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http://www.edmontonjournal.com/H ... /1248520/story.html3 {1 B( z" ?( q. j1 r; v
: X) N5 w* h2 {: pEDMONTON — 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.* T& e4 t6 c% }' w1 v8 ]
5 f7 c, {9 m$ I( o$ mEvery indicator fared worse than it did in January of last year, showed Multiple Listing Service figures released Tuesday.
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- Total MLS sales plunged 40.9 per cent." r3 m7 f" J) F5 @( v, \
2 |2 }7 v0 D3 m' ?. V7 O! j- Value of total sales for the month was $265 million — down 42.4 per cent.
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0 a" @- t) J7 b: |( c" n- The single-family home average selling price fell 7.1 per cent to $352,689.- r. z$ t: H8 ~: ]* N/ U6 f( z6 C
) c' a: y' w. w; ]; {- The average condo selling price dropped 7.5 per cent to $238,535.0 l& y$ ? l! r1 o7 s
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- In the single-family market, there were 502 houses sold, down from 767 in January 2008.- i+ U$ B8 _6 @0 y6 P: W6 R- S- [
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- For condos, only 189 sold in January compared to 363 a year ago.
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For all that, Charlie Ponde, president of the Realtors Association of Edmonton, sounded optimistic, if cautious.
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" o; k% ?6 h0 W! A% u! Z- C: eHe looked on the bright side, the month-by-month comparison — January figures were modestly better than December’s gloomy statistics. j" M$ a$ R6 Y0 m& Z
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Multiple Listing Service figures released Tuesday showed 730 residential properties sold in the Edmonton region in January, up from 608 in December.
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5 Y/ ?2 A2 n. \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.' T2 d. u) m% O; J
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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.”
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5 r! U7 u2 ]% {# ?# }4 O5 [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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