September MLS® System Stats are out!

The September MLS® System stats for Saskatoon and Regina were released this week and the market continues to show strength in both cities.

Regina's Stats are here: Regina Stats - September
Saskatoon's Stats are here: Saskatoon Stats - September

As always, your comments are welcome.

The Association of Saskatchewan REALTORS® (ASR) has taken a step toward environmental responsibility by installing a 10 kW photovoltaic grid tied solar panel system on their office building at 2811 Estey Drive in Saskatoon.  The system, installed by Solar Outpost of Saskatoon, is expected to produce approximately 15,000 kWh of electricity per year which is equal to around $1,800 worth of power at current Saskatoon Light and Power rates. Saskatoon is one of the sunniest cities in the country and will produce more power here than a similar system installed in Vancouver, Toronto, or Los Angeles.

The ASR installed the system under the Province of Saskatchewan’s “Net Metering Program” which provides a grant of up to 35% of eligible costs. Bill Madder, Executive Vice President of the ASR said “We made the decision to install this system based on economics and to show leadership in environmental responsibility. Existing office buildings are among the largest users/wasters of energy and we decided to take steps to offset that. In addition to the installation of the solar panels, we added additional insulation to the roof of the building and also had an energy audit on our building done by the Saskatchewan Environmental Society. We have implemented a number of their recommendations and will be looking at additional ways to reduce our energy use in the future.”

Here are a couple of photos of the building and the system:

For more photos of the construction process, check out our Facebook page: ASR Facebook Page - Construction Photos

ePro Course coming to Saskatchewan

Saskatchewan's REALTORS® will have a great opportunity to improve their social media and technology skills when the highly touted ePro® course comes to our province next month. The new e-PRO® gives agents a roadmap to build their business and serve the hyper-connected consumers of today and tomorrow. The course will be presented by REBAC Hall of Fame instructor Doug Devitre and will be offered in Saskatoon on November 29th and in Regina on November 30th. The registration fee for this course is just $155 and seating is limited.

For more details and registration information go to: ePro Saskatchewan - November, 2011

RBC Housing Affordability Index

The RBC Housing affordability index for the second quarter was released last week and had some interesting revelations. While Saskatchewan's affordability index is still below the national level it did erode somewhat and it is now higher than seven of ten provinces. Only B.C. And Ontario are higher. What does this mean? Well, it means houses are going up in value slightly more than wages (during the time the stats are collected)and that it takes, on average just over 39% of your salary to carry the costs of a home in Saskatchewan.

Does this mean it's too expensive to buy and that everyone should now rent until prices go down - NO! While averages and stats such as this are instructive, they don't tell the whole story. First of all, the index is based on a Saskatchewan average - individual markets from Regina to Estevan to Lloydminster to Esterhazy to Swift Current, etc. are all combined to come up with that number. As everyone knows, both the housing market and the wage scale can vary greatly from area to area and a provincial average tells us nothing about specific locations. One article compared the Saskatchewan index with Calgary and Edmonton with the headline "Sask Homes More Expensive Than Calgary and Edmonton". While this may be correct statistically (based only on the one index) it is not very instructive.

There is an old saying in the real estate world "it's not what you buy it for it's what you sell it for that matters". If you think homes or investment property in your area are likely to increase in value over the time you expect to own it, then it's probably not a bad time to buy.

The RBC Report can be found here: http://www.rbc.com/economics/market/pdf/house.pdf

CREA MLS® System Stats for July - Revised 2011 Forecast

The Canadian Real Estate Association released the MLS® System Statistics for July today and also revised its Resale Housing Forecast for the year. The national average home price is forecast to rise 7.2 per cent in 2011 to $363,500 while Saskatchewan is expected to post a 5.5% increase to $255,500.

The full Stats release is here and the revised forecast is here.

Any comments on where you see the market headed are welcome. Please use the "comment" button below to add your opinion.

Saskatchewan Housing Strategy

The Government of Saskatchewan released "A Strong Foundation - The Housing Strategy for Saskatchewan" on Monday August 8th. The media release from the Government is here and the Strategy document itself is here.

Saskatchewan’s REALTORS® welcome the development of a comprehensive housing strategy for our province. In particular we welcome the recognition that the involvement of the private sector is a critical piece of the solution. The mid and longer term success of housing policy is likely to be driven by the extent to which it can succeed in making new investment attractive across the entire housing spectrum. And, housing strategy can succeed by facilitating the natural movement of the market, making better use of existing stock in the effort to deliver affordability with quality. REALTORS® are encouraged to see the beginnings of policy designed for these purposes. We are pleased to have been one of the many stakeholder groups that participated in the formulation of the strategy and look forward to working together to ensure its success.

As always, we welcome your comments on this topic. Feel free to use the comments section below to send us your thoughts.

Saskatoon and Regina Markets Continue to Show Strength

The July MLS® System statistics for Regina and Saskatoon were released today. Both centers experienced increases in the number of sales and in the average price when compared to the same period last year.

The media release from the Saskatoon Region Association of REALTORS® is here:

Saskatoon - July Stats

And the release from the Association of Regina REALTORS® is here:

Regina - July Stats

Does anyone have any comments on the market or predictions on what they think will happen in the balance of the year? We welcome your comments.