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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 .
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; P" f( V2 R8 ]That’s the forecast contained in the House Price Survey and Market Survey Forecast released Thursday by Royal LePage Real Estate Services. $ r+ i- W$ o; w; n% N$ J+ g
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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. % b/ m. D( w, T9 _3 W0 K# |
; _; [4 B( X0 w$ g“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.
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. U0 B7 m# I, I! |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. 9 F+ k$ b4 U' `7 w: s
$ T- @6 ~0 C* x5 W- T3 G4 nBut Alberta’s two biggest cities still boast some of the most expensive real estate in the country, it noted.
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“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.” : P/ X5 g, M3 n {' V, h
, V2 k" N: H0 E& g1 y7 q" t. E) `) GThe 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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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. ) g! ]. B" _8 T9 N; R) q7 @) `2 p" o
8 b% _5 l. l) G0 j) c7 k. LAn 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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% q- \9 b' S4 ~" K8 ?5 ^Across most of the country, average house prices rose, but more slowly than the spikes seen in 2006 and 2007. + a5 F- {! H6 @
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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. % W- x* @& u; b, p5 S; o7 ~
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The 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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