The Saskatchewan Realtors Association (SRA) has released numbers for the first quarter of the year in the province, including the southeast.
In a news release, the SRA noted COVID-19 has had significant economic impact across all sectors of the economy. Despite those challenges, the Saskatchewan real estate market has been relatively resilient to date.
While first quarter (Q1) new listings and average prices were down 4.4 per cent and two-tenths of a per cent, respectively, over last year, Q1 sales were up seven per cent.
The true impact of the pandemic, however, was not going to begin to be felt until April, the SRA said, and although activity was down, it was not down as much as anticipated.
Sales in southeast Saskatchewan were down 68 per cent in April, going from 50 in April 2019 to 16 in April 2020, and were down 56 per cent from the five-year average and 66.9 per cent below the 10-year average. The total number of sales fell 73.3 per cent in both Estevan and Weyburn, with sales going from 15 to four.
Sales in Estevan were 60.8 per cent below the five-year average and 75.3 per cent below the 10-year average, while they were 66.1 per cent below the five-year average and 73.3 per cent below the 10-year average in Weyburn.
Year-to-date sales in the overall region were down 7.3 per cent, going from 109 to 101, with year to date sales in Estevan rising from 25 to 27, but falling 33.3 per cent in Weyburn, going from 36 to 24.
Sales volume in the region fell 67.6 per cent, going from $8.9 million to $2.9 million in 2020 (61.3 per cent below the 5-year average and 74.7 per cent below the 10-year average).
Sales volume in Estevan for April fell 56.1 per cent — $3M to $1.3M in 2020 (48.2 per cent below the five-year average and 71 per cent below the 10-year average), while it decreased 79.3 per cent in Weyburn—$3.4M to $700,000, which was 74.8 per cent below the five-year average and 82.5 per cent below the 10-year average.
Year to date sales volume in the region fell from $20.7 million to $17.9 million in 2020 (a decrease of 13.8 per cent), with Estevan seeing a modest fall of nine-tenths of a per cent and Weyburn seeing a dramatic 40.1 per cent drop in sales volume.
The number of new listings in south east Saskatchewan fell 56.3 per cent, going from 151 to 66 (50.6 per cent below the five-year average and 52.5 per cent below the 10-year average). The number of new listings in Estevan was up from 41 last year to 11 this year (a fall of 73.2 per cent), while in Weyburn, new listings decreased from 30 last year to 15 this year (a fall of 50 per cent).
Active listings were down across the region—12.9 per cent in the region (843 in 2019 to 734 in 2020), 32.7 per cent in Estevan (211 to 142), and 17.6 per cent in Weyburn (188 to 155).
The sales to listing ratio was 24.2 per cent in the region, 36.4 per cent in Estevan, and 26.7 per cent in Weyburn suggesting that market conditions favour sellers now.
In 2020, homes stayed on the market an average of 111 days in the region, down 14.6 per cent from 130 days last year, but still slightly above the five-year average of 118 days and below the 10-year average of 96.
In Estevan, homes stayed on the market an average of 96 days (less than the 134 days last year and less than the 5-year average of 112 days, but slightly more than the 10-year average of 90 days), while in Weyburn, homes stayed on the market an average of 108 days (less than the 144 days last year and less than the 5-year average of 128 days, but more than the 10-year average of 101 days).
Median home prices in the region fell 4.2 per cent, going from $180,000 to $172,500 (13.6 per cent below the five-year average median price of $199,540 and 19.4 per cent below the 10-year average median price of $214,085). In Estevan, median home prices were up 46.7 per cent, going from $211,250 to $310,000 (18.6% above the five-year average median price of $261,450 and 14.8 per cent above the 10-year average median price of $270,065), while in Weyburn, median home prices were down 22.6 per cent, going from $237,000 to $183,500 (18.3 per cent below the five-year average median price of $224,585 and 23.5 per cent below the 10-year average median price of $239,952).
Across the province, new listings were down 48.1 per cent from April of last year while sales were down 45.1 per cent.
Average home prices in April fell 3.2 per cent year-over-year, which is consistent with the modest price decline experienced in other markets affected by pandemics.
Evidence from prior pandemics suggest that transaction volumes return to normal quite quickly once physical distancing measures are relaxed. The province is just beginning to re-open the economy and the SRA anticipates that “the real estate industry in Saskatchewan will likely emerge from this shutdown with only a
few cuts and scrapes,” said SRA CEO Jason Yochim.
Home sales produce approximately $54,000 in additional spinoff spending across multiple sectors of the economy, the SRA said. Reduced restrictions on the home buying process have the potential to boost employment and help the provincial economy to recover and offset some losses in other areas of the economy.
“The number of employment opportunities and essential economic activities that are created when a home is bought or sold is significant,” said Yochim. “Sales that don’t occur during this pandemic will be recovered once the province has opened up again.”
Saskatchewan Realtors have taken every action possible to protect public safety concerning COVID-19 and recognized early on that business could not carry on as usual. The industry has worked hard to develop and provide a significant amount of virtual resources for Realtors as well as buyers and sellers, which has proved to be invaluable while practising social distancing.
