peak of 505k last July to 440k this August. There are less sales more inventory now with credit tightening up. Expect further drops in prices the next few years, just like the States and the rest of the world, and just like us.
April 27th, 2009 at 7:53 PM
Jesse,
Here’s a link to the story. http://tinyurl.com/5pm7ob
Accommodation and food services – 3,900
Forestry, fishing, mining and oil and gas – 5,100
Professional, scientific and technical services – 2,400
Agriculture – (2,700)
I would guess that a good percentage of those jobs are above average in terms of income.
George,
“Job creation is great but has little effect on housing now.”
Not sure about that. I think we have to remember that Saskatchewan is dealing which much smaller numbers than Alberta. Given that we are darned near at full employment we can hardly have job growth without population growth. If Saskatchewan can continue to grow its population we could see the massive supply of inventory start to slide back down.
That said, Frank Quennell makes a good point when he says, “Higher housing and apartment rental rates may also be discouraging aboriginal people and others from moving to locations in the province where jobs are available but housing is expensive.”
Saskatoon is a much tougher sell than it was 18 months ago but I would suggest that affordability here is improving rather rapidly and will likely continue to improve through the balance of the year. We may well reach a point where we start to look good again. It will really depend on whether or not we can keep all of the other balls in the air.
April 27th, 2009 at 7:54 PM
Norm,
See the thing with the ‘jobs’ that are created are this…they most likely ALL pay too low for anyone to really be able to pay for the cost of living out here.
Accommodation and food services – 3,900
Meaning desk clerks, cleaning people, food service industries which all don’t pay a heckuva lot either. They are jobs yes but how many cleaning people do you know that have just one job…
Forestry, fishing, mining and oil and gas – 5,100
Those jobs to me at least, are legit, jobs in industries where most likely there is money to be paid out for the amount of dirty dirty HELLish work that is involved in these very physical industries.
Professional, scientific and technical services – 2,400
Ag jobs of 2,700 – assume that is legit too.
Yes tech’s are everywhere….thing is tech jobs pay squat. Maybe not in all fields but I know of several architectural firms that pay complete peanuts. That’s why i had to get out of it. Do all the work you want, get all the overtime you want…and get $16 an hour…
I may be a bit pessimistic, but it all stems from personal experience. Just check the job boards, saskjobs, etc…tons of low level jobs, not much where you can make a career out of.
One thing too that I’m betting most people arne’t aware of, is the part time sector. When I was applying for part time employment, where places would say they have evenings, weekends, etc open, it turned out that they didn’t want that…that they wanted people that could be at their beck and call all day every day in case they needed shifts filled. I applied at multiple places that this was the case. They would rather work shortstaffed than find someone that can work a few hours to help them out.
Now it could be like other provinces too, that i absolutely don’t know but i just know from my own expeirences.
April 27th, 2009 at 7:54 PM
Just to continue the pessimist’s view here…
I wonder how many of the jobs have a person working one or more….I know a few that work 3 jobs, a few that work 2 etc…even one that works 4…
What I wonder is how many are career jobs.
April 27th, 2009 at 7:54 PM
Jesse,
To be clear, the agricultural number is a negative.
I realize that not all of these jobs are plum positions, but still, for me, I find some joy in celebrating the improvements. Things are improving for potential first-time buyers and I believe that renters will see some relief as we move through the fall.
April 27th, 2009 at 7:55 PM
Norm,
where are these people going to come from?
Every city says the same thing. Immigration and population growth will clear up the inventory problem.
It seems almost every place has overbuilt and we are seeing this first hand in Saskatoon.
To attract good workers and retain the ones we have to have affordability in housing ( buy and rent) has to be lower than Alberta otherwise we just lose them like years past. And wages must increase, but we are starting to see that. Some, anyway.
I think there are two important dates for first time buyers and renters to watch.
For first time buyers it is Oct 15. Here we will see demand drop off big time. Prices will HAVE to drop. It may take a few months to play out. But there will be plenty of reduced listings. I expect 75% or more of all listings on now will have one or more reduced prices if sellers are serious.
For renters it will be next summer. Students will not have to keep their places for summer 09 like summer 08. There will be a lot supply for rentals next summer and again there will be people that NEED renters to come close to covering their payments and they will have to drop their prices. This has happened in Calgary, and with us about a year behind, this will happen next summer here.
Having a labor shortage is great for workers, gives them a choice and more bargaining for higher wages. It is bad for employers and for consumers in services such as restaurants and retail
April 27th, 2009 at 7:55 PM
Jobs creation very likely will have an impact on the housing market, but several conditions would also have to occur. It’s impossible to say how many of the jobs created are full-time and/or permanent, or pay enough to allow people to save up a good down payment (increasingly important in the future, and a good idea anyway). Quite a lot depends on what the economy at large is doing- if we have the resources to keep creating jobs that pay decent wages, and the cost of the average house comes more in line with the average income, then yes, we’ll start making a dent in the inventory.
Speaking of inventory, by my admittedly “back of the envelope” calculation, we have about 7.5 month’s worth with regard to August’s MLS stats by themselves. With regard to traditionally high immigration cities such as Vancouver and Toronto, I’m not sure how we stack up. I read one site that said the MOI for Vancouver (REBGV) was 12.85 months, but that sounds ridiculously high to me. Anyone?
April 27th, 2009 at 7:55 PM
Crikey,
After Oct. 15th, first time buyers will need at least 5% down. So on a $250,000 house that is $12,500. With rents being so high and things like gas, food going up, I don’t see too many being able to save for a downpayment. I read a report where 62% of mortgages for first time buyers where 40 years 0 down. That is a big pool of buyers suddenly all dried out Oct. 15th.
In a couple of months there will be more talk of the downturn in RE in Canada in media. More reports like Merril Lynch. I think there will be less buyers willing to risk $12,500 for a house only to have it wiped out a few months later.
These next few months will be something to watch in Real Estate in Canada and Saskatoon.
April 27th, 2009 at 7:56 PM
A bunch of new listings this week over 200.
sales below 50
Just a hunch.
And the condo conversions and the peak of all the housing starts have just started to get listed. The next few months will see loads of new inventory. I don’t foresee demand climbing even with prices coming down
April 27th, 2009 at 7:56 PM
George,
I largely agree and did not intend for my comment to come off as a prediction. My primary point was that “jobs” will impact the housing market, just as incomes will. It also occurs to me that our surplus inventory can be measured in hundreds, and not thousands. Demand will come back when the right balance is struck between houses prices and the economic fundamentals that drive a healthy market.
“I read a report where 62% of mortgages for first time buyers where 40 years 0 down.”
Oddly, I haven’t seen more than a small handful of offer written with $0 down. For a good portion of last year, and through the first quarter of this year you couldn’t get a seller to look at an offer with a deposit that had fewer than five figures. In any case, I maintain that if someone can’t save 400-500 per month for a couple of years they’re probably getting in too deep by buying a house.
April 27th, 2009 at 7:57 PM
most lenders have already stopped approving 0 down 40 yr. i got my mortgage in mid august and was told i was probably one of the last to be approved by that lender.
the comment of oil & gas/ mining being dirt hellish work makes me laugh. i know people people who push brooms around and make 20+ and hour. you obviosly have no clue what goes on out there. its not all drilling rig or miners with a pick and shovel. alot of those jobs are going to be trade positions which will keep people from moving to alberta. it isn’t all about money. for me there just wasn’t a demand for my trade so i went to alberta. but i was lucky and there was an opening for cameco so i moved home and took a cut in pay. I know lots of people in fort mac/lloyd/edmonton who would move back if there were a demand here.
But there is more and more moving back all the time. or working scedules that allow them to work in alberta and still live in sask. not everyong in the saskatoon housing market makes saskatoon wages
April 27th, 2009 at 7:57 PM
Absolutely Jason J. Travelling back and forth b’n Fort Mac and Saskatoon isn’t for everyone, but it works for people in their twenties who would like the good paycheque without the expense of university. My stepson has been in Fort Mac for nearly a year – went through the not-so-good jobs until he was hired on by one of the mines’ subcontractors, and is now working directly for that mine. Here I am ready to finish a phd and he’s making more than I’ll be making in my first year! But it’s hard for him to travel back here every 3 weeks to be with his girlfriend and family. He can’t see moving back and owning a home here, because Saskatoon trades simply can’t pay want the Fort Mac mines pay – their salaries are just an anomaly. But he’d like to buy when home prices go down a bit more, then maybe rent it out and settle back here eventually. But his travelling situation is nothing compared to the workers from down east and other countries. Now that would be difficult.