Though the number of homes sold in Regina and area in July was lower than a year earlier, prices “are holding steady,” the Association of Regina Realtors has calculated.

Regarded as a leading edge indicator of a region’s economic health, these figures show there were 313 residential sales reported in July in all geographic areas covered by the association, down about 10 per cent from July 2015.

This was well below the five-year average of 371 and the 10-year average of 364, said the association.

Sales inside the city were also “down significantly,” with 246 occurring, compared with 290 in 2015.

Also falling were listing levels — the total inventory and new listings added to the multiple listing service (MLS) system. Inside the city of Regina, 1,263 properties were for sale, about 13 per cent less than in July 2015. There were 440 new listings on the MLS system in the city that month, down 20 per cent from 2015.

A more nuanced picture comes from the association’s home price index (HPI), which it assesses as giving a more accurate picture of a real estate market because it measures residential price trends based on four benchmark home types — rather than being built around average or median prices that might be swayed by a “rare or unique” low or high property sale. It also uses a numerical index set at a base of 100 for January 2005.

So on that basis, the HPI reported a composite residential price of $294,100 and an index of 274.6 inside the city, up 2.7 per cent from last July’s levels.

This “indicates prices are essentially flat over the last three month, up nearly five per cent over the past six months and 2.7 per cent over the past year,” the association said, adding “prices have also regained much of the losses incurred dating back to 2013.”

And the average sale price inside the city was $328,742, up about 2.8 per cent from last year, HPI figures indicate.  

Another important indicator: in July, homes were on the market for an average of 40 days before selling at an average of 97 per cent of the current asking price.

And the ratio of firm sales to new listings for the month inside Regina was 56 per cent and 53 per cent in all geographic areas. “Balanced market conditions are generally in the 40-60 per cent range — below 40 per cent is considered to be a buyer’s market; above 60 per cent is considered to be a market favouring sellers,” the association said.

Looking ahead to the autumn, the association says the combination of falling inventory levels and a small bump in home prices in some areas might be “good news for sellers.”