 鲜花( 1)  鸡蛋( 0)
|
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 .
. K) ~9 t' S% W& y2 u7 A3 {: L! l8 B9 K) L
That’s the forecast contained in the House Price Survey and Market Survey Forecast released Thursday by Royal LePage Real Estate Services. 1 z7 a3 ^$ C% b. ?7 o
i9 t; i- P0 `0 r
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. . f- r- V+ c# R2 S
2 V* O# g8 o7 R. k3 a, K
“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. / |$ G( j$ m- Z% i& t7 `4 {9 B
% H2 g1 \7 K* c6 c- D( [& s; E0 E! SAs of the end of Wednesday, there were 11,184 homes for sale on the Multiple Listing Service, according to the Realtors’ Association of Edmonton. ) k& x4 P* r4 x8 K4 I% ?/ u& q
4 j7 t. K _6 y
But Alberta’s two biggest cities still boast some of the most expensive real estate in the country, it noted.
8 y1 c: H0 C6 t: z3 e3 j) j
9 f, W6 N& H* l% [3 r+ \( l: b“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.”
5 M& v' c, a4 J6 z( h$ i7 p( S# P0 d8 S
The 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. / z# G' y, K6 w
. L- O9 q- @9 a6 } {. m1 Y. ]/ S
In 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 $397,857. " a, Y9 O3 b/ w8 M3 ]
1 r$ E6 x8 |/ k7 g7 ?& C8 N8 P: @# rAn average condominium in Edmonton was priced at $226,000, down 14.2 per cent from $263,333 in the comparable 2007 period.
: X/ @: b* L' ]- C) N" l7 h
. j6 W! l' m8 u) X9 s0 ~“A surge in inventory caused Alberta’s white-hot market to record the country’s only major-market price decreases,” the report said.
# Q# ], b q+ _0 x, Z1 e& b. F
5 F. e5 n Q% H8 Q8 k3 kAcross most of the country, average house prices rose, but more slowly than the spikes seen in 2006 and 2007. / X: S: F3 E/ a3 B3 L
' W( o' l6 l" y& n! b9 c% r2 ^3 ]4 }Royal LePage forecasts the national average house price to rise by 3.5 per cent, to $318,000 by year’s end.
[$ [. t! [: S% h: w% L! M; ?2 x0 e! o, s8 w
The report predicts home sale transactions to decrease by 11.5 per cent to 461,000 unit sales by year’s end. |
|