Saskatoon, with a population estimated by the City to be 217,800 in July 2009 is centrally located in the developed southern half of the province of Saskatchewan and is the largest city in the province. According to the Conference Board of Canada the Census Metro Area population is around 250,000. Saskatoon serves as the distribution centre for the northern half of the province. Saskatoon has been able to attract significant economic diversification to temper the effects of fluctuations in the agricultural sector. A good portion of the economic development has been science related and an inter-related medical cluster is forming around the university. Canada's only synchrotron, the Canadian Light Source (CLS) became operational in 2004. More beamlines were added in 2006. They indicate that there are now 25 Canadian universities conducting research here. Saskatoon, through the University of Saskatchewan and Innovation Place, has also become a leader in agricultural biotechnology, which ties in to the provincial agriculture base. Saskatoon has over 35 ag-biotech businesses that include biomedical (nutraceuticals and supplements), bioenergy (ethanol and biodeisel) and bioindustrial (fibre utilization).

The Standard & Poors municipal bond rating service acknowledges the City of Saskatoon's strong financial position by giving City debentures the AAA (highest possible) rating since 1989. Saskatoon continues as one of the soundest cities covered by them. Debt levels are consistently low, while reserve levels are high. In fact, the City's reserve levels usually exceed the gross debt outstanding.

The overall real estate market outlook was slower in 2009 compared to 2008, particularly on the commercial side. An indicator of the real estate market activity is the Multiple Listing Service of the Saskatoon Region Association of Realtors. There was a record high $693-million in transactions reported in 2006. In 2007, there was a 97% increase above the 2006 record high with $1.365-billion in sales reported. The 2008 figure was $1.29-billion and in 2009 it was $1.36-billion.

The resale housing market has seen a stabilization in the average sale price, according to MLS statistics. The average residential sale price for the year 2006 was $160,577 on the sale of 3,430 houses. In 2007 this climbed to $232,754, up 45% over the previous year and there were 4,446 house sales reported. In 2008 the average house sale price for the year was reported to be $287,777 based on 3,522 house sales. In 2009 the average was $279,779 with 3,822 sales.

These figures are the average sale price of all of the houses reported sold through MLS in the city. There were a further 780 houses sold in the rural areas over 2006 with an average of $146,573 and 1,050 reported sold in 2007 with an average of $182,314. The year 2008 was 869 with an average of $230,833 and in 2009 it was 951 at $255,512.

Readers of this overview are welcome to use the information as deemed appropriate, providing Brunsdon Junor Johnson Appraisals Ltd is quoted as the reference source. The information contained herein is believed but not warranted to be accurate. Readers are cautioned to make their own investigation before making any financial decisions.

1. Tourism
The CEO of Tourism Saskatoon says tourism is significant to the local economy. With several events in 2007 such as the Junos involving over 3,000 visitors they indicate that there were nearly 2 million visitors to the city in 2007. The latest large scale event to be held was the 2010 World Junior Hockey Championships in January 2010.

August 2007 saw the opening of the Dakota Dunes Casino and Golf Course about 27 km south of Saskatoon. and that is reported to draw some 2 million visitors a year. It has free shuttle services from various malls in the city.

Saskatoon hosts a number of annual festivals and events. The downtown area, in particular, the river bank parks feature multi-day events such as the Taste of Saskatchewan, the SaskTel Jazz Festival which brings in hundreds of international artists for 10 days, and the International Children's Festival attracts children from throughout the province. The Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan Festival presents live theatre nightly in July and August. The Cruise Weekend is a three day downtown event that attracts around 40,000 people.

The Canada Remembers Airshow at the airport is a two day event attracting 34,000. The Fringe Festival featuring international alternative theatre is hosted in the Broadway area and Folkfest, a three day multi-cultural festival which has been rated as one of the top 100 events in North America, has venues that are located throughout the city. The Wanuskewin Heritage Park, located along the river just north of the city, and the Western Development Museum at the southern edge of the city have also added significantly to the tourism sector of Saskatoon.

2. Agriculture
The local agricultural economy is directly affected by activity in world commodity markets. According to reports, Saskatchewan once produced half of the entire quantity of Canada's major export cereal crops: wheat, oats, barley, rye, flaxseed and canola. In response to changing world markets, Saskatchewan farmers have shifted dramatically from growing mostly cereals to growing specialty crops and raising animals. Saskatchewan now produces more than 90 per cent of Canada's lentils and chickpeas, and 70 per cent of its peas and is now the world's leading producer of lentils, mustard and canary seed.

Along with this has been growth in the number of businesses handling, cleaning and processing these crops, which are largely destined for export markets. Test cropping has also been reported successful on a number of spices and herbs, as well as large-scale green house operations.

Saskatoon is central to the farm sector market. According to provincial crop reports, the 2009 grain crop quality was near or just above the 10-year average and yields were above the 10-year average.

New Holland Saskatoon , the world's largest manufacturer of tractors and combines consolidated their air-seeder manufacturing operations to Saskatoon and employ some 900 people. The 631,400 sq.ft. plant has since become the centre of all tillage and planter production for both New Holland and CaseIH brands and they phased in production of combine headers as well. In 2006 they added another line of tillage products and expanded their plant.

The loss of the railroad grain transportation subsidy (Crow Rate) in 1995 has encouraged more diversified value added food production, shipping a finished processed product instead of the raw materials and the manufacturing jobs that go with them.

Mitchell's Gourmet Foods / Maple Leaf Foods opened a new 163,000 sq.ft. distribution centre on the north side of the city in April 2008 and they are adding an 11,000 sq.ft. addition to their large production and processing facility on McLeod Avenue that they built in 2001. They are one of Canada's largest value-added processor of pork products.

Centennial Food Corp opened a food processing plant in 2002 designed to package frozen meat, vegetables, and seafood. Adjacent to this plant in 2003, Westco Storage Ltd of Winnipeg built a multi-temperature distribution facility on 60th Street. The 87,000 square foot building is hoped to form the nucleus of a new food processing park in Saskatoon and this building could be expanded to 240,000 sq.ft. as needed.

A chicken processing plant was built by Prairie Pride Natural Foods Ltd with the first 115,000 sq.ft. phase beginning production in January 2006. This is immediately north of Centennial Foods.

In August 2007 the Cargill canola crushing plant in Clavet located 16 km southeast of Saskatoon, announced that rather than do a planned expansion to their crushing plant, they are now building an entire new crushing plant next to it, doubling their production.  View more info (pdf) »

3. Resource Development
Mining has a major influence on the provincial and local economy. The Saskatoon region is the world's largest exporter of uranium, and nearly two-thirds of the world's recoverable potash reserves are located in the Saskatoon region. According to the Sask. Bureau of Stats, provincial mineral production included crude oil, natural gas, potash, uranium, gold, coal and salt.

Saskatoon is the head office for the Potash Corporation, the world's largest integrated fertilizer producer of the three primary nutrients and they have production facilities in five countries. There are 6 potash mines in proximity to Saskatoon. A new mine south of Humboldt is being explored by Athabasca Potash Inc. who is now owned by BHP Billiton Diamonds Inc.and their new mine east of Lanigan is in also in pre-feasability study.

Saskatoon is also the head office of Cameco Corporation, the world's largest uranium mining company that produces one-third of world production. They have the two largest and highest grade uranium deposits in the world and in December 2004 started construction of a mine at Cigar Lake. This mine has been experiencing some flooding problems which they say have now been rectified. French government owned Areva Resources Canada Inc is based in Saskatoon and is a partner in these two mines.

Gold and diamond activity in northern Saskatchewan is also adding to Saskatoon's stature as a mining supply centre. Claude Resources, with its head office in Saskatoon, is the largest gold producer in the province and reports that it produced 46,800 ounces in 2009.

In the diamond sector, the Fort a la Corne field, 65 km east of Prince Albert is one of the worlds largest known diamond bearing kimberlite deposits with over 70 pipes now identified and the kimberlite field is estimated to contain over 9 billion tonnes.

The Saskatoon based Shore Gold joint venture with Newmont Gold of Denver announced in November 2007 that they extracted 10,000 carats of diamonds worth $1 million during their initial exploration process. According to the CEO of Shore Gold, the combined Star Diamond project and Orion project contains some 35 million carats of diamonds worth $7.9 billion. They say they have now finished the pre-feasibility and construction could start as early as 2010.   View more info (pdf) »

Other drilling exploration is being done in the area by Vaaldiam Resources Ltd. who are doing test drilling in the area near Candle Lake.

4. Education & Technology
Several large educational institutions are located in Saskatoon, the largest being the University of Saskatchewan and the associated Royal University Hospital. This campus accommodates over 19,000 students and is a major employer in Saskatoon. The SIAST Kelsey Campus, a technical secondary school, accommodates approximately 17,000 students annually. The Saskatoon Public School Division has 53 schools and a student population of 20,000. In 2006 they opened a new high school in University Heights and in 2007 they built a new high school in the new Blairmore subdivision. The Saskatoon Catholic Board of Education has 15,000 students in 39 schools and also have opened a new high school in Blairmore in 2007. The Shaw Leisure Centre is integrated between these two schools and it includes a high performance aquatic centre.

Innovation Place, the research park on the University campus, is serving as a strong catalyst to the growth of an increasing high technology sector, not only in ag-biotechnology but also medical research and fibre optics. Innovation Place's role is to supply facilities, on a commercial basis, to support the research and development community in Saskatchewan. According to a 2007 Insightrix study, Innovation Place contributed $195 million to the economy of Saskatoon and $259 million to Saskatchewan's economy in 2006. There are more than 2,300 people employed by 144 organizations in 18 buildings. A new 5 storey, 151,000 sq.ft. office building was occupied in 2007. The CLS synchrotron is located on the university campus, adjacent to Innovation Place.

The Saskatoon Regional Economic Development Authority (SREDA) has taken a very active global approach towards encouraging technology and industrial companies to consider Saskatoon as a location. The Greater Saskatoon Chamber Of Commerce also provides support services for local businesses.

5. Construction

According to the City, the building permits total in 2009 decreased by 12% from 2008 to $536.0 million. Of this, 22% ($118.3 million) was for single and 12.5% ($66.9 million) was for multiple housing. Commercial was 17% ($92.4 million) and industrial at 11% ($61.0 million). The institutional and assembly category was 34.5% at $185.2 million and the Other totalled $12.0 million or 2%.

The public development sector priority civic project is the redevelopment of the South Downtown and City-owned river front sites known as River Landing. The City is developing the river edge with an elaborate walkway and park complex. In December 2007 Persephone Theatre occupied their new $11-million theatre on a portion of this land. In Sept 2009 it was announced that a $58-million Destination Centre including the Art Gallery of Saskatchewan and an underground parkade will be built that will partially wrap around the Persephone building.

Lake Placid Developments from Calgary was approved to build a 3 building urban village in this area including a hotel/restaurant, office/retail building and 20-storey condo tower. They also purchased additional land from Remai Ventures. This development was not started and the City is now reviewing it's options for the site. Click here for more details

On the Phase 2 western side, the large Farmers Market building together with the attached Business Incubation Centre and outdoor village square sales area were opened. A 67 suite condo development called Rivergreen Ecovillage is in the planning stages and reportedly pre-sold out.

The City completed a 47,000 sq.ft. expansion to the downtown Centennial Auditorium, now called TCU Place, in Sept. 2006. Also in the downtown at the same time, construction was completed on a 12-screen Galaxy Cinema.

There have been a large number of construction projects on the University of Sask. campus. The Western College of Vet. Medicine expansion is near completion. Two buildings of a four building student housing complex has been started in fall 2009. Click here for more details

There continues to be strong activity in commercial construction.

The newest mall, Stonegate Centre, is located on the southern edge of the city at Clarence Avenue and Circle Drive. It has some 430,000 sq.ft. A 156,000 sq.ft. Wal-Mart opened in January 2007 and is now being expanded to 192,000 sq.ft. A Home Depot was opened in 2007. It also has a Mark's Work Wearhouse and several stores such as Golftown and Sleep Country Canada. Adjacent to this will be the large Stonebridge Business Park with 41 building lots to accommodate a mixture of commercial developments including a 4 storey hotel due to open in March 2010. The Co-op opened a huge gas bar and carwash in July 2009. A new 57,000 sq.ft. strip mall called Stonebridge Village is on the other side of Clarence Avenue.

Other commercial malls coming on stream will be Blairmore on the western edge of the city with 31 acres and 315,000 potential sq.ft. of retail. This site was purchased by a Wal-Mart subsidiary and they have asked to purchase an additional 7 acres of commercial land across the street to accommodate the demand for space in this mall. They opened a 185,000 sq.ft. store in early 2010. One lot in the area has been sold as is now being developed with a hotel. Other announced tenants are Royal Bank, Subway, Reitman's, Penningtons, Dollarama, and Sleep Country.

A 23 acre lot in University Heights is now under option and leasing enquiries are being invited for some 246,000 sq.ft. of commercial space in a new mall called University Heights Square.

Preston Crossing opened the 292,000 sq.ft. Phase 1 in 2002. This includes a 110,000 square foot Canadian Tire anchor store plus 9 other stores. Phase 2, including a 132,000 sq.ft. Wal-Mart opened in 2005 plus an Old Navy and a PetsMart. The whole project has been purchased by Harvard Developments Inc and they received approval from City Council to proceed with the 113,000 sq.ft. Phase 3 in December 2007. A Rona store has been announced and a Chili's restaurant was built.

The Saskatoon Co-op opened a 45,000 sq.ft. grocery store in the University Heights area in 2002 plus a gas bar and strip mall. Since then, this area has seen construction of a variety of professional, retail and restaurant buildings including a liquor store.

In the Broadway area, a 7 storey commercial and residential development called The Luxe is nearing completion and in the Downtown area a 4 storey office building Discovery Plaza is nearing completion. BHP Billiton have moved into the 3rd floor early in 2010 and they have an option on top floor space. Click here for more details

Foundation work is under way on a three storey commercial and residential complex J.B. Black Estates located across the street from the University.

The City of Saskatoon and The Partnership have developed tax and heritage incentive programs that are designed to increase the amount of downtown housing. Several projects are now under way to convert large older warehouse structures into office and housing complexes. The Rumley building is presently being converted into upscale condos and the former King George Hotel is undergoing a conversion into main floor retail and the balance condos. The former Bay building conversion, the 2nd Avenue Lofts is now mostly occupied and a grocery store has been announced for the main floor.

Industrial construction has received a boost from spin-off from the multi-billion dollar Athabasca Oil Sands project and the expansion of potash mines. Most significant new construction activity was in design built, office/warehouse/shop space in the northern end of the city. Colliers McClocklin Real Estate Corp report that 500,000 sq.ft. of new space was added in 2008 with another 300,000 in 2009.

In the housing sector, CMHC reports that housing starts for 2007 were more that 60% higher than 2006 in the city and over double in the surrounding areas. The 2008 numbers are 5% lower than 2007 and singles are down slightly and multis are up slightly. In 2009 the number of starts dropped significantly, back to pre-2007 levels. They report there were 230 housing starts so far in 2010.

The number of starts in the surrounding communities is down from 730 in 2008 to 398 in 2009. The RM of Corman Park year end summary shows multi-family starts were worth $11.2 million in 2007, $7 million in 2008 and $2.6 million in 2009. The single family was $10.3 million in 2007, $14.8 million in 2008 and $8 million in 2009.

6. Commercial & Investment

The province wide retail sales figures moderated through the late 1990s and have been rising since. Total retail sales for 2008, according to Sask Bureau of Statistics are up 10% to $14.34 billion.

The latter portion of 2009 saw some improvement in the amount of retail and office buildings market activity. In 2009 we documented sales of $15.3-million of retail and office space with a total of 141,500 sq.ft., down significantly from the past few years. These are arms-length sales that we are aware of, and may not include all of the sales in the city.

This market was much less active in 2009 with 5 Zone 1-5 buildings totalling 77 suites sold at an average of $88,100/suite. In Zone 7 there has been 2 sales totalling 213 suites at $68,100/suite and in Zone 6 there were 2 sales totalling 30 suites at $41,000 per suite although one of the blocks was in poor coonditon. Capitalization rates generally ranged in the 6% to 8% bracket.

7. Apartment Rental Market
Information from the October 2009 CMHC Rental Market Report, indicates that the city-wide vacancy in Saskatoon suites remained at 1.9%. It rose to 1.9% in October 2008 up from 0.9% in April 2008. The city-wide average rent rates increased by 9% over the past year and 16% the year before. A one bedroom increased by $38/month in the past 6 months to $740 per month, for two bedroom it went up $39 to $907 and for three bedroom+ it went up $94 to $916 according to the CMHC report.

The overall number of rental units in the city was 12,737 in October 2009 and they found 236 vacant suites. This survey is a snapshot of the number of vacant suites at a specific date and does not represent an annual amount of vacancy.

The west side apartment vacancies showed some decrease particularly Zone 6 going from 4.7% to 2.8%. The city-wide average rent increased by $66/month in the past 6 months to $828 per month. This is a $195 increase over last two years but the amount of annual increase is slowing.

The current apartment vacancy information is summarized on the following table:

8. Retail Rental Market
Vacancy information is supplied by ICR Commercial Real Estate Services. They show that the overall city-wide vacancy in the past 6 years has ranged from a high of 4.6% in 2000 to new low of 1.0% in 2008. They indicate that 135,000 sq.ft. of new retail space was added in 2008 and all was leased before construction was completed. The report shows the following vacancy levels:

9. Office Rental Market
The Saskatoon office market is stronger now than it has been in decades. Vacancies are down, rental rates are conservatively increasing, and tenant inducement packages are becoming a thing of the past.

The 2008 to 2009 vacancy survey is now available. These are the vacancy numbers that it shows.


With strong demand and limited supply, property values are increasing and capitalization rates are decreasing.

With the limited amount of new construction being added to this mix, rental rates are forecasted to continue to strengthen through 2009 with vacancies continuing to decrease.

View the complete Saskatoon Office 2008-2009 Study (PDF) »

10. Industrial
The City of Saskatoon passed a development plan in 1998 to make industrial areas more focussed with respect to the type of enterprises that may locate in each area and enhance the compatibility of future developments. They continue the development and sale of lots primarily in the Marquis Industrial area.

The City 2007 Industrial Land Inventory indicates the total amount of industrial land in the city is some 4,594 acres, of which 920 acres are unserviced and largely undeveloped and are primarily in the Marquis area.

Of the 3,027 acres of serviced industrial land, most is at the north end of the city, with 73% of the total serviced land inventory in the North and North West areas. The North Industrial (south of 51st Street), Hudson Bay Industrial (51st Street to 60th Street) and Marquis Industrial (60th to 71st Streets plus the former Silverwood Industrial) have 61% of the city total. Agriplace and the Airport Business Centre in the north west account for 12% of the city total.

Secondary developed industrial locations include: the South West and West Industrial areas in the neighbourhood of 11th Street West; the CN Industrial location off Circle Drive in the south; the Sutherland Industrial Park to the east; and the inner-city Central and Kelsey Industrial areas.

Industrial land prices have climbed significantly in some areas over the past few years. Land on the outskirts of the City without full servicing also saw strong activity over the past year. Prices in the BizHub Industrial Park at the northern edge the city of the 5 lots sold to date have been in the $125,000 to $250,000/acre.

The City of Saskatoon is the now the only developer of industrial land inside the city. In March 2008, they tendered 7 lots zoned IL1 on Millar Avenue priced at $260,000 to $280,000/acre and 12 lots zoned IH on Millar Avenue priced at $270,000 to $290,000/acre. All but 5 were sold by the tender at 4% to 13% above reserve price or $261,000 to $327,000 per acre. The balance were sold as soon as the were offered over the counter.

In August 2008 they tendered another 16 lots zoned IL1 and located off Marquis Road. Of these, only 2 were optioned and the remaining 14 lots went for sale over the counter priced at $295,000 to $335,000/acre.

Going into 2010 there are 14 mid-block lots available priced at $298,500 to $308,000/acre and 1 corner lot at $339,500/acre. They also have 14 lots zoned IL3 for sale over the counter on Wheeler Street with prices of $224,000 to $226,000 in Phase 1 and $298,500 to $324,000/acre in Phase 2.

The sales summary below shows activity levels in the North area which includes only North, Hudson Bay, and Marquis. The Other includes all of the other areas. The bulk sale of the 42 lots by the CIC Industrial Interests to the City at $58,500/acre in 2006 are not included.

These are sales where the title has transferred and many of these were optioned a year ago. There are a number more that have been optioned but the sale has not closed yet.

The Other category are sales that are zoned industrial but can include sales that have a strong commercial influence.

The city-wide vacancy rate, as suggested by real estate agents specializing in the rental building segment of the marketplace, increased to 2.5% at the end of 2008 and 3.4% at the end of 2009. According to the Colliers McClocklin Real EstateReview and Forecast, the Industrial market is made up of about 19.2 million square feet with around half a million added in 2008 and 210,000 sq.ft. added in 2009.

The year 2009 industrial market was slower as well. In 2009 we documented some 473,200 square feet of industrial building space that was sold at an average of $87 per square foot including land. The cap. rates were in the 7% to 9% range.