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http://www.edmontonjournal.com/H ... /1248520/story.html
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- b3 U7 W% S" m/ k' @% }- SEDMONTON — 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.( Q. p* {0 e/ X# t4 ]
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Every indicator fared worse than it did in January of last year, showed Multiple Listing Service figures released Tuesday.8 v8 f9 z0 {* P/ G; l. Z
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- Total MLS sales plunged 40.9 per cent.
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1 o' f8 i% R1 i- t- Value of total sales for the month was $265 million — down 42.4 per cent.
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2 }0 q# \8 N. n' {2 w' J- The single-family home average selling price fell 7.1 per cent to $352,689." B+ ?- c+ i1 z( |. O. e
5 o' h/ B/ `, n7 s( t' N3 \- The average condo selling price dropped 7.5 per cent to $238,535.5 K! r5 x# g. O6 d( T* Q
* i' S D! D+ e; h- In the single-family market, there were 502 houses sold, down from 767 in January 2008. g- u$ ^$ R* s4 M G( x5 m! }
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- For condos, only 189 sold in January compared to 363 a year ago.
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% ]; { a3 S6 ]& lFor all that, Charlie Ponde, president of the Realtors Association of Edmonton, sounded optimistic, if cautious.
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: n, K* m2 ^4 pHe looked on the bright side, the month-by-month comparison — January figures were modestly better than December’s gloomy statistics.
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# B3 X' ]+ w3 Y8 @+ C9 eMultiple Listing Service figures released Tuesday showed 730 residential properties sold in the Edmonton region in January, up from 608 in December.5 x1 m7 a; ]: J" _
; p ]# h) Q3 _( cSales 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.”9 f: o. W% y. ~
! s8 r Z) G; x) A1 h+ GHe 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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