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http://www.edmontonjournal.com/H ... /1248520/story.html
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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 2008.9 g9 b* N! H, y" l, a
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Every indicator fared worse than it did in January of last year, showed Multiple Listing Service figures released Tuesday.
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2 i H6 O0 \* u% V- Total MLS sales plunged 40.9 per cent./ W! e9 J& S9 z* ]7 l% J2 u6 T
% s J9 R0 z( ~3 d8 d- Value of total sales for the month was $265 million — down 42.4 per cent.
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3 ~/ i" K4 F, D7 n- The single-family home average selling price fell 7.1 per cent to $352,689.8 S! R+ m; c& x. y* \
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- The average condo selling price dropped 7.5 per cent to $238,535.
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0 ~( r3 S( J- A# ]+ y% u- In the single-family market, there were 502 houses sold, down from 767 in January 2008.
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- For condos, only 189 sold in January compared to 363 a year ago.
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6 I3 Z. E" T! U0 Y3 e. Z) HFor all that, Charlie Ponde, president of the Realtors Association of Edmonton, sounded optimistic, if cautious.5 M/ p5 |$ [2 I! m. Y5 ^6 i
C% Z. C7 A# T' yHe 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.) _* |) S2 U( d: `- Y1 K
a1 }; W; d+ z; dSales 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 $299,222.
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* }0 c* y$ @ e4 b3 l“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.”
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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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