(File photo/The Canadian Press)

By Glenn Hicks

Housing Market

Sask. realtors say housing market ‘performing quite well’

Jun 4, 2020 | 6:05 PM

The Saskatchewan Realtors Association (SRA) says COVID-19 has certainly made a dent in the market but is surprised at the bounce back since the economy began to re-open.

Year-over-year sales across the province are down 14 per cent and new listings are down 20 per cent.

But SRA CEO Jason Yochim said things are not near the 70 per cent decline in sales they feared when the global health crisis arrived in March.

“In April we saw a 50 per cent decline overall in the province, which is bad enough, but not near as bad as we’d thought,” he told paNOW. “And then our May numbers are very promising as well at about 80 per cent of what we did [in May] last year.”

As for Prince Albert, Yochim said it appeared there was a turnaround in the market that hasn’t been seen for a couple of years with 37 sales in May compared to the 36 in May 2019, even as year-to-date sales declined from 125 to 118.

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He figured while there was weaker demand due to COVID-19 restrictions, buyers have not gone away.

“I think the sales we didn’t see in April in May, I believe we will see in the next couple of months, because people still have plans, they still have a reason to move, it’s just delayed,” he said.

Prince Albert unit sales were still 17.4 per cent below the five-year average and 22.6 per cent below the ten-year average but the median price for May went from $226,500 to $229,000.

In other markets the SRA report shows sales in Saskatoon were down 22.7 per cent, going from 422 in May 2019 to 326 last month. The median price moved up from $326,000 to $338,000. Sales in North Battleford went from 27 in May last year to 16, for a 40.7 per cent decline. The median price declined from $228,000 to $195,000.

Yochim added their research shows the average property transaction in the province generates $54,000 in economic spin-offs.

“That’s things like flooring, renovations, roofing, legal fees, moving costs, appliances, furniture; and if you want to get the economy going this is a great way of doing that.”

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glenn.hicks@jpbg.ca

On Twitter:@princealbertnow