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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 . 0 d/ R/ D; l" e+ @' M, u5 k( Z
; E( m% i6 `! f" g+ IThat’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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“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. ' G7 x8 \$ u3 e& M
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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. 1 J' L* a' F% I: ~6 B
+ O' e1 q3 |9 Y; W% y# i) mBut Alberta’s two biggest cities still boast some of the most expensive real estate in the country, it noted.
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# [$ O" W. d6 r3 K& {4 e# [0 n8 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.” 9 [7 Z) c; o8 Z @( j
9 M! f0 v: y% `& q7 c( z9 [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.
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9 N* T- q% U! P/ mIn 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 $397,857. * A, @9 l [$ K' s4 E7 V
& w% J' o9 s+ H. x( P3 UAn average condominium in Edmonton was priced at $226,000, down 14.2 per cent from $263,333 in the comparable 2007 period.
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“A surge in inventory caused Alberta’s white-hot market to record the country’s only major-market price decreases,” the report said.
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Across most of the country, average house prices rose, but more slowly than the spikes seen in 2006 and 2007. ; @& S# n3 K/ o
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Royal 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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) @* U2 i: ~8 aThe 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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