 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 .
- |- }9 B, r5 n; [, O& S; z
0 B5 }/ r9 |; N6 e( zThat’s the forecast contained in the House Price Survey and Market Survey Forecast released Thursday by Royal LePage Real Estate Services.
6 B7 k5 J$ ]; v7 \/ K, o/ d3 A5 E" l
/ X9 d$ T: f. {- a* ~1 A& y$ }8 jA 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. ) w2 i4 m4 F. _
2 F: ^; B3 Z; H+ k) e3 f; b/ L
“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.
2 [" q( ~$ d4 f9 S. L+ L
8 M& j& N/ r7 n5 O( vAs of the end of Wednesday, there were 11,184 homes for sale on the Multiple Listing Service, according to the Realtors’ Association of Edmonton.
! \# i* r$ w& d* r
* L7 {8 P' M' M3 ~7 F& uBut Alberta’s two biggest cities still boast some of the most expensive real estate in the country, it noted.
+ h6 |8 C1 L3 H1 ~4 |- y
0 ]; F7 m4 L7 a& s# D5 g! B“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.”
% w4 R2 b% w5 r% [3 o3 G- K6 q* A" {$ I& k
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.
" P; J5 V% U+ k* h; N" \0 z1 b8 x- _, n8 i
- G' P* l3 D6 f B6 G9 w8 ]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. . D" A Q9 |# U/ o- ~9 }; G
! W3 r. w- ^( T( F! g& j2 p. l0 rAn average condominium in Edmonton was priced at $226,000, down 14.2 per cent from $263,333 in the comparable 2007 period.
% V: E; G3 G7 ]7 y, T, P/ p x; _7 t* y& P
“A surge in inventory caused Alberta’s white-hot market to record the country’s only major-market price decreases,” the report said.
( l5 Y. p& q# j4 n6 _" n0 T
2 _9 T1 J% D0 I6 u1 K; dAcross most of the country, average house prices rose, but more slowly than the spikes seen in 2006 and 2007. : r- [5 j! ?& u; n' R
1 v6 Z0 c. L( S* t; C' {' j. KRoyal LePage forecasts the national average house price to rise by 3.5 per cent, to $318,000 by year’s end.
! R" e. b# N5 f5 b& F1 T2 G: W3 y3 P; f% ^& O! _1 G
The report predicts home sale transactions to decrease by 11.5 per cent to 461,000 unit sales by year’s end. |
|