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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 . , h; t+ b& ~5 i" \
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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. ! ]. g# {* W* Z5 y! I" _
: O: \* I& d/ u7 ^% C9 g/ t“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.
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! P% M- Q( U) T/ F! `As of the end of Wednesday, there were 11,184 homes for sale on the Multiple Listing Service, according to the Realtors’ Association of Edmonton. ; `( p8 T) |- F' ]
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But Alberta’s two biggest cities still boast some of the most expensive real estate in the country, it noted. * ?- t' C( R2 I
; J1 N3 |# Q( Y' {“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.” & d5 ?5 X9 ]$ F; O5 R( M' Q
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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.
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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 $397,857.
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; W+ o3 D) O$ o8 ~; nAn average condominium in Edmonton was priced at $226,000, down 14.2 per cent from $263,333 in the comparable 2007 period.
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+ c# ]2 G3 [* {+ r" U8 ^3 X9 d“A surge in inventory caused Alberta’s white-hot market to record the country’s only major-market price decreases,” the report said. 5 l! x4 _ e$ F$ d) m6 S0 ]
& S2 w8 f( t. [8 b: u2 xAcross most of the country, average house prices rose, but more slowly than the spikes seen in 2006 and 2007.
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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. 6 P9 L4 ]* D3 R }) M) Y! t2 q
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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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