While home sales in Saskatchewan continued to be strong in October, sales in Moose Jaw slipped slightly compared to 2019, data shows.
Sales in The Friendly City dropped 10.6 per cent, from 47 homes sold last October to 42 this past October. According to data from the Saskatchewan Realtors Association, sales were also below the five-year average of 43 units sold and below the 10-year average of 44 units sold.
Year-to-date in Moose Jaw, sales rose 4.7 per cent over last year, increasing to 447 units from 427 units.
Sales volume was down slightly, dropping to $10.1 million in October compared to $10.2 million during the same time last year, data shows. This is 8.3 per cent above the five-year average of $9.4 million and 3.4 per cent above the 10-year average of $9.8 million.
Year-to-date sales volume in Moose Jaw was $104.1 million, increasing from $100 million last October.
The number of new listings in Moose Jaw dropped to 65 from 71 a year ago, below the five-year average of 66 new units listed and below the 10-year average of 71 new houses listed.
Year-to-date new listings in the city fell to 780 this October compared to 889 new listings last October. Meanwhile, active listings fell to 220 from 269 the previous October.
The sales-to-listing ratio stood at 64.6 per cent, which suggests that market conditions favour sellers, the data showed.
Homes in Moose Jaw stayed on the market for an average of 54 days in October, which is down from 59 days last year. It is also below the five-year average of 63 days and below the 10-year average of 56 days.
In October, the median home price in Moose Jaw jumped to $240,000 from $215,000, which is above the five-year and 10-year average median home prices of $206,450 and $211,975, respectively. Year-to-date, the median home price in Moose Jaw was $216,720, which is slightly above the $210,820 price from last October.
Saskatchewan home prices
Across the province, sales of homes increased to 1,366 in October compared to 987 last October; new listings increased to 2,023 from 2,002, and; the median sales price increased to $275,000 from $255,000.
Consumer confidence is high in Saskatchewan despite falling economic resilience across the country due to the emergence of a second wave of the coronavirus, according to the Saskatchewan Realtors Association (SRA).
“The protocols that we put in place back in April to keep realtors and their clients safe (have) helped ease people’s anxiety when it comes to buying and selling real estate,” Jason Yochim, CEO of SRA, said in a news release. “We saw that COVID didn’t stop people from participating in the real estate market, but they also need to feel safe (so SRA’s actions have been critical to keeping consumer confidence high).”
Overall, in October, the real estate market continued the trend that SRA had seen since the provincial economy reopened, Yochim added. Although the market is slowing compared with the performance seen this summer, this October was stronger than last year.
As of Nov. 6, the SRA has mandated that all realtors wear masks when meeting with clients.
