Here are a couple tidbits regarding the province’s residential real estate market that tell us a lot about the broader provincial economy.
First, Saskatchewan was singled out last week by the federal housing minister as the province with the greatest increase in the number of home starts in the country.
The second stat comes from the monthly report on real estate sales activity from the provincial realtors’ association: it shows we still have more buyers than sellers in the marketplace.
So, what do those data tell us?
First, builders are doing their part. Second, people here have money — enough to purchase a house — which means they have jobs. In fact, there are so many people in that category, nation-leading home construction growth is not enough to meet the demand.
People are moving here in search of work as billions in fresh capital flows into Saskatchewan. According to the latest jobs report, the overall workforce in Saskatchewan rose by 6,000 in the last month alone … that’s two-thirds of the total growth we saw in the past year.
— For more than 50 years, Paul Martin has specialized in coverage of the business and political scenes. His career has spanned radio, television and print and electronic media.
