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http://www.edmontonjournal.com/H ... /1248520/story.html
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1 l. ?/ E" N( J9 t( x: {EDMONTON — 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.
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" T3 j7 F) b ^- X% kEvery indicator fared worse than it did in January of last year, showed Multiple Listing Service figures released Tuesday.
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* w/ [: [2 m# U7 \! r l- Total MLS sales plunged 40.9 per cent.
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* Q2 Q/ T9 d9 h6 h7 ]3 d) S- Value of total sales for the month was $265 million — down 42.4 per cent. f, E& Y4 n+ }2 l; |
r% S- B3 b) p9 _; u$ K9 P- The single-family home average selling price fell 7.1 per cent to $352,689.+ C5 v/ W+ P; t4 I/ ^
/ D; b8 w, N' V/ P% r$ a6 j+ z- The average condo selling price dropped 7.5 per cent to $238,535.
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- In the single-family market, there were 502 houses sold, down from 767 in January 2008.
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P: X: d" y% v! u" d C- For condos, only 189 sold in January compared to 363 a year ago.9 ?! A& j' z7 }, v9 V* s
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For all that, Charlie Ponde, president of the Realtors Association of Edmonton, sounded optimistic, if cautious./ E2 m0 s# z/ d
+ K" B+ E/ I* D# O4 XHe looked on the bright side, the month-by-month comparison — January figures were modestly better than December’s gloomy statistics.: n! U3 f- [ ~5 F7 ]
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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.! H( L9 N5 f0 }4 f5 \
$ V6 k) d( F# j: d# d8 j0 tSales 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 $299,222.$ F: W9 E5 ]* u' l4 S2 |0 o3 L
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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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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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