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http://www.edmontonjournal.com/H ... /1248520/story.html F( w1 n# a' {9 Y' B; Z
) Q7 H, N6 J' ^7 g+ V- ]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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. |; V6 ]2 U% e. X. {! kEvery indicator fared worse than it did in January of last year, showed Multiple Listing Service figures released Tuesday.( y' Y' I0 h( e
L! Y# p' W: z7 [# e" n/ ^- 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./ X9 V6 U& x4 ?0 C8 I) w
7 }/ p1 c3 T7 ?7 z9 }3 [2 P- The single-family home average selling price fell 7.1 per cent to $352,689.% t; V% _) \0 [' B; n2 O
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- The average condo selling price dropped 7.5 per cent to $238,535.8 f* e0 f) l- K
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- In the single-family market, there were 502 houses sold, down from 767 in January 2008.
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L1 z7 i$ H* O8 `' S$ B7 U/ x# B- For condos, only 189 sold in January compared to 363 a year ago.; D2 D6 ^5 _% M
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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.- d5 ^' I1 `% B. k. S
, F1 d. `6 Z/ BMultiple Listing Service figures released Tuesday showed 730 residential properties sold in the Edmonton region in January, up from 608 in December." R: f2 q( u8 h. U$ K- o
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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.
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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.”9 |- P& B0 \5 k- h
; H' f6 S1 b4 n* L+ `: G! a8 yHe 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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