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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.. r" B9 N( ~3 n+ d6 n1 y, v0 |: K
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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 $30,000 less than the average price of a single family dwelling at the start of 2008.
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Condominium prices — which fell more than eight per cent in the previous two months — edged up 1.2 per cent over November.
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# n$ x5 G6 u, H2 @/ vOver the year, condo prices dropped 7.5 per cent from $253,270 to $234,286.. E1 F4 m1 v# n& A5 }$ L! ~/ q
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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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Residential sales plunged by 29.1 per cent in December to 608. Perras blamed cold weather and global economic uncertainty.* f _3 o3 t$ m7 D9 T
: A5 i# v7 h" |. j/ |“Who wants to tour homes when both your toes and your portfolio are frozen?” Perras said.
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7 R; R5 J7 q3 e8 ], uNeither Perras, nor incoming president Charlie Ponde would release a resale market forecast for 2009 until a news conference scheduled for Thursday.; ^/ c4 W; X$ z( `$ j$ s
* @8 g# t4 E2 d% B+ qBut 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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% i( L4 x5 N9 `6 VThe year will bring stable average house prices and gradually increasing sales, according to the Royal LePage 2009 Market Survey Forecast.
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) h- Q8 p- D& z6 S9 }+ i“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.
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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.
9 Y, U; e2 P. X6 z. [The 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.; z2 M0 P% T! w; n; _1 [% f
0 g. \+ ?3 E. d/ j+ YMeanwhile, 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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