People in Saskatoon looking at buying a condominium have a favourable market to choose from after prices dropped by 6.4 per cent at the end of 2016, compared to the same time in 2015, according to a real estate report.
Real estate company Royal LePage released its fourth-quarter market update Thursday, indicating that the median condominium price in Saskatoon now sits at $221,168.
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Matt Miller, a broker with the company said current buyers have “fairly good negotiating power and they have a lot of product to choose from.”
‘The market certainly favours the buyer right now, so it is a good time for a buyer to get into the market,” Miller said in an interview.
“We’re in our second year of a bit of economic slowdown and little demand coming out of our market.”
Miller said a number of large housing projects began when Saskatoon’s real estate market was expanding and continued once the struggling energy sector slowed down the city’s economy.
“Demand tapered off a little bit, but the supply kind of kept up because these are longer term projects, they continue to come onto the market,” Miller said.
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However there may be a turnaround coming this year. Chris Guérette, CEO of the Saskatoon and Region Home Builders’ Association, said new regulations marking it harder to secure a large mortgage could affect buying trends.
“Some people who were looking for a house are then now maybe considering the condo market, because in that price range, there’s maybe more variety once you include the condo market in there,” Guérette said.
Guérette added that the association’s members were “cautiously optimistic” about 2017’s outlook. Many experts expect Saskatoon’s economy to improve slightly over the year and the housing market could follow its lead.
“I think we’ll start to see that market tighten up a little bit and with a tighter market we tend to see prices follow a bit as well,” Miller predicted.