Today newspaper says about Saskatoon real estate market in May of 2008.
A record number of houses were listed on the Saskatoon market in May, while the number of sales dipped 37 per cent from a year earlier, the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) reported Friday.
It's the second consecutive month that a listings record has been set in Saskatoon.
May saw 1,015 homes listed on the multiple listing service (MLS), a 43.6 per cent increase over the 706 homes listed in May 2007.
"The price increases that Saskatoon has seen are in the rearview mirror," said CREA chief economist Gregory Klump in an interview.
"You're still going to get large year-over-year increases, but they're going to shrink.
"That reflects the reality that the market is much more balanced than it had been for quite some time."
The number of listings Canada-wide also set a monthly record for the second month in a row, but the balancing market trend was most pronounced in Regina and Saskatoon, said Klump.
He described it as "a very dramatic evolution in the market.
"It's still in territory considered to be a balanced market. We are not forecasting price declines in Saskatchewan."
The 367 homes sold in May generated $110.6 million, a 19.3 per cent decline from last May. However, the average price of $301,527 was up 29 per cent from the same month last year.
Year-to-date, the average price of a Saskatoon home is $271,771, says CREA, up 33 per cent from the same period of last year. So far, 5,111 homes have been placed on the market, up 49 per cent from 2007. Sales have fallen 9.3 per cent to 2,496.
The Canadian real estate market is being flooded with homes and prices in Alberta's two largest cities are starting to fall due the huge influx of supply, according to CREA.
The average price of a home sold last month in the country's top 25 markets was $337,071, a record. But that price was only up 1.1 per cent from May 2007 -- the smallest year-over-year increase in seven years.
"The record number of new listings means more opportunities for buyers," said Klump. "The resale housing market has evolved in just a few short months."
CREA said there were 67,628 new units on the market in May, a seven per cent jump from last year. It was the second-straight month a record number of houses has gone on sale.
The impact on prices is being felt most keenly in Alberta. The average price of a home sold in Calgary last month was $418,881, a 2.4 per cent drop from a year ago. Edmonton sale prices averaged out at $340,499, down 4.8 per cent from a year ago.
Unit sales in both cities are also plummeting. Calgary homes sales were off 32.6 per cent from a year ago while Edmonton sales were down 34.8 per cent during the same period.
Home sales are dropping across the country. CREA said 35,040 homes sold last month in the country's top markets, down from 42,167 a year earlier. Ottawa, and Newfoundland and Labrador were the only markets to record an increase in sales from a year earlier.
The red hot markets in Saskatoon and Regina could soon begin to cool. Sales in Regina last month were down 27.9 per cent from a year ago while Saskatoon sales were off 37.4 per cent during the same period.
"There has been a big shift in market balance. They've gone from the tightest markets to the most balanced," said Klump, referring to Saskatchewan. "The trends are playing out roughly the way they played out in Calgary and Edmonton. Price increases will get smaller (in Saskatchewan)."
While price increases have started to shrink, the Ottawa-based real estate group does not think they will begin falling despite the situation in Calgary and Edmonton last month.
"We have said prices would continue to rise but at a slower pace, and that is starting to play out," said Klump, adding his group is standing by a prediction that average prices would rise 5.3 per cent in 2008.
The drop in sales is also not unexpected. CREA has forecast sales would drop by 11.5 per cent this year.