Saskatoon Real Estate

Just when I think that most of us have a grasp on the media and how they focus on the negativity I hear another person saying ‘well I heard in the news that…’ and they trust in it 100%. It is one thing for an ‘analyst’ to sit in his office across the country looking at data, but it is another to live here and to understand all of the facets of what affects our economy. People tend to focus on what is bad in the news and choose to look over the good. If we simply listened to the news that states that housing starts are down 69% from 2008 and focused on that point we would neglect to think about the fact that the housing starts in 2008 were at an all time high. These stats don’t really give an appropriate account for our market when the last part of 2007 and 2008 have thrown our numbers off. Certain people talk about sales declining, but Saskatoon home sales have seen a great increase in market activity so far in 2009 compared to the summer and fall of 2008 Although economists in Toronto still think that house prices will drop in Saskatchewan we have to keep in mind that they are in Toronto.

Between now and 2010 it is the best time to buy a house in Saskatoon. I believe that all of our excess inventory will tighten up once 2010 hits so that will mean a more balanced Saskatoon real estate market and a more gradual increase. There are others who are even more optimistic and believe that Saskatchewan hasn’t seen anything yet in terms of market growth and house sales in Saskatoon. 

Kari Calder
Saskatoon Real Estate Agent
Century 21 Conexus Realty Ltd.

One of the things I have heard a lot of since moving back to Saskatchewan is that we are not a ‘have’ province and that other provinces are better than us. Even in Saskatchewan Real Estate, before the absolute house pricing peak we had in the spring of 2008, I heard of people ‘waiting for the market to crash’ and ‘waiting for the prices to drop by 50%’ and come back to the pre-boom Saskatchewan house prices. I tried to educate people about our market and our province and our economy, but the fact of the matter is some people just like the doom and gloom and it makes them feel better if they waited to buy a home in Saskatoon and have now found that they cannot get started in the market. Many people have convinced themselves that, if they wait long enough to buy a house in Saskatoon, they will get a 50% discount. They tend to forget that our province has come leaps and bounds and is recognized world wide for our strength in commodities.

I have a hard time understanding how an entire province can be brainwashed to believe that we are not as good as other provinces in our country when the facts are there and the proof is evident. As John Gormley told his audience on October 21, 2008, maybe this is because “when things were good, it was always ‘keep your expectations low’ under the NDP”. As he says, the prevailing psychology is that this is all going to end soon. We true Saskatchewanians, even though most of us haven’t lived through a depression or the dirty thirties, still have heard of gopher stew. This mentality has bred a deep cautiousness in our bones, which may not be a bad thing.

The Premier knows it, so his tax cuts and expenditures come with an insurance plan: nearly $2 Billion for the Growth and Financial Security Fund, promising to keep the government in the black should commodities go further down.

The tax cuts that are going to be in place are calculated to target lower income earners.

Having earned the ‘have’ status in 2006, Saskatchewan has done some things right such as overturning the 16 year NDP reign for a more business friendly Saskatchewan Party. Workers are finally moving in from other provinces and countries instead of moving out. We still have a ways to go to matching Alberta’s lower flat tax, property tax, and lack of provincial sales tax, but we are gaining quickly.

Kari Calder
Saskatoon Real Estate Agent
Century 21 Conexus Realty Ltd.

Despite the global market conditions and the lack of economic stability in much of Canada, Saskatchewan seems to be a strong leader and has shown this through the mid year financial report that shows a surplus of $2.3 billion and debt has been reduced this year by 40% to over $4 billion.

With the threat of recession everywhere, Finance Minister, Rod Gantefour, remains cautiously optimistic as oil has weakened and our economy is commodity driven.

While our economy used to be associated primarily with agriculture, we are now associated with potash, gold, uranium, nuclear energy, diamonds, oil, and the list goes on. We are finally a ‘have’ province and Saskatchewan continues to outpace other provinces on key economic indicators. What does this mean? More people are still being drawn to our province. The Saskatoon real estate market has appeared to slow down and also appears to have gone down in price, however there are still many people buying houses in Saskatoon.

For more information on this please feel free to contact me anytime.

Kari Calder
Saskatoon Real Estate Agent
Century 21 Conexus Realty Ltd.