 鲜花( 0)  鸡蛋( 0)
|
http://www.edmontonjournal.com/H ... /1248520/story.html
2 m2 j" {( H Q X- {& }5 j
4 y1 l7 P) f8 V; J3 j" ~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.: }2 _; f$ f' w7 r
2 `( q9 C9 V/ I1 i! K" ?
Every indicator fared worse than it did in January of last year, showed Multiple Listing Service figures released Tuesday.# a9 e: a! I0 q7 h
% e, O0 i. u, U- Total MLS sales plunged 40.9 per cent.3 U; ?" L0 B, f" X
9 e4 _. h Q- \5 x7 S+ l* h6 }) I- Value of total sales for the month was $265 million — down 42.4 per cent.
3 H; R; `. ~3 d9 I- t/ L- J
* Q" |# I4 e# E8 j0 P: w- The single-family home average selling price fell 7.1 per cent to $352,689.
9 A( {# W2 ]3 Y% _7 L+ v
* [5 m4 j; C- a$ L+ B- The average condo selling price dropped 7.5 per cent to $238,535.; J8 m3 `- U: }1 f; e
; D3 j$ R+ ^. S+ Q- In the single-family market, there were 502 houses sold, down from 767 in January 2008.
4 }# d1 y& h1 y0 a8 [6 I2 L) E- f+ p! a! E
- For condos, only 189 sold in January compared to 363 a year ago. o! `# t* `9 B' u
( }- e5 h8 E f4 U
For all that, Charlie Ponde, president of the Realtors Association of Edmonton, sounded optimistic, if cautious.
* N! ]4 A& R- g- X K: a X* j3 H6 y* T" q* O7 M$ ~0 k
He looked on the bright side, the month-by-month comparison — January figures were modestly better than December’s gloomy statistics.
9 F" S; N7 [3 ~* e9 ~7 Q7 F' S2 H7 h
Multiple Listing Service figures released Tuesday showed 730 residential properties sold in the Edmonton region in January, up from 608 in December.0 t; h( z4 e" c0 f b# b' h
4 V O+ J6 Y: X" ?6 `
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.
" a. U. L5 j/ U. j) _6 g6 G! q% R5 n+ h* ?
“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.”
; b; L y- l+ I# u
: G# b6 w/ P/ J8 v/ RHe 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. |
|