Despite a drop in year-over-year sales activity, month to month home prices reported through the Regina and area MLS® System in July are holding steady, said the Association of Regina REALTORS® Inc.
During the month there were 351 residential sales reported in all geographic areas, down 8.4% from 383 reported in 2014. This was also below the five-year average of 364, but above the tenyear average of 345. Sales inside the city were down marginally with 292 occurring compared to 300 in 2014, a 2.7% decline.
Listing inventory remains at elevated levels compared to historic averages, but it is subsiding. Inside the city of Regina at the end of July, there were 1,449 properties for sale, almost identical to the 2014 total of 1,445. There were 548 new listings placed on the MLS® System in the city during the month, down 3.5% from 568 in 2014. Total Residential MLS® listing inventory is down in both new and active listings almost 5%.
For July, the MLS® Home Price Index (HPI) reported a composite residential price of $281,600 and index of 267.2 in the city. These are down 3.3% from last year’s levels of $291,200 and 276.3 and 5% over the last three years. Despite the small year over year drop, the HPI is level over the last one, three and six-month period, showing a levelling in home prices in the city of Regina. Home owners should also note there is an almost 10% increase in values over the last 10 years.
The HPI is a much more accurate measure of housing price trends than average or median price. The average sales price in the city was $319,688, down 3.6% from last year’s $331,565. There is a variance of almost $40,000 between the average price in the city and the HPI composite price. The HPI measures residential price trends based on four benchmark home types, with the index set at a base of 100 for January 2005.
The average sales price in all market areas for the month was $309,696, a 6% decrease from 2014’s $328,412.
Total dollar volume of sales of $108.7M was reported in all geographic areas, down 14% from 2014’s $125.7M. Dollar volume in the city is down year-over-year – July of 2014 to 2015 a decrease of 6%.
In the city during July, homes which sold were on the market for an average of 45 days before selling at an average of 96.9% of the current asking price.
The ratio of firm sales to new listings for the month in the city was 53% and 49% in all geographic areas. Balanced market conditions are generally in the 40-60% range – below 40% is considered to be a buyer’s market – above 60% is considered to be a market favouring sellers.
“Despite a month to month drop in sales activity the Regina and area market is relatively stable on both the sales and inventory side of the equation, in fact we’ve seen a levelling of home prices”, said Rob Reynar, Manager of Operations of the Association of Regina REALTORS® Inc.
“Listing inventories in the 1400 property range has been pretty consistent over a 12 month period, the market is adjusting to the higher than normal amounts of inventory and sales are close to 5 and 10 year averages.” “The MLS® Home Price Index show us prices are hanging in there, despite the high inventory and moderate sales.” Concluded Reynar.
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