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http://www.edmontonjournal.com/H ... /1248520/story.html4 d& J, ?* `* @# Z
9 g: ~+ j2 ?, ]7 w I+ BEDMONTON — 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 2008.1 s6 O- Z' }: c& H5 l
% E/ v7 F8 Z8 v% y6 HEvery indicator fared worse than it did in January of last year, showed Multiple Listing Service figures released Tuesday.
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( I, P9 s# ^- |! }- 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.; S/ ]1 o/ m6 h1 v6 l8 J5 y
; H) J6 J& x' ?: J( n1 [5 @- The single-family home average selling price fell 7.1 per cent to $352,689.5 U0 b4 d$ L, A2 O5 x7 X+ p
+ _1 M$ l7 y- X- q! t- The average condo selling price dropped 7.5 per cent to $238,535.# v$ f8 ~1 D4 P! w5 b9 C7 ?
1 M5 @, W9 ~% |0 U8 D% N2 R3 p; B- In the single-family market, there were 502 houses sold, down from 767 in January 2008. M! R1 T h; D7 d- ?
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- For condos, only 189 sold in January compared to 363 a year ago.( Q0 M- @* Y Z4 a
9 n- M3 q: b# P1 K7 S5 t: B5 g- w' eFor 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.2 t6 L& }7 [& o0 p" W/ g
M' V8 J7 q( i4 y: o2 N4 \% J6 {Multiple Listing Service figures released Tuesday showed 730 residential properties sold in the Edmonton region in January, up from 608 in December. u, ?1 F" E8 ^
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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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1 L2 K, [8 P# l) I0 G: O“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.”
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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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