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http://www.edmontonjournal.com/H ... /1248520/story.html
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EDMONTON — Edmonton’s resale housing market sales kicked off the new year by stumbling out the gate — with residential MLS sales down 40.5 per cent compared to January 2008.
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( X7 t0 V- N0 ^. I/ c' z5 EEvery indicator fared worse than it did in January of last year, showed Multiple Listing Service figures released Tuesday.% k: z9 b w6 w8 v& s
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- Total MLS sales plunged 40.9 per cent.' y8 C; v* q% e" L0 P. F/ U; v
/ w4 |7 }, [' N3 Z- Value of total sales for the month was $265 million — down 42.4 per cent.# f( r% V6 _# {% q% E
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- The single-family home average selling price fell 7.1 per cent to $352,689.
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+ ?% O# B! ~2 _- The average condo selling price dropped 7.5 per cent to $238,535.9 g9 G) z6 z6 Q5 x" ]% p0 D) D5 P
+ V( I3 j5 p: P& e+ g- In the single-family market, there were 502 houses sold, down from 767 in January 2008.
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- For condos, only 189 sold in January compared to 363 a year ago.
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2 J8 M/ g& B5 I1 x1 v$ D( zFor all that, Charlie Ponde, president of the Realtors Association of Edmonton, sounded optimistic, if cautious." e w# Q& l9 t
5 v z; s5 e/ C! |* RHe looked on the bright side, the month-by-month comparison — January figures were modestly better than December’s gloomy statistics.
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|; Y: {7 i- {( A5 c$ vMultiple Listing Service figures released Tuesday showed 730 residential properties sold in the Edmonton region in January, up from 608 in December. t( D9 J$ k: {2 U6 K
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Sales prices were also up in all categories as compared to the previous month. The average price of a single-family home in January was $352,689 — up a quarter of a per cent compared to December. Condo prices nudged up 1.8 per cent to $238,535 and duplex/rowhouses rose 2.2 per cent to $299,222.
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. ]# `. V. W& S“Nobody rings a bell when prices hit the bottom,” he said. “The bottom is evident only after several months of rising prices. One month does not make a trend but the market is certainly welcoming to home buyers.”
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0 r8 a, x y4 k7 x7 L& lHe pointed to interest rates which have fallen to their lowest in years, a large selection of homes and recently introduced federal tax credits for home renovation and a change in the amount of RRSP savings that can be applied to a first-home purchase — now $25,000 up from $20,000. |
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