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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 d7 y2 H. H( r6 W1 y7 U
8 U7 [* }3 [# n( H% z5 yThat’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. # J" v+ ~3 T0 L2 @) G5 E$ ~& N3 [
. N( u1 }3 l4 ?2 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. ) W2 N/ [+ d7 b+ Y
/ ], A1 M* h1 l% K& z& JAs of the end of Wednesday, there were 11,184 homes for sale on the Multiple Listing Service, according to the Realtors’ Association of Edmonton.
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But Alberta’s two biggest cities still boast some of the most expensive real estate in the country, it noted.
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+ C) i- A. R6 f/ z0 i/ _- Z. p“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.”
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! h( Z$ M3 j" LThe 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. 5 g4 w/ z9 E5 c% Y e
" _ E, C; ?% `, G7 M+ v3 tAn average condominium in Edmonton was priced at $226,000, down 14.2 per cent from $263,333 in the comparable 2007 period. ( x4 p' @. Y- d/ ~; |' m7 q
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“A surge in inventory caused Alberta’s white-hot market to record the country’s only major-market price decreases,” the report said. e0 B' ~! ~2 g1 D c! E' C' j/ j
. m( E# h6 N) k Z$ m7 ~Across most of the country, average house prices rose, but more slowly than the spikes seen in 2006 and 2007.
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Royal LePage forecasts the national average house price to rise by 3.5 per cent, to $318,000 by year’s end. * u2 |& z5 O5 }- ]
5 Q' N! ~% E9 U$ ^* m2 wThe 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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