Housing sales in November hit 15-year low

A lot of people who were trying to sell their homes in the Regina and the surrounding area in November apparently didn’t fare well.

According to the Association of Regina Realtors, there were 166 sales reported in the area during the month — the lowest number in November in the past 15 years.

The number of sales was down 27.5 per cent from November of 2018, when there were 229 sales. The five-year average for sales in November was 238 and the 10-year average was 252.

In Regina itself, the 145 sales represented a decrease of 21.2 per cent from the 184 recorded in 2018. The five-year average in the city was 194 sales and the 10-year average was 210.

However, the 2,943 homes sold in the area so far in 2019 is up one per cent over the 2,915 sales through the first 11 months of 2018. In Regina, there have been 2,433 houses sold this year, up 3.3 per cent from the 2,356 sales recorded in the city through November of last year.

The Multiple Listing Service’s Home Price Index reported a composite benchmark price of $259,600 for the city’s sales so far in 2019, a decrease of 5.5 per cent from $274,800 one year ago.

The benchmark price is down 12.2 per cent from three years ago and 11.2 per cent from five years ago.

Not only are sales slow, but listings are down too.

The association said there were 341 listings in November in the area, down from 391 in the same month in 2018. So far this year, there have been 6,313 new listings — a decrease of 9.4 per cent from 2018.

“The number of sales taking place in November was certainly discouraging,” Gord Archibald, the chief executive officer of the association, said in a media release. “After a few encouraging months in the earlier fall, it was a surprise for such a pronounced dip to occur.

“Demand, and in turn the number of sales, has been affected during the year by economic factors and the federal mortgage stress test, which has put many potential buyers on the sidelines.”