Double-digit declines for Edmonton home prices

qbxl400

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.

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.

  U1 d# Z  q1 `/ `Two-storey houses dropped 13.8 per cent year-over-year to $342,857 in the Edmonton market.
6 H+ P1 ~% P2 _

# O+ W* ~+ W' V+ t6 }Email to a friend
) {6 O* e$ v9 Q8 J* _1 {4 A
Printer friendly
Font:****A standard condominium tumbled 18.8 per cent from last year to $216,667.

, K$ z" n/ k: y$ w" N* C, Q+ IAcross Canada, the survey found, on average, standard condos rose by 0.2 per cent to $243,529.
4 ]3 L1 H9 b" h+ z# E( ^- p
Standard two-storeys increased by 0.1 per cent to $408,927 while the average price of detached bungalows remained stable at $240,000.

. y  y, a2 n( ^* m" @7 e: fPhil 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.

2 ~  x3 F+ L1 t( |: ]"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.
4 i3 |5 a' E$ \; Q
The report said despite dropping year-over-year prices in Alberta, the resource-rich economy is strong and unemployment is low.

6 W- |! ]+ \0 X2 A% v# ]  R"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.
. v! D5 \" m2 B0 ?/ P
The 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.
- S$ O! O! a$ S+ q
7 N, ~, A2 X2 n5 jbmah@thejournal.canwest.com