It is a sellers market in Saskatchewan and housing buyers for the first time say they are having difficulty making that purchase of milestones, offering in multiple homes that end up selling for more than the sale price.
“I thought it would be much easier in a city like Regina,” said Ruth Aguilar, 25, who has been looking to buy her first house with her husband Aaron Gunther for almost a year.
“We put an offer in three houses, but they will look for thousands of questions, like some even more than $ 50,000 about asking,” said Aguilar.
She said the couple feels deflated and considering stopping their search, after expanding where they are looking and putting Ruth’s dream for a character at home in pause.
The couple’s real estate agent, Peter Fourlas, has been in the industry in the city since 2009. He told host Sam Maciag about CBC’s This is Saskatchewan Podcast that has not seen such a low housing inventory since those years of recession.
Fourlas said he is seeing half of the inventory as there was during the pandemic.
“Which is a little crazy since Covid was probably 50 percent less inventory than before 2020”.
Listening | Housing buyers face frustration in Regin and Saskatoon; Here is why
Fourlas and his companion Real Estate Agent Jillian Moore, who has been working in Saskatoon since 2012, he said This is Saskatchewan The persistent effects of pandemic.
“I always say that during Covid, people discovered that they hated their house or that they hated themselves. And that caused many sales,” said Moore.
Those separations, more said, meant that a house was sold and two were being bought, “exponentially increasing the sales process.”
The low interest record rates in 2021 were another factor, said Fourlas. Many people, including him, took advantage of those rates and locked their mortgages during terms of five years.
These people do not want to give up those low rates, “unless they need to move for work or discover that ultra perfect house they have been looking for.”
He said he does not believe that the market changes until 2026, when many of those mortgages will be in renewal.
Foreign investors who do not contribute to housing crunch in Saskatchewan
Both Fourlas and Moore say that while newcomers are a large demographic group that seeks to buy and are currently fighting in the hot market, foreign buyers who buy investment properties are not exhausting the stock of homes in Regina and Saskatoon.
“I don’t believe, here, in the middle of Saskatchewan, it is a problem as big as in those main metropolitan areas,” said Fourlas.
When people ask Moore what is driving the market, she said she tells them it is an inventory problem.
“We would basically have to triple our inventory to reach a uniform market,” said Moore.
In June, there were only 1.6 months of housing supply in Saskatoon and 2.03 months in Regina, said Moore, adding that a balanced market needs six months of supply.
But building too fast and creating more supply than demand exists would also cause problems, said Fourlas.
He said there was an overcompilation in 2016 and that housing prices fell up to 30 percent.
We have to wait and pray “to build enough” to create a balanced market, he said.
Buyers must be more flexible
Both agents say that in the current market, possible buyers must be more flexible in their wishes and needs.
It is something that Julie Anderson and his partner Mathew Reve have had to do while they are looking to buy their first house in Regina, their Mayan dog and his cat Willow.
A garage and multiple rooms are no longer requirements, Anderson said, although the couple hopes to find a place to start a family after saving for more than five years.
“It’s quite difficult at this time,” Anderson said.
The couple has made five offers, sometimes up to $ 30,000 for the sale price, and does not even get to obtain anything, said Anderson.
“The houses go from 50 to 75 large.”
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