The recent housing market report for the Moose Jaw Region contains both positive and negative news.

A total of 50 housing sales were made in October. This is down 4 from last year, but these past few months we've been able to stay around that 50 mark for sales.

"Well I think it is good news for the market that sales are hanging in there, and they're hanging in there around their ten-year average for this time of year," Rob Reynar, Manager of Operations and Member Services with Regina Realtors said. "We definitely start to see a cool down as we head into this fourth quarter. That's just a seasonable adjustment that we see every year around this time."

One of the areas of concern is the current housing inventory and months of inventory. Currently in the city, it sits at 7.5. That's up from 6.2 last year.

Including the region, it sits higher at 10.9. Reynar warns that no demand soaking up that product can lead to price reductions, which we are currently seeing.

The MLS® Home Price Index (HPI) reported a Residential Benchmark Price of $209,000 for Moose Jaw. That's down $11,900 after being at $220,900 for two months straight.

"After many months of prices sort of hanging in there and really flat-lining, we definitely are seeing prices drop. And I think we were watching closely to see if that will happen," Reynar said. "The Home Price Index did decline this month, and it's really based on that high inventory and low demand. Even though sales are hanging in there, it is affecting pricing overall."

One thing that Reynar said was interesting in Moose Jaw's housing market this year is the major decline in sales, year to date, in the middle price band. That includes houses between that $350,000 and $450,000 price range. This could lead to some of the declines in overall market pricing that we are seeing.