‘It’s like an angry mob’: Inventory drought keeps Sask. bidding wars heated

In Saskatchewan, a housing market long defined by space and affordability continues to tighten, with buyers steadily outpacing new listings and no real signs of a slowdown.

In Saskatoon and Regina, there are well under two months of supply available, meaning that if no new homes were listed, there would be nothing left to buy within about six to eight weeks.

The market dynamics are forcing buyers into a longer, more competitive process, with multiple-offer scenarios now the norm rather than the exception.

Jenna Schmid of Century 21 Fusion says the pool of buyers in Saskatoon is ravenous for listings.

“It’s like an angry mob,” she told Real Estate Magazine. 

She described a listing that another agent in her office had in the desirable North End of the city, which drew 30 offers earlier this month and ended up going for $130,000 over the $500,000 asking price.  

“That’s 29 people looking to buy a house who were not successful. If all of those people are still actively looking, then those 29 people move to the next property, and we’ll probably pick up some along the way,” said Schmid.

At the time of the interview, Schmid had two new listings coming to market at $550,000 and $430,000, right in the sweet spot of the most sought-after price category, and was preparing for a multiple offer situation with delayed presentation of offers. 

Buyer demand is high in the lower end of the market, too, she said, pointing to a recent townhouse listing at $270,000, which drew nine showings on the first day and six offers despite there being no presentation of offers to drum up urgency. 

Saskatoon’s benchmark price climbed to an all-time high of $435,200 in March, up five per cent year-over-year, according Saskatchewan Realtors Association. 

Sellers in no rush

There were 1,808 new listings across the province in March, nearly 25 per cent below long-term averages.

Schmid says there’s a bottleneck caused by the supply drought. People who may be interested in selling are holding off because they aren’t seeing anything on the market that they would buy. 

“They’re not leaving the house that is OK in the meantime,” she said.

Chad Ehman of Royal LePage Next Level is seeing similar dynamics play out in Regina, where new listings were down 20 per cent below the historial average in March.

“There’s a fear of not finding something,” he said.

He said potential sellers are at a disadvantage if they want to try to secure a new home first. In an environment where conditions are being axed, offers from existing homeowners may be overlooked if they are conditional on the sale of the home they’re currently in. 

“That’s kind of paralyzed a lot of people to not make that move that when they would have maybe done that four or five years ago,” he said.

In Regina, the tightest conditions are in the $300,000 to $500,000 range, where “five to 10 offers is sometimes normal” for a well-priced, move-in-ready home, Ehman says.

In extreme cases, bidding wars can escalate dramatically. Ehman pointed to a recent sale that drew 27 offers. One of his buyers bid $60,000 over asking and “we were told we weren’t close,” he says. The home ultimately sold for nearly $100,000 above list price.

‘We’re shooting from the hip’

Chris Craik, an agent with Boyes Group Realty in Saskatoon, says not every part of the market is moving at the same pace. 

“I have listings that are sitting in the $900,000 price range. I have a condo that’s sitting in the $200,000 price range,” he said. “It’s not this across-the-map Saskatoon’s booming. We do have inventory, it’s just the popular inventory is selling.”

Craik said pricing homes has become increasingly challenging. He pointed to a property he listed last summer, priced low to attract attention. “We did get a lot of interest, but the offers ranged from $500,000 to $585,000,” he said, noting the next closest offer came in at $565,000. “So to see what a property is worth, it’s really hard.”

Because of that uncertainty, he said agents are adjusting how they approach listings. 

“We’re not just recommending you list it low… we’re listing like we’re shooting from the hip,” Craik said. “We don’t exactly know where to price houses all the time.” He added the market can shift quickly, calling it “very, very organic,” where “how it morphs today could be extremely different tomorrow.”

Competition heats up amongst agents, too

Schmid says her market has another interesting plot unfolding: a city with more agents than listings. 

At the end of March, there were 440 properties on the market, compared to more than 800 agents. 

Schmid, who has been in the industry for 13 years and works alongside her father who has 35 years experience, said it hasn’t affected how they do business, as their model is built on referrals, past clients and word of mouth. 

Those still making a name for themselves may be taking a different path, however. 

“We don’t do a lot of marketing or lead generation. I would say more so for a newer agent coming in, they might have to start the business looking at their marketing a little differently compared to five, ten years ago when there wasn’t as much competition,” she said.

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