Home sales in Moose Jaw continued their hot streak for a fourth straight month, with the number of houses sold in April increasing by 270 per cent over last year.
Seventy-four homes sold last month in the community, compared to 20 sales during the same time in 2020, while sales were also above the five-year and 10-year averages of 48 and 50 sales, respectively, according to the Saskatchewan Realtors Association (SRA).
Year-to-date (YTD), there have been 208 homes sold in Moose Jaw, which is an increase from 100 sales during the first four months last year.
The volume of sales increased six-fold this April compared to last April, to $18.3 million compared to $3.9 million, the data showed. Year-to-date, sales volumes have doubled to $47.6 million from $21.5 million last year.
The number of new listings in Moose Jaw increased to 130 in April compared to 48 during the same time in 2020. However, total active listings fell to 220 units from 251 units the year before.
According to the SRA report, Moose Jaw had a three-month supply of homes in April compared to 12.6 months the year before and below the five-year average of 6.3 months. The sales-to-listing ratio stood at 56.9 per cent, which suggests balanced market conditions.
Home buyers had nearly a two-month window to find that dream home, as homes in Moose Jaw stayed on the market on average 55 days in April, which was down from 63 days last year and down compared to the five- and 10-year averages.
Purchasers had to save a few more pennies if they wanted to buy a home, as the price of a single-family home in Moose Jaw increased to $221,600 from $215,000.
Saskatchewan home sales
Across Saskatchewan, the real estate market continued to build momentum and set another sales record in April, with 1,865 homes sold compared to roughly 340 during the same time last year, the SRA report said.
There have been 3,795 homes sold since January, new listings have doubled to 5,660 units compared to 2,870 last April, and the average price of homes has increased to $283,900 from $256,900.
“It’s not really fair to compare this April to last April since pandemic restrictions halted activity for part of April last year,” Chris Gbekorbu, SRA economic analyst, said in the news release. “But it is fair to compare April with other years, and just like last month, we set another record with 1,865 sales. We saw sales hit a high of 1,801 last July as the economy reopened, but before then, our record was 1,609 sales in May of 2014.”
This strong demand combined with falling inventory levels is putting upward pressure on prices. The home price index was up in 14 of 15 markets where data is available — Estevan declined slightly by 0.1 per cent — while the number of sales was up in all 24 markets, the news release continued.
With supply shrinking and demand continuing to outpace supply, there was the potential for new listings to dry up and further reduce the supply of homes for sale. However, even in smaller markets across the province, that has not been the case and there is a steady supply of homes becoming available.
“New listings were up significantly in 23 of 24 markets, suggesting that people are still quite motivated to sell and helping to ease supply concerns,” added Gbekorbu, which means the market remains strong and shows no signs of slowing down.
