Saskatoon Real Estate

While I hate waking up to read reports from CMHC about sales to slow, housing starts to weaken, and prices to possibly lower as they lump all of Canada into one brief report that scares people. Saskatoon real estate is healthy at the moment with people back from summer holidays and starting to buy more of the houses for sale in Saskatoon than throughout the summer. As a Saskatoon realtor I noticed less farmers purchasing condos for sale in Saskatoon this year than previous years for their kids attending the U of S but that was due to the record breaking rain falls in our province this year.

The Star Phoenix printed an article from Ottawa about CMHC commenting on sales and prices to go down. Most people are informed enough not to jump on the ‘oh my CMHC says it so it must be true’ bandwagen but there are a lot of consumers who still put their faith in everything the news says. If you listened and believed everything in the media you probably wouldn’t get out of bed in the morning!

While there are certainly cities that have forced the numbers down there are also many cities and provinces that keep the numbers from crashing entirely. Ontario and BC aren’t helping the Canadian real estate forecast as the introduction of the Harmonized Sales Tax have negatively affected the market.

You have to take all media with a grain of salt, especially when they continually lump all of Canada in one short article. It would be similar to stating that the crime rate in Canada is the same in every community…across the country! Or that the weather in Saskatoon is the same as the weather in Yellowknife.

We are in a balanced real estate market in Saskatoon and Saskatchewan continues to buck the trend. We have felt the impact of the global economic market but our industries keep us going strong. There are still investors looking for investment properties in Saskatoon who look to purchase real estate in Saskatoon (as growth, while moderate, is still expected). With the decrease in mortgage rates once again it is advisable to find a Saskatoon mortgage broker to get you set up and locked in as that mortgage decrease makes a big difference in the long run.

Before the Saskatoon real estate boom in 2007 if a home for sale in Saskatoon sold for more than the buyer originally paid a few years prior, Saskatoon home sellers were ecstatic. After Saskatoon real estate fees if people made $5000 they were more than happy when they sold their houses for sale in Saskatoon. I think that the general public needs to go back to how things were and not necessarily expect to have enough money for a big mortgage jump/down payment to purchase their new house in Saskatoon. It often takes buying and selling houses in Saskatoon several times to get into your dream home, not from your starter home in Saskatoon to your dream home in Saskatoon in one leap.

Some people think it is cheaper to rent than buy a house for sale in Saskatoon. If you do the math and you spend an average of $900/month on rent that works out to be almost $11,000/year so if you ended up buying a house in Saskatoon and then having to put your Saskatoon house for sale in a year if you bought and sold for the same price you would more than likely break even.

If you are considering getting into the Saskatoon real estate market as a first time buyer in Saskatoon or you are new to Saskatoon give me a call. If you are thinking of listing your house for sale in Saskatoon contact me to discuss my marketing and my Saskatoon real estate services.

Kari Calder
Century 21 Conexus Realty Ltd
Saskatoon, Sk
653-8222