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http://www.edmontonjournal.com/H ... /1248520/story.html
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" E" u8 {- Y0 B0 h) d' k$ nEDMONTON — 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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3 \% ]* p- g4 `/ J: bEvery indicator fared worse than it did in January of last year, showed Multiple Listing Service figures released Tuesday.+ P. a5 w) K8 z5 ^- \
6 f! G7 u* ` _1 Q/ t' y5 l$ I0 S- Total MLS sales plunged 40.9 per cent.
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t1 [/ f; h+ }% k! [- Value of total sales for the month was $265 million — down 42.4 per cent.
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6 Y p! S3 }9 L2 j$ H$ g- The single-family home average selling price fell 7.1 per cent to $352,689.
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- The average condo selling price dropped 7.5 per cent to $238,535.
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- In the single-family market, there were 502 houses sold, down from 767 in January 2008.
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$ ?# y+ g+ O! S) {2 V9 u- For condos, only 189 sold in January compared to 363 a year ago.% r6 a( s0 q) `8 v* @+ y$ L" K8 v
' P% T4 B; x. H4 s( IFor all that, Charlie Ponde, president of the Realtors Association of Edmonton, sounded optimistic, if cautious.
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He looked on the bright side, the month-by-month comparison — January figures were modestly better than December’s gloomy statistics.
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/ K3 Q, `& q6 o# _. K) X/ S9 mMultiple Listing Service figures released Tuesday showed 730 residential properties sold in the Edmonton region in January, up from 608 in December.) R# {9 ?; u4 T6 k& @
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Sales 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.
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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.”5 V& A7 V4 q2 `4 A1 g8 S
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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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