Congratulations Ridernation, I hope you all celebrated responsibly and had the time of your lives this weekend. What a great event to be a part of! It couldn’t have went better, so thanks to all the volunteers, the Riders and anyone/everyone who made this experience a positive one for all Rider fans! A true dream come true.

Sales in the Saskaton real estate market rebounded in a big way last week as 85 firm sales (41 single family, 41 condominiums) were reported to the local MLS. The average price was $330,050 which is lower than usual due to a high amount of activity in the condominium market (50% of the weekly total sales). Over the past 4 weeks, there has been an average of 78 home sales per week with an overall average price of $348,839. Also over the past month the average listing sells in roughly 47 days while the average price under asking is $8779. In 2012 during the same month period, the Saskatoon MLS witnessed 68 sales per week with an average price 2.7% lower than this year, while the average listing sold in 5 less days on market. The average selling price under asking was quite a bit tighter in 2012 as it closed out at $6037 for the same month period. Ultimately prices and sales volume is higher than a year ago and the market continues to look very promising.

Listing inventory continues to remain high for this time of year as there are currently 1282 active listings (796 single family, 383 condominiums) in Saskatoon. While last week there were 114 new listings (74 single family, 26 condominiums) posted to the MLS. Listing inventory as begun to cool off the past few weeks and we are starting to see inventory finally slip below the 1300 mark. Expect the overall inventory numbers to continue to fall over the coming weeks.

If you have any questions about the current market or are thinking about buying/selling, contact us here.

Congratulations on the Saskatchewan Roughriders for their birth in their first home Grey Cup appearance! Enjoy the festivities everyone!

Sales have now cooled off in the Saskatoon real estate market for the past few weeks as there were 58 firm sales (39 single family, 18 condominiums) recorded to the local MLS.  Due to a high amount of activity in the higher end of the market last week, the average price closed out at $392,439. Last week’s average price is higher than usual and is evident when looking at the current 4 week average price of $351,944 at 80 sales per week.  In 2012 the Saskatoon market was averaging only 75 sales per week, while the 4 week average price during the same period was $337,127 (4.3% annual increase in price). Currently the average house is selling in 39 days on market which is identical to figures from 2012. Essentially prices are up and sales volume has also increased from 2012, so numbers are still promising considering the sales slowing due to the season.

There are currently 1302 active listings (791 single family, 409 condominiums) in Saskatoon. Last year during the same time period there were only 632 single family and 343 condominums. There are currently 21% more single family homes and 16% more condos on the market this year at the same time period. Last week there were only 106 new listings (62 single family, 34 condominiums)  added to the Saskatoon MLS. This is a significant drop off from recent weeks, which is a positive because inventory levels are already much higher than usual.

For more information on the Saskatoon real estate market, or if you’re thinking about buying/selling contact us here.

On the heels of a week that saw 102 firm sales recorded to the Saskatoon MLS, sales dropped off considerably as there were only 67 sales (46 single family, 20 condominiums) recorded in Saskatoon last week. The weekly average price was $350,577, while the average house sold in 41 days on market. The current four week average is slightly lower than last week’s average and closed out at $346,838, while the average house sold in 39 days on market. Over the past 4 weeks there have been an average of 88 sales per week, which bests the 2012 average of 5 more per week. Not only are sales more brisk in 2013, the 4 week average price in 2012 was roughly $12,000 lower during the same period. Considering last week there were only 67 firm sales (21 under the 4 week average), sales were slow. However this is often a common occurrence during long weekends, so expect sales to bump up this week. Sales are continuing to occur, however listing inventory remains high and competition amongst sellers in the single family market is plentiful.

Currently there are 1307 active listings (806 single family, 404 condominiums) in Saskatoon, which is roughly 230 more listings than the same period in 2012. Last week there were 136 new listings in Saskatoon which is 34 more than were posted two weeks ago. Although listings are high, prices remain strong and there is still some balance in the market. New builds will cap off soon for the winter season and the extra activity we have seen in the new home market will eventually cool off and the re-sale market should see more activity.

For more information on the current market, or if you’re thinking about buying or selling, contact us here.

By Charles Hamilton, The StarPhoenix

Link to Article here

Saskatoon has big city aspirations for its downtown.

Getting rid of the bus mall, allowing outdoor cafés along Spadina, building a more robust cycling network, allowing taller buildings and installing heated sidewalks in some areas are just some of the suggestions contained in a sweeping city report that charts a new path for the city core.

On Thursday, the city released its much anticipated city centre plan, which outlines a plan for growth in the downtown, Broadway and other core neighbourhoods.

“It has such a big city flavour to it,” said Alan Wallace, the city’s manager of planning and development. “There are lot of things in there that a lot of big cities have and we don’t have. Maybe it’s time we did some of those things.”

The plan marks a shift in thinking, providing more emphasis on cyclists and pedestrians, incentives for development on vacant lots and rejigging how the bus system is laid out.

The plan, which was prepared for the city by Stantec Consulting, estimates 15,000 residents will live in the downtown in the coming years.

In order to make the core areas attractive as places to live, the report says some improvements are needed. The city could address the need for public spaces by installing a public plaza in front of TCU Place along 22nd Street, it suggests. The city could also build rain gardens and replace parking stalls with sidewalk patios to help beautify downtown streets, it adds.

“It’s not a pie in the sky kind of thing. It builds on the strengths that our downtown has,” Wallace said.

One of the key features of the sweeping plan is the focus on creating a “west downtown,” he said. While a lot of attention has been paid to the south downtown — the home of River Landing — and more recently the north downtown with the construction of the new police station, the west downtown, bordered by Idywyld Drive, has been largely ignored.

“The time has come when we start to focus on our back door,” Wallace said.

Incentives for more dense development along Idywyld Drive and a focus on specific intersections like Idywyld Drive and 22nd Street will improve pedestrian access and make the downtown more accessible, he said.

“It starts with someone jumping out with a plan and saying, ‘This street can be different.’ ”

The plan also incorporates many of the city’s existing ambitions. A rapid transit system, for example, would make the much-maligned downtown bus mall a thing of the past, and 23rd Street could once again be open to traffic. Under the new system, rapid transit routes would circulate through the downtown.

Transit is just one element of the sprawling report, which aims to attract more young people and seniors to a more walkable urban landscape. It also focuses on providing incentives for businesses and encouraging more street-level investment. The plan also proposes new design guidelines that would allow for larger, taller buildings.

The city is also considering an incentive for developers to occupy vacant lots used for parking that currently make up more than a quarter of the total downtown surface space. The report suggests encouraging developers to build multi-level parking garages.

The Saskatoon market is remarkably active at the moment. Two weeks ago there were 91 firm sales in Saskatoon and last week there were 103 sales (75 single family, 21 condominiums). It should be noted that eclipsing the century mark during this time of year is very rare.  These figures show just how active the market currently is. Over the past month there have been an average of 90 sales per week in Saskatoon, which is 10 more per week than the same period in 2012. The current 4 week average price is $346,401 which is roughly $6000 more than the 2012 average. The average house is selling in 40 days on the market and $7990 under asking price at the moment.

Currently there are 1306 active listings (811 single family, 407 condominiums) in Saskatoon. Listing inventory levels have been dropping of late which is a good thing for a healthy balance in the market. In 2012 during the same weekd period, there were only 1092 active listings. Last week there were 114 new listings (80 single family, 20 condominiums) posted to the Saskatoon MLS.

For more information on the current market or specific neighbourhood, contact us by email.

C/O Saskatoon Star Phoenix

By Phil Tank

More apartments and other multi-unit dwellings are planned for construction in Saskatoon, driven in part by the high price of singlefamily homes.The number of multi-family units - including apartments, condos and townhouses - expected to be built, based on building permits issued this year, tops 1,600 for the first time. Meanwhile, while the number of single-family unit permits is on track to decline over 2012 to 1,252. It's the first such drop in five years.

A City of Saskatoon report on the housing plan for the next three years shows the disparity is about to become more pronounced, if the projected servicing of units is an accurate indication. Of the 2,949 housing units serviced this year, 1,722 (58 per cent) are singlefamily homes and 1,222 are multi-family units.
By 2016, that breakdown is expected to shift substantially, with single-family servicing reduced to just 39 per cent or 1,937 units out of 4,971 total units, while multi-family servicing is expected to climb to 61 per cent or 3,304 units.
Jason Yochim, executive officer with the Saskatoon Region Association of Realtors, said the shift is happening in part because single-family homes have jumped so much in price. "It's to create the product that the market's demanding," Yochim said.

In total, developers are expected to service enough land in the next three years to accommodate 16,700 new residential units. For the second straight year, combined residential and non-residential building permits are expected to top $1 billion in Saskatoon.

"The city land bank is looking at the market very optimistically lately," said the city's land bank manager, Frank Long. "We are planning for continued population growth in and around three to four per cent. A 'new normal' is what we're calling it here in the industry." Long said the projections are market-driven, even though they also conform to the greater urban density the city is seeking.

Ward 2 Coun. Pat Lorje, however, told Tuesday's planning and operations committee
meeting that not everyone appreciates having an apartment building in their neighbourhood.
"We've been talking about infill like it's the Holy Grail and everyone's going to love it," Lorje said. "They don't welcome it with open arms."

Lorje said infill developments in established areas fail to take into account that the neighbourhoods were not necessarily designed for greater density. "It's just not sustainable in terms of traffic flow," she said.
Yochim said some developers choose infill developments in established areas over new developments on the outskirts of the city because the development charges on new serviced lots make it so expensive.

Housing starts were up 12.5 per cent in 2012 over 2011, at 3,369, while the value of residential building permits hit $654,362,000 in 2012, up 15.1 per cent over 2011. Of the 16,694 units expected to be serviced from 2013 to 2016, 9,215 are expected to be multi-family units, while 7,479 are expected to be single family. It's not just housing that's expected to keep booming. From 2013 to 2016, developers plan to service about 490 acres of industrial land, mostly in the Marquis industrial area, and about 180 acres of commercial land.

Click here for link to article.

With the onset of winter in the Saskatoon region, one would anticipate the impending seasonal slow-down in the real estate market. However instead of cooling off, the unpredictability of the Saskatoon real estate market surprised once again in 2013. After witnessing sales dip to a 2013 weekly low of 56 due to the Thanksgiving long weekend, figures rebounded in a big way as 91 sales were recorded to the Saskatoon MLS last week. In 2012 there were 81 sales during the same week period, which is 10 less than last week. Over the past 4 weeks in Saskatoon we have seen an average of 85 sales/week, which is 10 more per week than in 2012. The current 4 week average price is $349,163 which is $13,317 more than the 4 week average price during the same period in 2012. Ultimately sales and average prices are up from a very strong 2012, which are good signs for the current Saskatoon real estate market.

Currently listing inventory is at 1385 active listings (871 single family, 415 condominiums) which is still very high for this time of year. These numbers are 18% higher than 2012 figures and once again, the greatest difference is the amount of single family homes, as the condo market remains relatively status quo in terms of inventory. Buyers currently have a lot to choose from in the single family market, however everything should balance out quite soon as listings are not replenishing themselves as briskly as they were during the spring and summer. Last week there were only 124 new listings (82 single family, 30 condominiums) posted to the market. We have recently seen new listing numbers around 150-200/week.

With sales on the uptick and listing numbers decreasing, we will start to see more balance in the market going forward. If you require more information about the current market, or are thinking about buying/selling, contact us here.

By Janet French, The StarPhoenix with Canadian Press files

The Saskatchewan government is planning to build 18 new elementary schools in the province, including eight in booming Saskatoon neighbourhoods, using a public-private partnership model.

The Saskatchewan Party said Tuesday that unprecedented growth in the Saskatoon and Regina areas is prompting the government to build nine new school buildings, each of which will house a public and a Catholic school. Each school building will share “programming opportunities” while the school divisions will share maintenance costs. The joint-use schools will be Catholic on one side, public on the other.

According to the government, schools will be built in Saskatoon neighbourhoods Evergreen, Hampton Village, Rosewood and Stonebridge; one each in Martensville and Warman; plus three in Regina: Harbour Landing, a northwest location and a southeast location.

"We're going to move forward with all of them at once," said Premier Brad Wall during Tuesday's announcement at Saskatoon's Dundonald elementary school, where he was joined by Education Minister Don Morgan.According to Wall, the traditional construction costs of the nine buildings would be around $450 million. He said the government is hoping to save a minimum of $30 million under the P3 model. Wall said request-for-proposals are being written starting immediately and will last for around six months. He was hoping to have shovels in the ground within 18 months. According to Morgan, if they are able to follow that timeline, each of the 18 schools would be open in approximately three years. “Saskatchewan is experiencing remarkable growth across the province, and some of it is right in the classroom,” Wall said in a statement. “We need to meet the challenges of growth and have adequate infrastructure in place. This approach will put our students first, provide them with the best learning environments, and do so much quicker than government could build schools the conventional way.”
School divisions in Saskatoon, Martensville and Warman have long been pushing for new suburban schools since enrolment began to climb in 2007. According to a government background document, K-8 enrolment increased 77 per cent in Warman, 14 per cent in Saskatoon, and 48 per cent in Martensville between 2007 and 2013. Both Saskatoon public and Catholic divisions say they’ve been growing by the equivalent of one school’s worth of children every year, with no new buildings to put them in.

Both Saskatoon public and Catholic divisions have said new elementary schools in Hampton Village and Stonebridge top their lists, and Prairie Spirit School Division says it could use new elementary schools in Warman and Martensville immediately.

As some new suburbs approach completion, pressure has mounted on existing elementary schools.
Valley Manor school in Martensville is so over capacity, the staff room is now a classroom, and the school stage is a temporary staff room. With no room for a music classroom, instruments are loaded onto a cart and roll from room to room.

In Saskatoon’s west end, St. Peter school is over capacity with 636 pupils as of Sept. 30. Last year, it had to renovate gym change rooms to more bathrooms for students. It’s also running out of space to add more modular classrooms. Across the field, Dundonald school had 727 pupils on Sept. 30. Seven busloads of children arrive there every morning from Hampton Village.

Under the P3 model, a private company will either design, finance, build and/or maintain the buildings, with, in this case, the government and school divisions essentially leasing the buildings from that company.
The Saskatchewan School Boards Association — which represents public, separate and francophone school divisions — says it welcomes the funding announcement for new school facilities. But the association also says it’s concerned that there isn’t a plan to address long-term needs for education infrastructure.

“We have heard from students and staff over the past few years that the growth pressures in some areas of the province have caused overcrowded classrooms,” said association president Janet Foord. “Thankfully, announcements such as this one will alleviate some of those concerns.

“But there’s more to do across the province and working in partnership with the Ministry of Education and other sector partners is necessary to address the long-term concerns.”

For example, the association says about 75 per cent of roofing in Saskatchewan schools will fail within the next five years. It also notes that the average age of the buildings is about 50 years.
Opposition NDP Leader Cam Broten said he doesn’t have an ideological opposition to the P3 model in education.
But decisions about building schools need to be cost-effective, fill the right need and be done in a timely way, he said.

“We can look at the bundling approach when it was pursued in Alberta, which caused many problems for schools not actually meeting the local needs within the community with respect to being customized in order to have community groups access,” Broten said.

“Also in terms of relocatables or portables being added on or taken away from the schools, so there’s some real restrictions in that context with bundling,” said Broten. “We know that we need new schools, the question is how do we do this in the best possible way.”
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Buildings the government intends to construct are:
• Joint public/Catholic elementary schools in Martensville
• Joint public/Catholic elementary schools in Warman
• Joint public/Catholic elementary schools in Saskatoon’s Hampton Village neighbourhood
• Joint public/Catholic elementary schools in Saskatoon’s Stonebridge neighbourhood
• Joint public/Catholic elementary schools in Saskatoon’s Evergreen neighbourhood
• Joint public/Catholic elementary schools in Saskatoon’s Rosewood neighbourhood
• Joint public/Catholic elementary schools in Regina’s Harbour Landing neighbourhood
• Joint public/Catholic elementary schools in Regina’s northwest
• Joint public/Catholic elementary schools in Regina’s southeast

Sales numbers last week in the Saskatoon real estate market were affected due to Thanksgiving long weekend. Traditionally sales do take a considerable dip during this week period and last week was no different as there were only 56 sales in Saskatoon. This happens to be the identical figure from the same week period in 2012 which suggests that the market likely hasn’t slowed down as much at it seems. The current 4 week average price is at $350,030 while the average house sells in 39 days on market, while the 4 week average in 2012 was $329,828 and 39 days on market. It should also be noted that sales have been more brisk this year as we are averaging 3 more home sales per week as compared to 2012.

With sales dropping off due to the Thanksgiving weekend, listing inventory in Saskatoon remains high as there are currently 1418 active listings (897 single family, 425 condominiums), which is a slight change from the previous week. However this is a significant change from 2012 when there were only 725 single family homes and 422 condominiums were active during the same time period. Last week there were only 117 listings posted to the Saskatoon MLS which is a significant drop off from the week before when we witnessed 191 new listings. We should start to see listing numbers drop off significantly as the single family market has more inventory than usual.

Now is certainly a good time to buy due to high inventory and attractive interest rates! If you have any questions or are thinking about buying or selling contact us here.

Last week in the Saskatoon real estate market, the sales numbers remained status quo as 85 sales were reported to the local MLS. The previous week had the exact same sales total. Over the past month, we are averaging 90 sales per week which is extremely productive for this time of year, as last year we were averaging just 84 per week. Last week the average price was $346,320, which is slightly higher than the 4 week average of $344,682. In 2012 the 4 week average for the same time period was just $324,681, which is nearly a 6% increase in price. Ultimately the sales numbers are strong and prices are up from a year ago.

Currently there are 1429 active listings in Saskatoon (903 single family, 421 condominiums). Listing numbers are usually dwindling down to 1200 or 1100 during this time of year,  however inventory levels remain very high especially in the single family home market. This has caused a bit of a buyers’ market in some single family price ranges. Generally the condominium market is the same as last year. Last week there were a whopping 191 new listings posted to the market (136 single family, 47 condominiums), which is 50 more listings than there were in 2012.

Now is a great time to buy! If you have any questions please contact us by email.

Last week in the Saskatoon real estate market, sales and listing inventory were up considerably. There were 91 sales (59 single family, 28 condominiums) reported to the Saskatoon MLS which is a rather impressive number considering its October. Last week the average price was $356,753 which is higher than usual as the current 4 week average is only $347,761. Over the previous few months the average sales prices were much lower, due to a high amount of activity in the lower end of the market. Over the past few months we had seen a high amount of activity in the under $300,000 market, however this seems to no longer be the case as the market seems balanced again. Over the past month, the average home sells in 38 days on market and the average selling price under asking was $7469.

We have seen a high amount of listing activity in the Saskatoon real estate market of late and this past week was no different. There were 209 new listings (130 single family, 66 condominiums) in Saskatoon last week, which is a very high number for October. Two weeks ago there were 41 less listings posted to the market and 60 less in 2012 during the same week period. This brisk listing activity has pushed inventory levels to 1402 active listings (883 single family, 419 condominiums). In 2012 there were over 140 less single family homes listed during the same week period, while condominiums were nearly equal. Ultimately competition in the single family market has been a lot tougher of late due to the high amount of competition.

The market has been active and very unpredictable of late, who knows what next week will bring us. If you have any questions  or are thinking about buying/selling contact us here.