April 2022 Regina Real Estate Market Update

Regina Real Estate Market Update April 2022

SUPPLY LEVELS REMAIN LOW CAUSING CONTINUED PRICE INCREASES

Saskatchewan

Both sales and new listings trended up this month compared to levels seen over the past few months. However, the level of new listings coming onto the market was far lower than levels seen last year and for the 10-year average. This caused the sales to new listings ratio to rise and prevented any notable change to the supply situation. With 5,648 units in inventory, levels are nearly 30 percent lower than what we traditionally see in the market in March.

“March is typically the month that we start to see more people listings their homes adding supply to the market. While we did see more new listings compared to the winter months, it hasn’t been enough compared to the sales to make any significant change in supply, resulting in further price gains in the market,” said Saskatchewan REALTORS® Association (SRA) CEO Chris Guérette.

The unadjusted benchmark price in March reached $289,500, nearly two percent higher than last month, over three percent higher than last year’s levels and 13 percent higher than pre-pandemic levels.

Economic conditions have been improving across most sectors and with that, we have seen gains in employment and reductions in the unemployment rate. This along with relatively low lending rates is likely supporting further confidence in the housing market and continued strength in demand.  While sales did ease in March over last year’s record levels, they remained 40 percent higher than long-term trends.

“As we move more into the spring market supply will be a crucial factor,” said Guérette. “Should supply levels start to improve we could see more balanced conditions slowing the upward pressure on prices. However, this transition could take longer than expected, especially in our largest cities, which is why we’ve begun outreach to our industry partners to discuss how to address these supply shortages.”

Regina

Sales in the city slowed compared to last year’s record pace, but with 351 sales in the month, levels are still amongst the strongest March activity recorded in the city. Like other areas, new listings did rise compared to levels seen over the past seven months. This helped support modest gains in inventory compared to the last four months. However, with 982 units in inventory, this was nine percent lower than levels recorded last year. . Regina did not have the same inventory struggles last year, but this recent shift does put inventory levels over 12 percent below long-term trends.

The strong sales compared to inventory levels did cause the months of supply to fall below three months, the first time it has done that since October 2012. While the tighter conditions have had some impact on prices in the market, if the market still is this tight, we could see added pressure on home prices in the coming months.

In March, the benchmark price rose to $264,000, nearly two percent higher than last year and one percent higher than last month.  The growth in prices helped narrow the spread from the earlier high, but prices continue to remain nearly 13 percent below the monthly high recorded back in June 2012.

From: SRA (Saskatchewan REALTORS® Association)