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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 . 4 N( r: V3 c) Z' t v S
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That’s the forecast contained in the House Price Survey and Market Survey Forecast released Thursday by Royal LePage Real Estate Services. - c6 |8 ?8 `. x2 W* u( y; u
) y c( ^3 ]) ^. H5 l% PA 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. " x$ T5 [* [" F- o* G |
' h. \, e* z6 | x“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. 9 o6 t- d3 |3 c( R3 {
0 M3 x" b, j: v9 C4 lAs of the end of Wednesday, there were 11,184 homes for sale on the Multiple Listing Service, according to the Realtors’ Association of Edmonton.
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& V, t6 p6 i6 v3 E/ VBut Alberta’s two biggest cities still boast some of the most expensive real estate in the country, it noted. 5 U: t. a- x" t
$ e- m% e) d9 W1 `% z% Z" ]“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.”
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The 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. 0 `1 ?4 X5 P; s6 G
* k R# \! d+ Z5 m ?* l# h# gIn 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. o: l) f! E; \# S) _- A
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An average condominium in Edmonton was priced at $226,000, down 14.2 per cent from $263,333 in the comparable 2007 period. # x4 Y0 g, [+ \/ t2 z
$ F6 x# o; f; @. g, g: ?" X“A surge in inventory caused Alberta’s white-hot market to record the country’s only major-market price decreases,” the report said. ( T5 x% C: Q. x" H7 |
# W& W$ D _* ~; r# _* N; H$ RAcross most of the country, average house prices rose, but more slowly than the spikes seen in 2006 and 2007.
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7 V' j5 z& c5 W: hRoyal LePage forecasts the national average house price to rise by 3.5 per cent, to $318,000 by year’s end.
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The report predicts home sale transactions to decrease by 11.5 per cent to 461,000 unit sales by year’s end. |
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