Edmonton house prices continue to dip[ZT]

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EDMONTON – By the end of the year, Edmonton could get something it hasn’t seen for several years — a “normalized” housing market — as homes for sale dry up and prices drop .

That’s the forecast contained in the House Price Survey and Market Survey Forecast released Thursday by Royal LePage Real Estate Services.

A soaring number of homes put on the market especially by builders and speculators in the last year softened the city’s housing market during the second quarter, the report said.

“The high inventory levels will dwindle into the second half of the year, and as affordability improves, subsequent market conditions will continue to normalize,” the report said.

As of the end of Wednesday, there were 11,184 homes for sale on the Multiple Listing Service, according to the Realtors’ Association of Edmonton.

# K: z' X$ I$ |) p1 r! u7 X# t; e5 RBut Alberta’s two biggest cities still boast some of the most expensive real estate in the country, it noted.

6 c) b$ }* u$ a7 }  l7 C/ M“Despite some mild price erosion during the second quarter in both Calgary and Edmonton, these markets remain strong. Although prices have come down from where they were last year — one of the best years on record — current house prices are far higher than they were three years ago before energy-rich Alberta experienced its boom.”

% o: q5 `+ A8 e0 @8 sThe average price for a detached bungalow in Edmonton in April, May and June was $320,000, down about 14.5 per cent from the same period in 2007 ($374,143), Royal LePage said in its survey of Canadian house prices.

In the second quarter of 2008, a two-storey house in Edmonton sold for an average price of $348,571, down 12.4 per cent year-over-year from $397,857.

5 r: Q: T; h' z; k! b3 L* T; ?3 jAn average condominium in Edmonton was priced at $226,000, down 14.2 per cent from $263,333 in the comparable 2007 period.

“A surge in inventory caused Alberta’s white-hot market to record the country’s only major-market price decreases,” the report said.

Across most of the country, average house prices rose, but more slowly than the spikes seen in 2006 and 2007.
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Royal LePage forecasts the national average house price to rise by 3.5 per cent, to $318,000 by year’s end.

" V0 ^4 o+ V% i0 Q% Y: u# IThe report predicts home sale transactions to decrease by 11.5 per cent to 461,000 unit sales by year’s end.

奥运会指定马甲

Mike H  from Canada writes: Here is why you cant trust Real Estate Agents commenting on Real Estate industry. Some famous quotes from Dave Lereah, National Association of Realtors (NAR) in the US:
August 2005: "There is virtually no risk of a national housing price bubble based on the fundamental demand for housing and predictable economic factors"
April 3, 2006: NAR: "We can expect a historically strong housing market moving forward, earmarked by generally balanced conditions across the country and fairly stable levels of home sales with some month-to-month fluctuations."
, N+ h* O: m* Y+ u9 |! `, KJune 27, 2006: NAR: "Right now we are on course for a soft-landing in housing."
4 b- \5 N( l2 z' I' KOctober 25, 2006: NAR: "The worst is behind us, as far as a market correction" December 4, 2006: NAR: "Its important to focus on where the housing market is now, it appears to be stabilizing, and comparisons with an unsustainable boom mask the fact that home sales remain historically high"
February 15, 2007: NAR: "At least the bottom a ppears to have already occurred. It looks like figures will be improving"
0 Z' y$ T. m9 o' DJune 6, 2007: NAR: "Home sales will probably fluctuate in a narrow range in the short run, but gradually trend upward with improving activity by the end of the year."
- {5 z! p  G  p# ?8 S. f5 K+ x5 F+ {October 10, 2007: NAR: "The speculative excesses have been removed from the market and home sales are returning to fundamentally healthy levels"
December 10, 2007: "Although there could be some minor slippage in the first quarter, existing-home sales should hold in a narrow range before trending up."

萨隆吧斯

Colaa

What about Mike H's comments in 2008?

奥运会指定马甲

原帖由 Colaa 于 2008-7-18 12:38 发表
What about Mike H's comments in 2008?

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It's the Lereah guy's comments that are funny. Google "David Lereah quotes" and you will find some websites dedicated to his quotes. Quite an entertaining read! :)