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http://www.edmontonjournal.com/H ... /1248520/story.html
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/ D/ m4 R }# H N C6 e! TEDMONTON — 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.
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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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- o: x, H6 m! K) T0 y- Total MLS sales plunged 40.9 per cent.8 x5 V: o9 N$ k5 k3 m, @
0 Y# M B2 |8 Q$ ^; C- Value of total sales for the month was $265 million — down 42.4 per cent.
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) j6 e) S3 ^. ^ {8 e7 h- The single-family home average selling price fell 7.1 per cent to $352,689.
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) f; j/ E) D( {- s9 G2 t- The average condo selling price dropped 7.5 per cent to $238,535.
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* L* l% k1 F2 w0 {* t, v' P- In the single-family market, there were 502 houses sold, down from 767 in January 2008.4 m: O5 L5 Y% L8 ^
- r2 F3 s7 W1 P) q9 s3 \9 h- For condos, only 189 sold in January compared to 363 a year ago.
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. T% \! z, m$ d9 GFor all that, Charlie Ponde, president of the Realtors Association of Edmonton, sounded optimistic, if cautious.# b$ |2 Y- X( b/ |! l. w' \
# W% x: j) C& z0 M9 EHe looked on the bright side, the month-by-month comparison — January figures were modestly better than December’s gloomy statistics.
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1 y# Y- e6 }7 U" q6 G1 OMultiple Listing Service figures released Tuesday showed 730 residential properties sold in the Edmonton region in January, up from 608 in December.+ }1 T/ C1 G, j0 j, _! J' \" p; c
9 e: K: Y+ G& d7 k; t* L& ASales 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 $299,222.3 D5 G; K) d7 b
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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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" d+ t, y1 I3 C2 n* O! HHe 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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