 鲜花( 1)  鸡蛋( 0)
|
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 .
, K/ H5 v" R! ] B( m( F8 \& t0 t4 u r( S! |4 u3 z6 i3 O$ D7 ~
That’s the forecast contained in the House Price Survey and Market Survey Forecast released Thursday by Royal LePage Real Estate Services.
, _; x3 E7 d& w7 B4 x8 s; E
' ~" O3 q. O* e7 lA 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. ' g0 h: @+ b4 S5 |1 {
) `, q# k- @2 b% [# A0 T
“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. 3 h/ Q- @5 m% q) V9 \# ?7 Y
" m9 Q+ b" q+ l0 `& P+ y- ~
As of the end of Wednesday, there were 11,184 homes for sale on the Multiple Listing Service, according to the Realtors’ Association of Edmonton. 8 h0 t# ^; Y1 N/ J% w3 _: i
. Y. t% B7 ^* H( T: B8 ^
But Alberta’s two biggest cities still boast some of the most expensive real estate in the country, it noted.
- J$ \ B4 R" D& I7 t; D1 H0 p! Z6 O$ _ A$ q! w" A7 {
“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.” $ \- C1 V7 P0 P/ |" |! l6 z
( I. _2 D4 s4 `6 TThe 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. / j. c+ d* K: z6 [- N0 M
! ^, ?. f2 {2 O8 V- B5 u1 W
In 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. & Y H& w/ }. B7 j { L, ]& h/ ~
# O. A4 ^* w2 @* I* H( y+ y
An average condominium in Edmonton was priced at $226,000, down 14.2 per cent from $263,333 in the comparable 2007 period.
% k0 o& z, i3 W
) f: I3 @+ M8 H9 ^' y/ H7 g“A surge in inventory caused Alberta’s white-hot market to record the country’s only major-market price decreases,” the report said.
' J/ U/ E" u6 J; t( r3 N }
4 s/ O0 \9 E- N( G) zAcross most of the country, average house prices rose, but more slowly than the spikes seen in 2006 and 2007. ( B+ \' j: g+ |
) m3 b) Z% ^' i8 X+ YRoyal LePage forecasts the national average house price to rise by 3.5 per cent, to $318,000 by year’s end.
6 a0 c0 D8 h, e6 h& Q# \4 B, ~' n+ K. f: Q0 r
The report predicts home sale transactions to decrease by 11.5 per cent to 461,000 unit sales by year’s end. |
|