Edmonton Market Watch

[JaysonSidhu]

Housing prices tumble even as inventory decreases

The REALTORS® Association of Edmonton reports that housing prices in Edmonton suddenly dropped in November. The largest monthly drop in single family prices so far this year was 3.2% in August. The drop in November was 5. 3%. The residential inventory is still high as compared to historical levels but has dropped throughout November. There were 8,667 residential properties available on the Multiple Listing Service® at the end of the month "Home sellers have come to realize that the current market is very price sensitive. If a property is not priced right for this market it may languish in the listings," said Carolyn Pratt, President of the REALTORS® Association. "Buyers currently have lots of options available and are being selective about homes they consider."

Single family dwellings listed on the Multiple Listing Service® sold on average* for $376,267 in the Edmonton area in November. Condominiums on MLS® sold on average for $252,277 (down 4.0%) and the more volatile duplex/rowhouse prices were down 15.4% and sold for $311,193 on average. The average residential sales price (which includes all types of residential property) was down 6.5% from last month at $325,060.

Typically, homes sold more slowly with the average days-on-market up a week to 51 days. The sales-to-listing ratio was higher than October at 45% and total residential volume for November was $397 million; down 10.6% from the same month last year. The total MLS® sales figure for the year to date was $7.9 billion and will be a record setting $8 billion by the end of the year.

Highlights of MLS Activity

November 2007 activity____________Record for the Month_______% change from November 2006

Total MLS Sales this month______________ _1,373______________________-22.90%___
Value of total MLS Sales - Month________ _$462 Million___________________-15.30%___
Value of total MLS Sales - Year___________$7.9 Billion___________________ _26.80%___
Residential Sales this month______________ 1,223______________________ -32.50%___
Residential Average Price________________$325,060____________________ 15.50%___
SFD average selling price - Month________ _$376,267____________________ 12.60%___
SFD median selling price_________________$355,000__________________ __ 10.90%___
Condo average selling price______________$252,277_____________________ 18.70%___


For more information regarding the Edmonton Real Estate Market and Investment Opportunites contact:

Jayson Sidhu
Investment Consultant
RealtyCorp Inc., Real Estate Investment Services of Edmonton
Phone: 780.938.1719
Email: jayson@realtycorp.ca

 

[RebeccaBryan]

Wow, after the run in 2006, we never thought we`d be lucky enough to see a buying opportunity like this in Edmonton. Exciting! And the average house prices are up for the year, more than they needed to be for investors to make a $.

 

[jermac]

The buyers market in edmonton should be comming to an end faster than a lot of people think! Watchers will have missed out again.

 

[DanSampson]

Thanks Jayson, it`s great to have this information providied by a Realtor before we read about the numbers in the newspapers later in the month.
Please continue to post the MLS stats as they become available to you.

I hope you are buying all of your own listing!



Cheers,

Dan

 

[navaz]

Thanks Jayson -good to see the numbers -fun is in interpreting them. It will be a good test to see how each one of interpretes them.

To me this represents about 1 year of inventory -especially if we add comfree listings. Unemployment numbers were a little higher as well. I suspect vacancies are up a bit - There will be two extreme view points -oh my god market is crashing or the market is taking a breather before the next round of immigration moves in to take the jobs being created by the oil sands and refineries

This is not a time to take a knee jerk reaction -but an informed one. Real estate tends to move in longer term cycles than the stock market. If people are moving into the province and there is a lot of work, then this will be a short term buying opportunity. For those of you that believe that people have stopped moving into the province, jobs are disappearing -time to panic. What are your beliefs based on your experience where you work? where you see ew jobs being created? gas industry? oil industry? others?