Uptick in December house sales as annual price decline eases
Prince Albert’s residential property market saw a 50 per cent uptick in sales in December, although that increase comes off a very modest base. And while the market is still in a slump, there are signs the downward trend in prices may be slowing in the city, while it has almost stopped in Saskatoon.
The newly amalgamated Saskatchewan Realtors’ Association (SRA) said there were 15 sales in P.A. last month, compared to 10 in December 2018. There were 20 sales in the region, which includes areas beyond city limits, compared to 13 the previous year.
The average sales price in P.A. was $161,900 for December, down by a large 25 per cent margin from the previous December. However, over the course of the entire year, the average sale price in P.A. was $220,844, which was 4.7 per cent down from the $230,000 in 2018. That figure was still worse than the 2.2 per cent decline of 2017, but better than the larger decreases of between 5.3 and eight per cent seen in many of the years since 2009 when the average price was around $238,000.
The yearly average prices are volatile because of the relatively small amount of inventory that is sold.