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EDMONTON – By the end of the year, Edmonton could get something it hasn’t seen for several years — a “normalized” housing market — as homes for sale dry up and prices drop . ) h7 p- P0 ~, h0 H
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That’s the forecast contained in the House Price Survey and Market Survey Forecast released Thursday by Royal LePage Real Estate Services.
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A soaring number of homes put on the market especially by builders and speculators in the last year softened the city’s housing market during the second quarter, the report said.
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( l2 b) H1 c+ I% M( U“The high inventory levels will dwindle into the second half of the year, and as affordability improves, subsequent market conditions will continue to normalize,” the report said.
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" T3 h' S# |: p6 I. ZAs of the end of Wednesday, there were 11,184 homes for sale on the Multiple Listing Service, according to the Realtors’ Association of Edmonton.
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* a& \* ~4 m( I- j( K4 M5 SBut Alberta’s two biggest cities still boast some of the most expensive real estate in the country, it noted. 5 H* a. @, D2 N! ^( O; m
6 [( q) }, H8 h8 {' z- b“Despite some mild price erosion during the second quarter in both Calgary and Edmonton, these markets remain strong. Although prices have come down from where they were last year — one of the best years on record — current house prices are far higher than they were three years ago before energy-rich Alberta experienced its boom.” & V/ N* E& ]9 h+ e
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The average price for a detached bungalow in Edmonton in April, May and June was $320,000, down about 14.5 per cent from the same period in 2007 ($374,143), Royal LePage said in its survey of Canadian house prices. & D$ V& Y( ~) g0 t
7 }2 j9 I" g/ s$ DIn the second quarter of 2008, a two-storey house in Edmonton sold for an average price of $348,571, down 12.4 per cent year-over-year from $397,857.
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An average condominium in Edmonton was priced at $226,000, down 14.2 per cent from $263,333 in the comparable 2007 period. . \ T9 {2 Y0 l4 t1 k7 h
- \6 _$ e9 C$ W, }( E# l4 s+ g“A surge in inventory caused Alberta’s white-hot market to record the country’s only major-market price decreases,” the report said. : V6 u* F5 {- n7 v: B
& J T2 q6 H9 E: a g+ d) P8 pAcross most of the country, average house prices rose, but more slowly than the spikes seen in 2006 and 2007. & q/ J, P3 j t% S6 s
, T: u) ]; r3 i+ u; ORoyal LePage forecasts the national average house price to rise by 3.5 per cent, to $318,000 by year’s end.
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- T" E2 t6 d& j0 ?# QThe report predicts home sale transactions to decrease by 11.5 per cent to 461,000 unit sales by year’s end. |
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