Housing shortage affecting both urban and rural Saskatchewan, realtors say

Sask. realtors say limited home supply is driving up prices, with some areas facing similar shortages. Sierra D’Souza Butts reports.

Although Saskatchewan’s housing market remains affordable in comparison to other provinces, realtors say the market continues to face a shortage of houses available – in both rural and large municipalities.

Corey Werner, broker and owner of Core Real Estate Inc. in Yorkton, said house prices remain affordable in the city compared to larger centres.

However, the number of homes sold have fallen.

“We are seeing the volume of sales are lower than in 2024, but most of the prices have increased that’s even in rural Saskatchewan,” said Werner, referring to data from Saskatchewan Realtors Association.

“Ten communities outside of Yorkton, Canora, Ituna, Melville, even down to Langenberg, collectively all of those are the same. Home sales are down a little bit, but the biggest increase [in prices] we saw was in those markets.”

The reason for the slight increase in home prices are in connection to the limited supply of homes available, Werner added.

“If there’s nothing available on the market it doesn’t actually bring new people into the market to want to upgrade,” he explained. “We are seeing that the inventory moves very fast. We don’t have a lot of inventory that will just sit on the market.”

“Right now I think we have about 29 listings in Yorkton for a single family [home.]”

The city of Regina is also facing the same issue.

Currently, there are over 200 houses for sale in the city, about half of the usual amount.

• Download the CTV News app to get breaking news alerts sent to your device

“The market is really strong if you’re on the selling side. Inventories are really low right now, which is challenging for people that are trying to buy a house for sure,” said Rory Clark, associate broker of Boyes Group Realty Inc.

As people continue to compete for homes that meet their price range, Clark said he does not see prices dropping any time soon unless barriers for builders are removed from all levels of governments.

“The governments need to get out of the way. There’s so much regulation,” he shared.

“The costs are high to get through the red tape and everything, just get out of the way and let the builders build and build some inventory.”

Werner added that newer developments would also benefit potential homebuyers.

“Prices have gone up from years. I think relative to other markets that [Yorkton] is an affordable option for sure,” he said. “It would be really nice to actually see some new construction, but we all know that new construction is pretty expensive to go down that road.”

With homes not staying on the market for long, Werner spoke about what draws people to live in smaller communities.

“I do think there’s pros and cons to both. Living in a larger city, there’s the attraction of all this stuff that goes on, but with that there are a lot more expenses as well. When you have more things to do, you’re spending more money, right?” he said.

“Being in a smaller community, there’s still lots of things that a person can do, which isn’t going to cost you a lot of money. When I look at all the recreational abilities here you have, it’s endless.”