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http://www.edmontonjournal.com/H ... /1248520/story.html# I" C7 H8 r* O, \
7 z+ x0 P |6 o" ? |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 2008.4 M+ d- z+ E, T$ P7 r
0 R5 P4 K0 T. T2 H! \# cEvery indicator fared worse than it did in January of last year, showed Multiple Listing Service figures released Tuesday.
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( l; `, s% x f8 L8 A- Total MLS sales plunged 40.9 per cent.( U+ i$ u0 r! p$ J& L, Z, L6 p7 \
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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 $352,689.
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5 W, J; V4 m3 _$ R. W m2 l; w- The average condo selling price dropped 7.5 per cent to $238,535.1 O4 }+ _: l. z' U
1 z% Z* u2 N% {' |/ e7 y6 l% T- x H$ U0 Y- In the single-family market, there were 502 houses sold, down from 767 in January 2008.' h8 q8 w5 r& \, d* v2 i
z) l4 c" J" h% c0 j4 D- For condos, only 189 sold in January compared to 363 a year ago., b$ ]: U4 E1 c |
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For all that, Charlie Ponde, president of the Realtors Association of Edmonton, sounded optimistic, if cautious.- s1 R: ?, C& H3 g2 b* _
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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.! X, t' m. o; X' x
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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.3 V: S6 `) y1 Y' d- @$ \
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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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0 l" i& ~6 r/ E: _! H/ Z“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.”: U6 l8 E/ b6 F+ k
0 E4 h) `4 L6 K% u b* I, PHe 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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