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http://www.edmontonjournal.com/H ... /1248520/story.html7 b/ Y7 K* l" k& O
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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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$ G8 ?7 z% H; T" T: W2 v# L6 h8 cEvery indicator fared worse than it did in January of last year, showed Multiple Listing Service figures released Tuesday.
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- Total MLS sales plunged 40.9 per cent.; \, y0 V* f4 \6 U1 T5 k8 g0 J' K
) a1 W) |; b5 A5 L7 M- Value of total sales for the month was $265 million — down 42.4 per cent.
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! R% l, y3 W) M- The single-family home average selling price fell 7.1 per cent to $352,689.
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f# c; m+ K( e/ U+ p- |+ s- The average condo selling price dropped 7.5 per cent to $238,535.2 t- f. b7 z* F3 ?
& u0 e3 _; f* e! K' j- r+ I9 M- In the single-family market, there were 502 houses sold, down from 767 in January 2008.
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( u9 j! a3 o$ O1 g; W- For condos, only 189 sold in January compared to 363 a year ago.( L* P4 t& \; o0 \1 z" u" g8 E
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For all that, Charlie Ponde, president of the Realtors Association of Edmonton, sounded optimistic, if cautious.
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He looked on the bright side, the month-by-month comparison — January figures were modestly better than December’s gloomy statistics.3 k5 K0 ^7 [/ ?+ ?$ z( ?
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Multiple Listing Service figures released Tuesday showed 730 residential properties sold in the Edmonton region in January, up from 608 in December.
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6 L2 \. t' b1 `6 p; wSales 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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“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.”5 f3 E* W3 U) l( {8 b
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He 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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