Saskatoon real estate: Local buyers compete with those from out-of-town
Nearly 40 per cent of people would move to a new province in order to achieve home ownership, according to a recent Remax survey.
Sixty-four per cent of those surveyed said they would relocate for home affordability, though only 38 per cent would consider moving over 100 kilometers from their current home.
Jeff Stewart, a Remax Saskatoon broker, said they’ve seen an uptick of migration into the city in the last six months.
“We have people moving from some of the bigger centers where the average sale price of a detached home is over a million dollars,” he told CTV News.
The Canadian census shows a 7.6 percent growth in the population of Saskatoon over the past few years.
Saskatoon relocation Realtor Kendra Rodych said she also feels more people are moving to Saskatoon.
“With COVID, I think a lot of relocations slowed down. A lot of companies weren’t hiring for a little while, but I feel like it’s picking up again.
“They’re obviously finding Saskatoon a very affordable place to live and great for families and smaller, more condensed, not as much commuting time,” she said.
“I believe we have lots of employment prospects here. So Saskatchewan is a great place for people to come.
Rodych said the city has a lot to offer to new residents.
“They love the riverbank and all the activities in the summertime and lakes that we have. I’ve been here my whole life. It’s a great place to live and raise families for sure.”
DEMAND IS UP
This influx of people puts added pressure on homebuyers in Saskatoon as they face out-of-town competition for a limited housing supply.
Stewart said there is also a rush for home buyers who had a rate hold to make a purchase.
“We are starting to see that people are coming off of rate holds from the bank. And basically, that means that they have locked in a low-interest rate, the fixed interest rate a few months ago, and so they’re either buying a house right now or have to close on a property right away.”
He said this has put extra stress on the market.
“In the first six months of this year, we’ve had more competitive offers than we had throughout the entire pandemic.”
But Stewart said it has not affected prices too much.
According to Remax, there has been a modest increase in home prices over the last year, from $368,079 in 2021 to $373,410 in 2022, or 1.45 per cent.
“The price hasn’t gone up that much, but just the demand for particular properties has gone up and is playing a role,” he said. “There’s not a lot of supply.”
Stewart said the market in Saskatoon wouldn’t see such wide fluctuations as other markets.
“We’re always pretty steady here in Saskatchewan,” Stewart said.
“We haven’t had wild swings in the market. We also have a lot of economic indicators pointing in favor of Saskatchewan with commodities and things like that. So we don’t anticipate the big swings that some of the bigger centers are seeing.”