 鲜花( 1)  鸡蛋( 0)
|
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 .
& V% x1 E. @8 i4 r4 u) q4 Y a/ U7 @0 m- f4 I6 P. J# Y
That’s the forecast contained in the House Price Survey and Market Survey Forecast released Thursday by Royal LePage Real Estate Services. 9 Z" T# h# L6 j" T0 |3 ~
8 }5 [" L; p7 V. \" @
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. ! E' ]* M0 \8 \$ d1 \
5 d6 Y K% f% S“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. ; d) | O4 G3 ]/ c4 h& M' J9 W
3 \2 U0 \6 X# ~- GAs of the end of Wednesday, there were 11,184 homes for sale on the Multiple Listing Service, according to the Realtors’ Association of Edmonton.
& q; F* L! m+ ~8 N) p# U e5 f, M! J$ E9 l9 B
But Alberta’s two biggest cities still boast some of the most expensive real estate in the country, it noted.
. u! I$ _' P: N& q1 F. w% t, H
8 ?1 _! S( j/ L“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.”
9 h$ Y! N: P( F9 Z: P) F; t3 y, o' h5 j( G$ z4 K% s
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 ($374,143), Royal LePage said in its survey of Canadian house prices. 6 O; |! n W/ Y$ I
0 y* _& X {0 m, x) ZIn 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.
" Z2 z9 m9 Y5 ?. B# w+ F
2 X* }. V. }4 u0 C5 ]4 XAn average condominium in Edmonton was priced at $226,000, down 14.2 per cent from $263,333 in the comparable 2007 period. / D6 S+ ] i1 ~% N
% U" Z( A; j8 N1 |
“A surge in inventory caused Alberta’s white-hot market to record the country’s only major-market price decreases,” the report said.
$ S V' B5 B0 ^/ ?2 E7 c% d/ C/ s ^
Across most of the country, average house prices rose, but more slowly than the spikes seen in 2006 and 2007. 1 T W5 ]% v' h/ M* E0 O4 s @
) t8 k5 V# a+ k' k3 K9 P: T; h2 x
Royal LePage forecasts the national average house price to rise by 3.5 per cent, to $318,000 by year’s end.
Y7 V' d" Y9 q x* `* H/ P' o2 g' W& ] d6 B3 @9 U% O: }7 t5 z
The report predicts home sale transactions to decrease by 11.5 per cent to 461,000 unit sales by year’s end. |
|