Double-digit declines for Edmonton home prices

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EDMONTON - While average resale home prices across Canada nudged upward in the third quarter, Edmonton saw double-digit declines from last year in bungalows, two-storeys and standard condos, says a report released today by real estate firm Royal LePage.
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0 x3 p( Q6 ?5 X2 x2 l5 ?The average Multiple Listing Service sale price for an Edmonton bungalow fell 11.8 per cent to $326,429 compared to the third-quarter of 2007, says the market survey.

( @0 F3 r$ g& T# MTwo-storey houses dropped 13.8 per cent year-over-year to $342,857 in the Edmonton market.
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  q5 a2 R! S3 K" G6 R) eFont:****A standard condominium tumbled 18.8 per cent from last year to $216,667.
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7 I9 c4 N1 ~9 ^# I6 cAcross Canada, the survey found, on average, standard condos rose by 0.2 per cent to $243,529.

Standard two-storeys increased by 0.1 per cent to $408,927 while the average price of detached bungalows remained stable at $240,000.

/ ~$ ^: R8 c- j. n' VPhil Soper, Royal LePage president and CEO, said Canada's housing market is fundamentally different and stronger economically than the U.S. market being shaken by the sub-prime mortgage crisis.

1 g0 S/ |7 u6 i2 A"Average house price appreciation curves are beginning to flatten, but this is a completely natural reaction to the explosive gains that characterized the market earlier this decade," Soper said in a release.

The report said despite dropping year-over-year prices in Alberta, the resource-rich economy is strong and unemployment is low.
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"As such, the recent price decline is merely a correction to the dramatic run-up in prices that both Edmonton and Calgary experienced in the past few years," the report said.

1 _5 M; G+ d: B  n. j" S0 A4 t; bThe survey said the year-over-year drop in the Calgary market varied from a decline of 8.7 per cent for a standard two-storey home, 8.2 per cent for a standard condominium and 6.2 per cent for a detached bungalow.

bmah@thejournal.canwest.com