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The real estate market statistics for July 2026 have recently been posted by the Saskatchewan Realtors’ Association, and the Saskatchewan market once again continues to be among the strongest in the country. At first glance, there appears to be some common trends with other markets in Canada that suggest changing dynamics are on the horizon. As with any statistics, however, we need to take a closer look at the numbers to get an accurate understanding of what’s happening in the market.
Before we do that, however, I’d like to share some words of wisdom from every statistics teacher I’ve had over the years. Simply put, statistics without context are meaningless. The calculations are only a part of the answer to the question: even if you do the math flawlessly, you can still get the answer wrong if you fail to interpret the results correctly. It’s still very common for good studies to be ruined by a poor communication and/or cherry-picking data points to support a particular argument.
Which brings us back to our market stats. On one hand, overall sales in Saskatoon are down approximately 11% compared to July 2025, and new listings have increased by 1.1%. This works out to a 16.3% increase in inventory (measured in months of supply), a clear indication of conditions shifting in favour of buyers. We are seeing similar trends in markets such as Montreal & Vancouver, markets which have certainly not performed as well as Saskatoon recently. If you’re thinking this means our market has cooled off somewhat, you’re correct. But percentage point changes in inventory levels are, by themselves, insufficient to draw a conclusion whether the Saskatoon & Vancouver markets are performing comparably (spoiler alert, they’re not).
Here’s where context is important. Market tightness in 2025 was at record levels in Saskatoon. While some market balancing has certainly happened in 2026, it’s still far from being even – at 1.72 months of supply, we are still very deep in “seller’s market” territory. Aggregate price levels are still increasing, albeit at a considerably lower rate than the last couple of years. July 2026 prices are up 3.6% over July 2025, noticeably higher than the national average. By themselves, these figures certainly wouldn’t seem to indicate a depressed market. But just like inventory levels, we can’t just look at price growth to understand the state of real estate.
The takeaway is that the answer to the age-old question of “how’s the market doing?” is a little more complicated than it has been in the last few years. In a way, you could argue that there’s positive news for both buyers & sellers. For sellers, the growth in value remains positive even when factoring inflation. But there are also signs of some desperately-needed relief ahead for buyers, even if it’s still uncertain what that relief is actually going to look like in the near future. Be in no doubt – we’re still in a competitive marketplace – but a gentle relaxation is something that, on balance, should leave the Saskatoon real estate market in pretty good health overall.
Kyle Ashdown, B.A. Economics (Honours)
Got comments, questions, or just want to talk real estate? All are welcome by sending an email to kyle.ashdown@century21.ca.
