Maybe it’s because we have nothing else to do but shopping for a new house has become a big time thing in this province.
The provincial Realtors Association released January’s activity figures this week and it was nothing short of spectacular.
Sales were up, inventories are down with activity levels we haven’t seen since the SaskaBoom days nearly ten years ago. And it was widespread. Compared to January of last year, before the pandemic, the number of houses changing hands this January in Saskatoon rose 27%. Regina was up 75%. Melfort saw a 130% increase while Moose Jaw was 45 percent.
The most dramatic increase was in North Battleford at 180% while Prince Albert was not far behind at 173%. Yorkton saw gains of 78% while the Weyburn-Estevan area was up 13 points.
When you average it out across the entire province, the number of units changing hands was up roughly 50-percent compared to this time last year. With mortgage rates sitting at historic lows and inventories declining with this demand, the prospect of home prices continuing to go up is more likely than not.
