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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 . ; j) V8 z" W9 x* k8 }+ Z j [
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That’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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( `$ z5 w5 P7 Z8 [. Q* l2 gA 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. , Q+ J- ^9 ^9 s/ w6 j
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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.
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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. / P, J' W/ Q& y
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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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“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.” & ~# u3 x0 F/ {5 S1 b
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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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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 $397,857. 5 M2 A' q. c8 o Y
) K* f$ J$ e! q3 `% c2 j! L3 wAn average condominium in Edmonton was priced at $226,000, down 14.2 per cent from $263,333 in the comparable 2007 period.
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) o. {3 c6 z0 M( a9 w* E“A surge in inventory caused Alberta’s white-hot market to record the country’s only major-market price decreases,” the report said. 1 t& D: _/ j' g" W# A" N$ {
& P3 [. I9 t* L/ [: `7 w. E* rAcross 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.
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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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