No sign of a slowdown in Saskatchewan as housing market keeps rumbling

In other markets, momentum has swung in favour of buyers, who now have greater negotiating power because of falling competition.

Saskatchewan, though, is experiencing the opposite. “We’re still seeing an absolute lack of inventory and lots of clients sitting preapproved, waiting in specific areas,” Shawna MacDonald (pictured top), a Saskatoon-based mortgage broker with The Mortgage Associates, told Canadian Mortgage Professional.

Plenty of sellers are listing their houses under market value to drum up interest, according to MacDonald, and then allowing prospective buyers to compete on offers. “That’s really driving up the housing market and increasing price points,” she said.

“Because all of those are going for much over asking price. And then the next house that gets sold, of the same square footage, is worth what that house next door sold for in a competing market.”

The residential benchmark price of a home in Saskatchewan sat at $368,300 in September – marginally lower than the previous month, and well below the national average.