SRA Media Release 

The Saskatchewan real estate market had another strong month and ended 2020 at levels not seen since 2014. Across the province, sales were up over 58% from last December, going from 590 to 935, new listings were up close to 13%, going from 1,005 to 1,132, and the median sale price was up over 1%, going from $253,750 to $257,500. Inventories were also down in all 19 markets that the SRA tracks.

Despite increased restrictions coming into effect in December to help reduce the rising spread of COVID throughout the province, the market continued to show considerable strength. “We’d already reached over 33% of last December’s sales in the first week of this December,” said SRA Economic Analyst Chris Gbekorbu, “so I figured we’d have another strong month to finish off the year.”

Median sales prices were up (or flat) in 11 of the 19 markets that the SRA tracks (with Melfort and Yorkton seeing the strongest declines while Moose Jaw and the Moose Jaw region saw the greatest increases), while the number of sales were up in all 19 markets.

It’s been a crazy year for real estate across the country. With large-scale lockdowns in place in March and April, many analysts expected real estate to suffer. But that clearly hasn’t been the case. “2020 started off about as strong as 2019, and then the pandemic hit, and as expected, the market suffered” said Gbekorbu. But with the safety protocols that the SRA put in place to help protect the public while buying and selling real estate, by the end of June, sales had returned to their 2019 levels, despite two months of virtually no activity.

“Although it’s still too early to tell if we’ve got a new trend forming, COVID has certainly changed the features that people currently want in their homes and spaces. And as a result, people have been eager to buy homes that meet their new needs.”

For the year, sales were up an average of 24.5% across the province and up in all markets that the SRA tracks except for Melfort (a drop of 19.0%) and the Melfort region (a drop of 1.7%). Weyburn saw the smallest increase in yearly sales at 6.7%, while Estevan saw the largest increase in sales at 62.4%. New listings were down an average of 5.8% across the province in 2020, with Swift Current seeing a modest drop of 0.7%, and Weyburn seeing the largest drop at 13.6%.

Although median prices increased an average of 1.2% across the province over the year, there was considerably more variability in prices. Only nine markets saw a price increase, with Moose Jaw seeing the largest yearly price increase at 7.7%, while Melfort saw the largest yearly price drop at 14.1%. The variation in price changes that we’ve seen across the province reflect the fact that real estate is highly local.

 Saskatoon

Sales in Saskatoon were up 35.0%, going from 203 in December 2019 to 274 in December 2020, and up 41.5% in the overall region, going from 258 to 365. In Saskatoon, sales were 32.1% above the 5-year average (and 33.5% above the 10-year average), while in the larger region, sales were 33.8% above the 5-year average (and 32.3% above the 10-year average). Year-to-Date (YTD) sales in Saskatoon rose 18.2% over last year, increasing from 3,614 to 4,272, while YTD sales in the larger region rose 23.0%, going from 4,833 to 5,945.

Sales volume was up 39.6% in the city, going from $67.8M to $94.6M in 2020 (34.5% above the 5-year average, and 35.0% above the 10-year average). YTD sales volume in the city was $1,471.2M, an increase of 22.8% from last year. In the region, sales volume was up 28.4%, going from $1,523.0M to $1,955.5M (34.5% above the 5-year average and 33.5% above the 10-year average). YTD sales volume increased 28.4% in the region, rising from $1,523.0M in 2019 to $1,955.5M in 2020.

In Saskatoon, the number of new listings in December 2020 rose 14.9%, going from 302 to 347 (3.6% above the 5-year average and 5.9% above the 10-year average), while in the region, new listings rose 10.6% from 435 last year to 481 this year (1.4% below the 5-year average and 2.6% above the 10-year average). YTD new listings in the city fell 3.0%, going from 7,745 to 7,514, while in the larger region, the number of new listings to date fell 5.7%, going from 11,309 to 10,660. Active listings fell 24.0% in Saskatoon (down from 1,329 to 1,010) and fell 27.9% in the region (down from 2,538 to 1,831).

Inventory in Saskatoon stood at 3.7 months (which is 43.7% below the level last year and 47.7% below the 5-year average), while the sales to listing ratio was 79.0%, suggesting that market conditions favour sellers. Inventory in the larger region stood at 5.0 months (which is 49.0% below the level last year and 47.7% below the 5-year average), while the sales to listing ratio was 75.9%, suggesting that market conditions favour sellers.

Homes in Saskatoon stayed on the market an average of 48 days in December—down 26.2% from 65 days last year (but below the 5-year average of 55 days and below the 10-year average of 52 days). Homes in the region stayed on the market longer than homes in the city at 57 days on average in 2020, but also down from an average of 67 days last year (and 10.7% below the 5-year average).

Median home prices in Saskatoon went from $316,635 to $333,000 (an increase of 5.2%) and were approximately 2.3% above the 5-year and 2.1% above the 10-year average median price. The MLS® Home Price Index (HPI)—a more accurate measure of house price trends—is up 6.4% from $303,100 to $322,400. Year-to-date, the median home price in Saskatoon was $329,846 which is 3.2% above the $319,720 price from the same time last year. Median home prices in the region went from $309,450 to $318,000 (an increase of 2.8%) and were approximately 1.3% above the 5-year and 1.5% above the 10-year average median price. Year-to-date, the median home price in the region was $313,956 which is 3.8% above the $302,462 price from the same time last year.