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http://www.edmontonjournal.com/H ... /1248520/story.html8 T( W$ N( v8 J9 A3 {/ p1 b5 p3 R
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EDMONTON — 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.% |! w4 |) h0 a' Y
3 T' J( e" t! sEvery indicator fared worse than it did in January of last year, showed Multiple Listing Service figures released Tuesday.
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6 `. g& K9 v5 M- Total MLS sales plunged 40.9 per cent.
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- 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 $352,689.) Y+ ~3 B* b6 D' ^) B
; I$ \$ {& M0 a- The average condo selling price dropped 7.5 per cent to $238,535.
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2 m9 b J E M# D ^$ V5 f+ S- In the single-family market, there were 502 houses sold, down from 767 in January 2008.
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- For condos, only 189 sold in January compared to 363 a year ago.3 ?6 R/ a0 Z! b1 \: N1 A5 D1 l
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For all that, Charlie Ponde, president of the Realtors Association of Edmonton, sounded optimistic, if cautious.
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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.& K/ S, x: |* S: N$ Q
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Multiple Listing Service figures released Tuesday showed 730 residential properties sold in the Edmonton region in January, up from 608 in December.. n) z- I" n1 W
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Sales 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 $299,222.1 \" @* r1 }9 @; v
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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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" H4 Q; K1 v1 \He 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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