Finally! Some location appropriate news after all the doom and gloom CMHC newscasts lumping all of Canada under one heading. The Saskatoon Star Phoenix has printed an article today from Regina that sheds better light on our local markets and will reflect upon Saskatoon real estate markets.
According to the RBC, Saskatchewan is set to lead the country and a lot of that is due to the huge increase in Potash production. Our economic growth rate is predicted to be 6.3%. Potash production in Saskatchewan has increased 130% in the first 5 months of 2010 and is expected to make up for weakness in the oil and natural gas production sectors in our province. Due to the large cutbacks in potash production in 2009 Saskatchewan’s economy did see a contraction. As a Saskatoon real estate agent people from other parts of the world often ask what makes us so different. It is our diversity! These cutbacks hurt us but didn’t render us as bad as oil did to Alberta.
Had agriculture in Saskatchewan not been so negatively impacted by mother nature’s rains this year our growth would have been even higher. It is expected the growth in Saskatchewan will moderate in 2011 as GDP is still expected to rise 4.8% with continued growth in the global economy leading to an increase in energy production and agricultural output.
It seemed like there were less parents coming to buy condos for sale in Saskatoon for their kids for the school year this year than in previous years and a lot of that had to do with the bad farming year we experienced. Real estate in Saskatoon in general slowed down this summer but that is not abnormal for our summer months. Realtors in Saskatoon and Saskatoon home buyers/sellers all like to try to enjoy the short summers that we have!
Kari Calder
Century 21 Saskatoon
306-653-8222