The Saskatoon housing market is moving closer to being balanced.
The Saskatoon Region Association of Realtors (SRAR) said the sales to listing ratio in October was just over 40 per cent.
SRAR reported 287 units were sold during the month, an eight per cent decrease from October 2016 but up 10 per cent from the previous month.
Year-to-date sales in the city total 3,030 units, a decrease of 6.7 per cent over the same period last year and total listings for the year are down slightly from last year, to 8,069 from 8,217.
The median selling price during the month remained unchanged at $330,000 and it took on average 54 days to sell a property.
SRAR CEO Jason Yochim said he expects a slight increase in sales in the last two months of the year due to upcoming mortgage rule changes and interest rate uncertainty.
“I expect that there may be a slight spike in sales as the year winds down … due to recently introduced mortgage qualification rules for conventional buyers plus a sense of upward pressure on interest rates,” Yochim said in a release.
SRAR said the changes were made to address issues with overheated housing markets in Canada’s two largest cities but the rule changes affect local real estate markets.
New rules were announced in October requiring a mortgage stress test for all homebuyers, including those with large down payments, starting on Jan. 1, 2018.
It also applies to mortgage renewal applications if the borrower is switching financial institutions.
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