Double-digit declines for Edmonton home prices

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EDMONTON - While average resale home prices across Canada nudged upward in the third quarter, Edmonton saw double-digit declines from last year in bungalows, two-storeys and standard condos, says a report released today by real estate firm Royal LePage.

The average Multiple Listing Service sale price for an Edmonton bungalow fell 11.8 per cent to $326,429 compared to the third-quarter of 2007, says the market survey.
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Two-storey houses dropped 13.8 per cent year-over-year to $342,857 in the Edmonton market.
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( N) x9 C$ @2 W4 eFont:****A standard condominium tumbled 18.8 per cent from last year to $216,667.

2 [# r) g+ k7 g( hAcross Canada, the survey found, on average, standard condos rose by 0.2 per cent to $243,529.
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Standard two-storeys increased by 0.1 per cent to $408,927 while the average price of detached bungalows remained stable at $240,000.

! P! U9 D4 @1 \) ~/ \( d. L4 C* OPhil Soper, Royal LePage president and CEO, said Canada's housing market is fundamentally different and stronger economically than the U.S. market being shaken by the sub-prime mortgage crisis.

"Average house price appreciation curves are beginning to flatten, but this is a completely natural reaction to the explosive gains that characterized the market earlier this decade," Soper said in a release.
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- V% D! R! f% |, j. j; @8 q" ^The report said despite dropping year-over-year prices in Alberta, the resource-rich economy is strong and unemployment is low.
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"As such, the recent price decline is merely a correction to the dramatic run-up in prices that both Edmonton and Calgary experienced in the past few years," the report said.

The survey said the year-over-year drop in the Calgary market varied from a decline of 8.7 per cent for a standard two-storey home, 8.2 per cent for a standard condominium and 6.2 per cent for a detached bungalow.

" V( n! I/ P! u# ?9 R, {bmah@thejournal.canwest.com