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EDMONTON — Prices for single-family homes in the Edmonton region dropped while condo prices rallied in December, according to figures released today by the Realtors Association of Edmonton.
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“That’s a 180-degree twist from what we saw in the month of November,” said outgoing association president Marc Perras.
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The average price for a single family home dropped by three per cent to $351,870 after remaining flat for two months. That’s $30,000 less than the average price of a single family dwelling at the start of 2008.% g, D+ G( B# n5 V3 ^
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Condominium prices — which fell more than eight per cent in the previous two months — edged up 1.2 per cent over November.; {8 ?" f2 h4 l
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Over the year, condo prices dropped 7.5 per cent from $253,270 to $234,286.
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At the end of December, there were 6,316 homes in inventory. The sales to listing ratio was 46 per cent and average days on market was 65, up two from November.
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5 o$ i& Y! r& \5 q: w1 @4 j8 Q- }Residential sales plunged by 29.1 per cent in December to 608. Perras blamed cold weather and global economic uncertainty. L: x1 ]5 A' y) s! M, R$ B
U$ {# Z' g( a“Who wants to tour homes when both your toes and your portfolio are frozen?” Perras said.
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Neither Perras, nor incoming president Charlie Ponde would release a resale market forecast for 2009 until a news conference scheduled for Thursday.
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But one real estate company predicted Tuesday that after months of sluggish sales and slipping prices, Edmonton’s housing will return to “a normal state” in 2009.3 E! N4 i4 R9 T/ @
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The year will bring stable average house prices and gradually increasing sales, according to the Royal LePage 2009 Market Survey Forecast.; a* p7 G# R' k, ?5 r ]) w7 b
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“The combination of healthy employment levels, historically low interest rates and good affordability — something the city has not seen in a while — will all bolster Edmonton’s housing resale market in 2009,” said the survey.* {! L# o0 u; p7 Q1 K4 `5 D
$ M7 ?: Z3 y$ @& ?) O" b( E4 TThe report predicts the average local house price to hold steady at $333,000 this year. The number of homes sold is expected to increase by three per cent to 17,825 units, it said.
/ E/ d- ~1 C# U ~1 W9 c" P- mThe company added that a glut of homes that burdened the market shrank in 2008 and will get smaller in 2009, putting Edmonton in a balanced market.4 J9 f* c% p$ L+ T3 J, \: T
; C" C* n! q- c3 z“Nationally, Canadian average house prices are forecast to dip by three per cent from last year to $295,000, while transactions are projected to fall to 416,000 (–3.5 per cent) unit sales in 2009,” the report said.
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Meanwhile, the Realtors Association of Edmonton will release a recap of the housing market this morning and a forecast of 2009 on Thursday. |
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