JOSH BUCHANAN
JUNE 11, 2024
Lately in Saskatoon, many homes are actually selling for more than what the sellers are asking. This is because the market is so competitive that some sellers are getting multiple offers on their homes which can result in bidding wars. Other times, buyers just know that they have to offer above asking price since they’ve been outbid on previous homes. Ultimately, this type of behaviour is what drives up prices.
Here’s a look at sales statistics for May in Saskatoon compared to other notable years in the past:
Even though 2021 and 2023 had the same number of sales, 2023 is seeing homes sell for above asking price whereas 2021 was not. The reason for this is because 2021 was busy in terms of sales, but it was not nearly as competitive as 2023. There was almost double the amount of inventory in May of 2021 than there is currently. The months-of-inventory ratio at that time was still competitive, but not to the level of 2023.
May of 2017 saw opposite market conditions where the market was not at all competitive and very oversupplied. There were 150 fewer sales than this year, yet 1,300 more active listings at the time. Because of this, sellers were getting $10,000 below their asking price, on average. Keep in mind, at this time, many sellers were waiting for long enough that they would reduce their asking price. Some even cancelled their original listings or had them expire and then re-listed them. Therefore, $10,726 below asking price is not truly indicative of what homes were selling for. The real number is probably significantly lower than this.
Looking back at 2007 which was the craziest year in recent history for Saskatoon, the market was so extremely competitive that sellers were getting almost $18,000 above their asking price, on average.
This year is not as competitive as 2007, but it’s the next most competitive year in recent history. Because of this, home prices will be on the rise and many sellers will continue to receive more than they are asking.
Here’s a few recent examples of the more extreme cases:
What’s interesting to me is that a lot of the homes that are selling for well-above asking price are actually the higher-end houses.
More stats can be found here: https://saskatchewanrealtorsassociation.ca/category/marketstatistics/
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