(Lisa Schick/980 CJME)

By Rob Mahon

Housing Market

Sellers’ market may show lack of growth in Prince Albert

Sep 1, 2021 | 4:00 PM

If you’re selling a home in Prince Albert these days, the market is definitely tilting in your favor. That might not be a great sign for the local economy, however.

Homes in the city aren’t staying on the market as long, and there aren’t as many of them to rent according to data from the Saskatchewan REALTORS Association. The last year in particular has brought about some dramatic shifts on that front.

“We’re seeing that homes in Prince Albert are staying on the market an average of 55 days,” said Chris Guérette, CEO of the Saskatchewan REALTORS Association, “which is down 42 percent from 95 days last year. Homes in the region stayed not as long, which would indicate it’s favoring a seller’s market.”

Reinforcing the sellers’ market, according to Guérette, is the uptick in price. Prices rose in Prince Albert year over year 7.5 percent going from the average of $175,000 to $188,300. So if you’re buying a home it’s going to be more expensive, and if you’re trying to find one to rent, it’s going to be tricky.

“There hasn’t been any significant investment in rental housing market in quite a few years there,” Guérette said. “When you look at the construction permits, they’re still under 20. At the end of June, the city had approved 11 residential construction permits. There’s not a lot of new inventory out there.”

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In a vacuum, this just means it’s a good time to be selling or renting out a house. As a snapshot of the local economy, however, it makes it seem as if there’s not enough growth to justify building more homes and more rental housing.

“I always look at it as a housing continuum,” Guérette said. “There are different price points in a housing continuum, different amenities. If you want to have a healthy housing continuum, you want to make sure that anybody who is moving into your city or anybody in that city moving up or down the housing continuum has the choice of amenity and price point.”

According to Guérette, this means people should have the ability to move into larger houses if they like, or downsize if, say for example, an older couple wants a smaller house if their kids move out.

Guérette also said among buyers she’s seeing a lot of young buyers and a lot of first-time homebuyers. She also said this isn’t surprising, as Saskatchewan has highest percentage of millennials in the country.

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rob.mahon@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @RobMahonPxP