'We’re in bidding wars': Low inventory for home buyers, sellers market in Saskatchewan

If you are thinking of purchasing a new home, you may be shocked by the number of available houses on the market.

There are currently not a lot of homes in Regina to choose from, making it a sellers market.

Rena Deeley struggled to find a new home after selling her previous property.

“We have seen, I don’t know how many houses. I'm going to say eight, maybe 10."

With the help of her realtor Mariel Harvey of Realty One, she purchased a two bedroom home in the Cathedral neighbourhood.

"The size was just perfect for me. The hardwood, you know, kind of harkening back to kind of my grandma,” Deeley said.

"Even though we've seen a bit more inventory in the past couple of months, it's still not meeting demand for buyers,” Harvey said.

The options for purchasing a home were much easier pre-pandemic. Harvey said this is not the case anymore.

"We're in bidding wars. I just experienced, it was representing buyers on a purchase and we were competing against seven other offers but we won,” she said.

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Interest rates on properties across the country have gone down, but nowhere near where they were before the pandemic.

"We kind of say date the rate, marry the house price. So if the rates are down, the house prices are up. If the rates are up, the house prices are down,” said Beckie Seifert, a mortgage specialist with Conexus Credit Union.

The Saskatchewan Realtors Association (SRA) said there were 1,675 sales in the province last month.

New listings dropped by 14 per cent.

The residential benchmark price was $343,300 in June with Saskatoon sitting at the highest of $400,000.

Although Deeley found her perfect home, that may not be the case for others.

"If you see a house that you really like, don't wait around because someone is going to snap it up. I almost missed this house. I came close to missing this house," she said.

Harvey said qualified buyers are driving the market but there is not a lot of inventory to choose from.

There is a lull in July, making the summer months slower, but Harvey anticipates the market to remain hot heading into the fall.