It’s the Supply Stupid

Saskatchewan’s housing market appears to be singing from its own song sheet these days as major markets begin to experience some cooling due to high prices. Instead, we are seeing activity unabated with demand outpacing supply.

The latest monthly figures tabled by the provincial Realtors Association show sales or transactions continued on their robust track in June. They were 12% ahead of the same month last year and 66% ahead of 2020 on a year-to-date metric.

We’re still seeing new listings lag the sales volume so the overall inventory is shrinking, a key driver in prices going up by roughly 10-percent so far this year.

As the Association’s new CEO puts it, clearly we have a supply problem and that is pushing up prices. Governments, however, have responded by trying to dampen activity with tighter rules when simply sparking more construction to increase supply would get the market to the same place while stimulating the economy rather the being restrictive.