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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 . ) K6 @, E" |; ]3 a
- y0 j: k% F9 E" c4 ZThat’s the forecast contained in the House Price Survey and Market Survey Forecast released Thursday by Royal LePage Real Estate Services. 9 d, h$ J2 J& z% h, D' X2 {
7 z: z j* w! S# WA 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. 4 h o4 u. O+ }! C/ M
! | s3 I1 x5 I+ U1 o' |& B“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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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. 0 ~. N# w7 y1 j$ B) b5 f2 \5 u
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But Alberta’s two biggest cities still boast some of the most expensive real estate in the country, it noted.
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$ w6 }) K0 T( A$ I6 n“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.”
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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. . \6 b5 w* M4 D5 T7 U
; b) ^9 E" D& h1 ~0 {* |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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An 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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“A surge in inventory caused Alberta’s white-hot market to record the country’s only major-market price decreases,” the report said.
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Across most of the country, average house prices rose, but more slowly than the spikes seen in 2006 and 2007.
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2 q6 {+ \" i, I9 n; bRoyal LePage forecasts the national average house price to rise by 3.5 per cent, to $318,000 by year’s end. ) r& e$ a0 K' p6 Q; |$ M: g
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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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