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http://www.edmontonjournal.com/H ... /1248520/story.html T5 k c9 @4 n' h: Q9 j
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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.' U$ X" m+ [' L7 Y0 s* }
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Every indicator fared worse than it did in January of last year, showed Multiple Listing Service figures released Tuesday.7 G2 q, z4 E5 s& @, Y P
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- 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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8 o% e% d! k. v2 @* K- The single-family home average selling price fell 7.1 per cent to $352,689.
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- The average condo selling price dropped 7.5 per cent to $238,535.* j+ C. Y( L1 Z' n- Z) O8 W. s
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- In the single-family market, there were 502 houses sold, down from 767 in January 2008.$ `: X6 T z. n r) b
9 i# _% U% U0 i9 ~# ?0 M7 M- For condos, only 189 sold in January compared to 363 a year ago.
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8 y1 n& j @: LFor all that, Charlie Ponde, president of the Realtors Association of Edmonton, sounded optimistic, if cautious.( S5 P8 p* c/ e( }
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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.
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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.: z' {! D4 a3 X" b! f" {
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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.
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+ j- U' l: V2 z; d“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.”5 q1 U. ?" ]6 ~
, e9 x. e6 H# h" }; r& @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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