(Cam Lee/northeastNOW Staff)

By Cam Lee

Housing update

Housing sales increase slightly in Melfort in 2019

Jan 2, 2020 | 9:00 AM

Melfort saw more home sales in 2019 than in the previous year.

There were 78 homes that sold in the city as of the end of November, according to Richelle Rogers of Realty Executives Gateway Realty.

That compares to 66 the year previous, which was a significant drop from the 10-year high of the 115 houses sold back in 2011.

“It was nice to see that [increase in 2019] because we had been on a decline in the few years prior to that,” Rogers told northeastNOW.

Housing sales declined from 95 in 2016, to 91 the following year, and hit a low of 66 last year.

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Province-wide, the number of sales fell sharply over the past several years, from a high of 15,886 in 2012 to 11,667 this year.

The average sale price in Melfort also increased to $188,950 from $177,250, but Rogers said one major sale skewed the numbers a little because Melfort is such a small market.

“It is showing a bit of an increase [but] I would say without that one sale though we would be pretty much the same as last year for value,” Rogers said.

She said the average sale price would likely need to drop a little bit more for the number of home sales to increase.

The highest average price in Melfort was in 2016, at $216,000. That dropped in 2017 to $195,000 and to $177,250 last year.

“At a time when prices go up, it’s great as long as the sales sustain it, but as soon as the sales are fewer, then it’s going to take longer for the homes to sell, and the values to eventually get pushed down,” she said.

Homes usually sell between 82 and 86 days on average, and Rogers said they like to have the number at least under 90 for a timely sale and a healthier sale environment. She said this year there were a number of months where homes have spent, on average, over 100 days on the market before a sale.

Rogers said homes between $160,000 to $210,000 seem to be popular, but adds homes in every price range are generally selling for less now than what they would have a few years ago.

The trend in Melfort is similar to what it’s been in the rest of the province. The average price of homes on average across Saskatchewan was highest in 2015 and has been declining since, while Melfort’s high was in 2016 and has largely dropped as well.

“Economists are estimating in the province…[that] in order to get the number of sales back up, our numbers will have to go down more,” Rogers said.

She said in a number of instances homeowners cannot sell their homes now for what they purchased it in years like 2015 and 2016.

“They are again, for lack of a better word, upside down on their home, what they’ve got it mortgaged for, the value isn’t there anymore,” Rogers said.

It could be a long climb back to the housing price levels of a few years ago. Rogers said some experts believe it could take at least five to seven years before sale prices rebound to those levels.

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cam.lee@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @camlee1974