Double-digit declines for Edmonton home prices

qbxl400

EDMONTON - While average resale home prices across Canada nudged upward in the third quarter, Edmonton saw double-digit declines from last year in bungalows, two-storeys and standard condos, says a report released today by real estate firm Royal LePage.
- I( ?1 \* g& C& s3 d
The average Multiple Listing Service sale price for an Edmonton bungalow fell 11.8 per cent to $326,429 compared to the third-quarter of 2007, says the market survey.
2 c' O$ ^, j7 }- t3 P9 }
Two-storey houses dropped 13.8 per cent year-over-year to $342,857 in the Edmonton market.
& T5 d6 e6 ^1 W7 d2 t

Email to a friend

Printer friendly
Font:****A standard condominium tumbled 18.8 per cent from last year to $216,667.
/ _3 d2 p: a" N7 ^
Across Canada, the survey found, on average, standard condos rose by 0.2 per cent to $243,529.

Standard two-storeys increased by 0.1 per cent to $408,927 while the average price of detached bungalows remained stable at $240,000.
5 u9 Q. c& m, b7 ~: n+ K3 J9 }: s- ]
$ L7 P( h; i0 m8 @  P( f; V, NPhil Soper, Royal LePage president and CEO, said Canada's housing market is fundamentally different and stronger economically than the U.S. market being shaken by the sub-prime mortgage crisis.

"Average house price appreciation curves are beginning to flatten, but this is a completely natural reaction to the explosive gains that characterized the market earlier this decade," Soper said in a release.
/ ^4 C8 U, A$ j  c* I- e4 x
/ ?7 g' \  y. {/ g& @1 W7 CThe report said despite dropping year-over-year prices in Alberta, the resource-rich economy is strong and unemployment is low.
' ?7 G( Y, ~0 R6 K  z
"As such, the recent price decline is merely a correction to the dramatic run-up in prices that both Edmonton and Calgary experienced in the past few years," the report said.
- P( ]# @( e/ E" h, a
The survey said the year-over-year drop in the Calgary market varied from a decline of 8.7 per cent for a standard two-storey home, 8.2 per cent for a standard condominium and 6.2 per cent for a detached bungalow.

bmah@thejournal.canwest.com