The housing market in Estevan is still chugging along, with the first quarter of 2025 actually hosting some impressive results. That's according to RE/MAX Branch Manager Linda Mack, who says her data shows strong growth in house sales.
"I did look at the first quarter of the year, and we are definitely up in sales. It's been the busiest quarter I've had in ten years, so when I looked at Estevan and about a half-hour radius around the city, I would say we were up about 30% in sales."
While sales are rising in the Estevan area, housing stock is falling, but Mack says the effect that's having isn't what you'd expect.
"We still have a short supply of homes for sale all across different price points. So it doesn't matter if someone's looking for a home for a hundred thousand or five hundred thousand. Our inventory is very low right now, which normally would make people think it's a seller's market, but I'm finding buyers are still very price savvy."
In Mack's estimation, buyers are less willing to settle, and any sellers wanting to go higher in price in response to faster sales may not see a lot of attention from buyers.
Some houses have been seeing multiple offers in the Estevan area, in cases where Mack says there were a few factors that led to competition.
"I'm finding usually it's houses that have two key things: number one, they're priced right, and number two, they're pretty much fully renovated. Those seem to be the homes that are getting the multiple offers, that are hundred percent or close to a hundred percent move-in ready."
While Mack still thinks we're in a buyer's market, she thinks prices will inevitably go up in response to all of the recent purchases.
"I think definitely the more buyers obviously and the low supply, it should drive prices up. I think prices have gone up a little bit so far this year because if you look at the few houses that have received multiple offers and have received a sold price higher than list price, that factors into the stats, the end result is a slight increase in prices."
The full forecast for prices isn't very clear, as Mack says that it'll be determined by whether the rate of houses being sold stays strong.
"We don't have the crystal ball. We've had a busy first quarter, but hard to say what the rest of the year is going to pan out like. It could end up that we're even with 2024. We had a robust start to 2024, but the next three quarters could slow down somewhat, and we could end up the same and then not see prices drive up at all anymore."
Mack says predicting Estevan's market can be difficult, as oftentimes it doesn't sync up well with the rest of the southeast.
"I find Estevan's, for some reason, kind of a unique market. We just don't know what we're going to end up at as far as sales go. It's not always comparable to the rest of Saskatchewan, so it always seems to be kind of a wait-and-see."
The selling market is looking like some may get over their asking price, but Mack reminds people to stay cautious.
"It's definitely the minority of house sales that are getting more than list price. The mindset of sellers right now is, I think, 'If I list my house right now, I could get more than asking, I should ask more than what I thought of asking a few months ago.' But I just like to caution sellers that they may not be lucky like some sellers have been over the last few months."
Mack says that sellers will need to be careful with pricing even as sales go up and inventory goes down in the Estevan area.