Looking around western Canada, there isn’t much good news in real estate. The diving price of oil, the weak loonie and rising unemployment even has some market-watchers fearful that some Albertans may start walking away from their mortgages.
Just last week, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) flagged Regina and Saskatoon along with Toronto as at risk for a correction in 2016 due to overvaluation and overbuilding. Both of Saskatchewan’s big cities logged decreases in the average home price last year.
The real estate market in other Saskatchewan cities such as Weyburn and Estevan are also feeling some softness due to oil.
Yorkton, however, remains a positive island in the sea of negativity according to Bill Harrison of Yorkton Re-Max.
“In a nutshell, we have a nice, healthy balanced market,” he said, citing statistics from December that show increases across the board in dollar volume (+9 per cent), unit listings (+13 per cent), sales (+7 per cent) and selling price (+2 per cent).
Furthermore, he said 2015 was positive overall. Over the 12 months, 558 homes were listed, 249 sold at a total volume of more than $58 million or an average of $235, 379. Harrison said those stats, coupled with an average on-market time of 89 days and sellers receiving 95 per cent of list price indicates a “stable” market.
Furthermore, 2016 is off to a banner start, he said.
“This January blew the doors off last January,” he said, citing an 80 per cent increase in dollar volume, 30 per cent bump in the number of homes listed and sales 67 per cent above January 2015.
Those kinds of numbers have to be viewed with some caution, however.
“That’s not to say it’s going to hold for the rest of the year, but it shows the year is kicking off on a strong foot,” Harrison explained.
And it shows Yorkton seems to be bucking a trend. Harrison attributes this to continued strong investment in the city in terms of hospitality, retail and education (Parkland College).
“It’s a balanced market with a very strong sense of buyer confidence,” he said.
Whether Yorkton can stay above the fray remains to be seen with CMHC predicting an overall decline in the prairie region during 2016 and continuing into 2017 for Alberta while stabilizing in Saskatchewan and Manitoba.
