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http://www.edmontonjournal.com/H ... /1248520/story.html( S8 q" H" o) O: r1 b
5 L9 @3 L9 P7 h& D1 j- G" m( UEDMONTON — 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 2008.5 l! k' A4 b) p
( l( p1 d" G1 ~/ ~' y, s6 Z9 e& fEvery 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.
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- Value of total sales for the month was $265 million — down 42.4 per cent.+ Y- o* s8 n a
9 @; P( F) o9 U6 ^: G0 E% w- The single-family home average selling price fell 7.1 per cent to $352,689.
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- The average condo selling price dropped 7.5 per cent to $238,535.
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4 q$ B* Q4 g" h5 e# T% y- In the single-family market, there were 502 houses sold, down from 767 in January 2008.
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- For condos, only 189 sold in January compared to 363 a year ago.
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' a# o# H+ P3 h2 k0 C% `For all that, Charlie Ponde, president of the Realtors Association of Edmonton, sounded optimistic, if cautious.3 a( ]: R5 z, u9 r
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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.2 o" L& b% }1 ^' Y
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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.6 L' F/ y: M$ _; p/ ~* y
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Sales 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 $299,222.7 u1 r$ O6 N# c. `' |4 O3 t* n/ e9 V
8 }9 R# o5 t+ T/ ]1 I3 e- n“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.”8 Y% Z0 q: l, j7 y7 S
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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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