(Cam Lee/northeastNOW Staff)

By Cam Lee

Melfort Home Sales

Melfort home sales drop slightly in January

Feb 15, 2020 | 8:00 AM

The Saskatchewan Realtors Association (SRA) has released figures on the housing market activity in Melfort for January.

The Melfort area saw 11 homes sell last month, three fewer than in the same period in 2019.

Chief Executive Officer Jason Yochim told northeastNOW the 11 homes sold is the second lowest January total in the last five years.

“New listings [are] pretty consistent over the last five years, probably averaging very close to the 32 that we saw in January [of 2020],” Yochim said.

A major change was the amount of time homes remained on the market. Homes spent an average of 180 days on the market, up 45 per cent from 124 last year.

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Just three homes within the city of Melfort itself sold last month, compared to five last year.

But Yochim said that’s not necessarily a surprise.

“January’s not necessarily the busiest month to begin with, and it doesn’t take…very much to change the action as far as sales from one year to the next when you have lower numbers like that,” Yochim said.

The average price of a home was down 2.5 per cent to $144,127. Yochim said that could be a trend that continues.

“I know in a good chunk of the markets in the province the inventory levels are down, and I’m hoping as we see that that it will stabilize price, and maybe even put…a little bit of an upward pressure on price as we head into the spring market,” Yochim said.

He said averages can be skewed with one or two home sales either way, and it’s important to get good advice from members of their association because they know the market and how homes fit into the neighbourhood.

“It’s not a speculator’s market at all. You have to make sure…if you want to sell, that you listen to good advice and price to that market,” Yochim said.

He said they would like to see a positive economic shift that gives confidence to the consumers, so they can make that move they have been contemplating.

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cam.lee@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @camlee1974