SASKATOON -- The housing market in Saskatchewan is proving to be resilient against the economic impact of COVID-19.
The Saskatchewan Realtors Association (SRA) says year-over-year sales across the province jumped close to 50 percent from June of 2019.
Also, according to the SRA, sales are down just 0.3 per cent year-to-date suggesting the market has recovered nearly all the sales lost while the province was under lockdown.
The median home price in June was up almost two percent year-over-year. Inventories were down in 17 of the 19 markets tracked by the SRA
In Saskatoon, year-over-year sales were up 38 per cent in June and 27.5 percent above the five-year average.
Homes also appear to be selling faster. Houses in Saskatoon stayed on the market for an average of 43 days in June, which is down 12 percent from the same time last year, when houses took an average of 49 days to sell.
Median home prices in Saskatoon jumped 3.1 per cent from $320,000 to $329,000. The year-to-date median home price in the city went up 1.3 percent from the same time last year.
“We’ve seen properties in some markets sell within days of being listed,” said SRA CEO Jason Yochim in a news release. “And we’ve even seen bidding wars start to break out”.
The SRA suggests buyers are becoming motivated to make a purchase and some may pay more than full listing price.
“Inventories were also down in 17 of the 19 markets that the SRA tracks, suggesting that people are quite eager to buy now and make up for lost time due to the pandemic.” The SRA said in a news release.
The numbers are in stark contrast from some earlier forecasts.
Last month, CMHC said the average home price in Canada could drop by between nine and 18 per cent with prices in Saskatchewan forecast to fall by up to 27 per cent.
