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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 .
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That’s the forecast contained in the House Price Survey and Market Survey Forecast released Thursday by Royal LePage Real Estate Services. . N% W1 |% o7 R- j
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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.
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" Y9 ^+ i, ?$ D5 }( h. z2 V/ M( _“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.
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5 {7 E; ~ ]3 X( `7 \( \As of the end of Wednesday, there were 11,184 homes for sale on the Multiple Listing Service, according to the Realtors’ Association of Edmonton.
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3 G* p. a0 u' vBut Alberta’s two biggest cities still boast some of the most expensive real estate in the country, it noted. $ n( l9 g$ P% Q- o7 H& e$ b7 E0 _
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“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.” & O/ ?) h6 |" H/ c/ `
0 N& x( L8 Y% G" I- pThe 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.
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& @6 t D" B" b5 u* Z. EIn 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.
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3 E2 C/ }/ \/ g2 u" A# B" xAn average condominium in Edmonton was priced at $226,000, down 14.2 per cent from $263,333 in the comparable 2007 period. ' k/ v: M0 X! ~+ }3 W3 G0 z
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“A surge in inventory caused Alberta’s white-hot market to record the country’s only major-market price decreases,” the report said. 4 A* f+ G5 I8 h* ?
6 ^5 X, H7 q. i+ G) V; DAcross most of the country, average house prices rose, but more slowly than the spikes seen in 2006 and 2007. 5 t3 Z0 y! }: S T, e1 R/ D
0 C; {3 k$ G2 y KRoyal LePage forecasts the national average house price to rise by 3.5 per cent, to $318,000 by year’s end.
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% |+ @) c9 t+ n+ HThe report predicts home sale transactions to decrease by 11.5 per cent to 461,000 unit sales by year’s end. |
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