The prices are driven by the market. If there are more people looking than selling then the sellers can ask for and receive more but when there are more people trying to sell than there are looking to buy the prices go down. Nothing anyone can do about it.

Give me a break...
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The inflated prices are not due to supply/demand, they are based almost purely on media hype
-->"SaskaBOOM" and buyer speculation.
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I will be so happy when the market crashes...and it will, learn from your history.

I would like to see this topic removed actually. This is embarassing to complain about really. No one cares where you travel to, that has nothing to do with the local market and nothing to do with the purpose of this forum as mentioned earlier.

Before you post, proof read!!!!!

You have that right. There is no "real" industry in town except service jobs. I will be laughing at all these people that lost money etc

you can ask whatever you want for your house, it is yours. But in reality its what you actually get for it.

Condo- conversions, man-made housing crisis........land all around as far as the eye can see. Seen the same stuff in Cowgarry in 1996, ten thousand estimated homeless........Think about it, do you go to Walmart and dicker with the sales person about prices and pay 300% per cent more than what it is worth! This is pure greed, plain and simple!

nope it is just you

I think they should change the setup of this whole system and make it a requirement that you sign in with a user name. Then (Mr. Moderator) if people come on just to gripe about what others a writing, kick them off or at least delete their comments if they have nothing to do with the topic. If you don't like the topic then just don't read it....easy as that! Some of us do enjoy reading the various opinions though and it does envoke some thought even if some of the armchair experts think otherwise.
That being said, I completely agree with the original comment. Tim makes a point but is not completely correct. If there was an over-abundance of places for sale, naturally the prices would not be so high as there would be more to choose from. The combination of this and the hype that Tim mentions is why you are seeing so many out of province buyers scooping up houses as well (my house sold to someone from BC the day after I listed it).
It really does boil down to what someone is willing to pay for it though. The sad part of this all is, it is making it extremely difficult for young people starting out to get into a house. And even if they do, if the interest rates ever start jumping back up, we are going to be in the same boat as our American neighbors.....careful what you wish for!

Thank you Clodbuster for your your opinion.
I would now like to add to my previous statement...
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Stating with the question - why is it so hard to find a reasonably priced property?
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I know people in and around PA that buy up properties to flip. (speculation buyers)
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There should be further restrictions preventing this from happening, but who has the guts, the money, or the time to stand up to the buyers doing this? The province should be protecting the market from this activity.
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Next on my list of items: Buyers from out of province / out of country. (Owners / companies that may not even reside in the province.)
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Why is our government (federal or provincial) allowing people to come in, buy rental properties and either converting them to condos or jacking up the rent in these places 2 or 3 times their previous value?
IMO it is pure greed.
...We should be asking the government - why this is allowed? I feel that people from Saskatchewan deserve better.
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If you don't think that there is an abundance of property for sale, drive around PA and area and count the signs and/or go to the real estate sites on the net.
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As for the housing market crashing...I fully expect it to happen...and hope that the people with big money lose their shirts.

That's all for now....things to do, people to see.
Have a good day.

It is sickening. The options people have are over pay for your house risking loseing it all when the interest rate climbs (as it WILL), or paying an inflated rent for dingy holes.
Honestly a house in P.A. should rent for anywhere near a house in Edmonton or even Saskatoon is a month? Why?
Are there the advantages and opportunities in the smaller centre? No!
Why do you think the rest of the province has grown dramatically more than us? Housing. Well reasonably priced housing anyway, and the lack there of.
City council has to figure out a way to correct this, but I don't think it will be this seating that does it though, or we will be the first to suffer the effects of the crash.
Then I'm gonna buy a real nice home CHEAP!!!

I just recently moved to Prince Albert - and one of the reasons being that you're housing costs are MUCH cheaper than Saskatoon or Edmonton/Calgary. I rent a 2 bed house for just under 1000 including utilities. For that price in Saskatoon, you'd be looking for a small apartment. The average 2 bedroom in Saskatoon is around 1100 - 1200 with heat/water. Rest is up to you to pay. This is also in a safer side of the city - prices go down in the rougher parts of town just as they would in any city. Edmonton's prices are cheap but Calgary's cost of living isn't even comparable to us. PA has low income options for people who need it. A lot of cities do not have that option unless you are pregnant, single parent, have a mental illness, etc. etc. Our minimum wages are also higher than Alberta's so our cost of living is, of course, going to be higher.

Housing prices are based on supply and demand. There is little supply and high demand so prices go up. If you don't want to pay the market rate, buy land and build your house. It will be cheaper and you can probably get a mortgage to do it.