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http://www.edmontonjournal.com/H ... /1248520/story.html* b" @& x2 H2 Y8 J2 }2 g
8 V* _( Q. x4 [& g/ N0 U1 DEDMONTON — 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 2008.7 o! m& d, |& `4 H+ }+ f
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Every indicator fared worse than it did in January of last year, showed Multiple Listing Service figures released Tuesday.
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- Total MLS sales plunged 40.9 per cent.
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1 {$ W4 e( O1 H, I- P N: X- Value of total sales for the month was $265 million — down 42.4 per cent.
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- The single-family home average selling price fell 7.1 per cent to $352,689.$ d f( P+ a: }( D* J
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- The average condo selling price dropped 7.5 per cent to $238,535.
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- x, A n9 D4 N: g- In the single-family market, there were 502 houses sold, down from 767 in January 2008.
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& O% ~6 Z% U5 t$ ^$ T) T- For condos, only 189 sold in January compared to 363 a year ago.* O& x" t: W) }% f
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For all that, Charlie Ponde, president of the Realtors Association of Edmonton, sounded optimistic, if cautious.( I! a9 J ]3 i
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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. e6 e% ~8 t% o/ x; L
4 j4 o+ q g1 hMultiple Listing Service figures released Tuesday showed 730 residential properties sold in the Edmonton region in January, up from 608 in December.' G" j+ H! P6 Z2 j j$ n3 U8 Y
+ J& _1 @$ h1 e" `% Z6 M! rSales 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.”
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" k0 {) V% Z/ x# a' P8 THe 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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