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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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$ d7 ^- K9 D, p7 S1 ^That’s the forecast contained in the House Price Survey and Market Survey Forecast released Thursday by Royal LePage Real Estate Services.
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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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7 Y. t7 p) o8 _+ I( j4 p1 P“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. * Z+ X1 Y* J7 v2 v6 v
9 v& {" j; y, E6 n( n: W$ a6 {' TAs 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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But Alberta’s two biggest cities still boast some of the most expensive real estate in the country, it noted. ; S$ H# Y8 E+ o( `5 c9 O
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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.” ' B1 Q2 _- U' I: g3 t9 ?) h
* D$ t+ c7 Q0 x1 c4 w7 GThe 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. 4 `8 p3 x* w7 H0 S% }) L
. g& Y% I7 A" d5 b7 l2 O+ WIn 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 $397,857. 5 j/ J8 v) Y Q, s, A3 e
& i0 w& V$ ?! J$ b; jAn average condominium in Edmonton was priced at $226,000, down 14.2 per cent from $263,333 in the comparable 2007 period. % D: k' C T/ X" I6 k
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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. 0 a( D k( O; l
$ \2 f0 j: X& R2 b( ~ W2 CAcross most of the country, average house prices rose, but more slowly than the spikes seen in 2006 and 2007. # y9 P6 m: P5 g
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Royal LePage forecasts the national average house price to rise by 3.5 per cent, to $318,000 by year’s end. : R9 Q- w) q9 [' |6 c. e/ l
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The 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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