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http://www.edmontonjournal.com/H ... /1248520/story.html
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2 @! X6 k( U/ D- z' x! D& vEDMONTON — 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 2008.3 k- X7 E9 V- ~
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Every indicator fared worse than it did in January of last year, showed Multiple Listing Service figures released Tuesday.$ G; Q1 X% u. |$ F) |5 Z
5 I$ L S" R6 K/ ]2 o- Total MLS sales plunged 40.9 per cent.- N6 X* f5 r& S3 l
( ]& ]# F: r0 |* B- Value of total sales for the month was $265 million — down 42.4 per cent.; s3 g$ ~- J: D* P, B
! Z) T4 ?/ x0 k( n* L4 U6 `- The single-family home average selling price fell 7.1 per cent to $352,689.
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# V4 z4 q' b, n; I' @ U- f- The average condo selling price dropped 7.5 per cent to $238,535.* b# }1 N0 j3 y" B0 H
$ f$ S% N2 @ P" M4 A5 p* G- 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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. @$ M9 ]8 e. i' j- J- w6 ?For all that, Charlie Ponde, president of the Realtors Association of Edmonton, sounded optimistic, if cautious.1 k2 t+ N, V$ ?+ ]* M% h& K
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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.
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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.
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" B5 ]8 Q: ]1 bSales 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 $299,222." K$ j- d2 u: a |
9 C N! |/ k, I6 \& j6 I- m) t* \“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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