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EDMONTON — Prices for single-family homes in the Edmonton region dropped while condo prices rallied in December, according to figures released today by the Realtors Association of Edmonton.
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“That’s a 180-degree twist from what we saw in the month of November,” said outgoing association president Marc Perras.
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The average price for a single family home dropped by three per cent to $351,870 after remaining flat for two months. That’s $30,000 less than the average price of a single family dwelling at the start of 2008., a) n- Y g7 }
* R' T5 W1 ^# m9 pCondominium prices — which fell more than eight per cent in the previous two months — edged up 1.2 per cent over November.
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Over the year, condo prices dropped 7.5 per cent from $253,270 to $234,286.
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At the end of December, there were 6,316 homes in inventory. The sales to listing ratio was 46 per cent and average days on market was 65, up two from November.
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" {- l6 f% @& h' w" `6 @Residential sales plunged by 29.1 per cent in December to 608. Perras blamed cold weather and global economic uncertainty.
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0 s* w, Y) e+ D; s“Who wants to tour homes when both your toes and your portfolio are frozen?” Perras said.! o2 e/ R1 J5 e; Z* s4 @
6 R: i% m& F! ~- `Neither Perras, nor incoming president Charlie Ponde would release a resale market forecast for 2009 until a news conference scheduled for Thursday.
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& E- @' R1 Q! lBut one real estate company predicted Tuesday that after months of sluggish sales and slipping prices, Edmonton’s housing will return to “a normal state” in 2009.
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* n* K5 W( m" LThe year will bring stable average house prices and gradually increasing sales, according to the Royal LePage 2009 Market Survey Forecast.; @2 r4 T. ?1 {2 @
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“The combination of healthy employment levels, historically low interest rates and good affordability — something the city has not seen in a while — will all bolster Edmonton’s housing resale market in 2009,” said the survey./ D+ Y: u& n& _: T- y
( M" B" o) l4 R% }The report predicts the average local house price to hold steady at $333,000 this year. The number of homes sold is expected to increase by three per cent to 17,825 units, it said.
& ^$ Y9 n9 \% P* `) UThe company added that a glut of homes that burdened the market shrank in 2008 and will get smaller in 2009, putting Edmonton in a balanced market.
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“Nationally, Canadian average house prices are forecast to dip by three per cent from last year to $295,000, while transactions are projected to fall to 416,000 (–3.5 per cent) unit sales in 2009,” the report said.. O; V: Y# P# Y( P% ?% J- ?6 M; x* T
) F( L& V: t" C. A5 i2 pMeanwhile, the Realtors Association of Edmonton will release a recap of the housing market this morning and a forecast of 2009 on Thursday. |
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