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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 . " n' k6 R0 c+ H! J, _( w, m- s
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That’s the forecast contained in the House Price Survey and Market Survey Forecast released Thursday by Royal LePage Real Estate Services. - B# f$ f# L4 d3 u Y
; f2 x u2 W. p! `$ A, H9 {A 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.
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f9 {- v5 @. p# G. E! ]4 W“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. 9 p" I3 K$ @6 O! u* W# q& N
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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.
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But Alberta’s two biggest cities still boast some of the most expensive real estate in the country, it noted. 4 C4 n U2 ^- b+ @' ]
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“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.” 6 h, R" C- ^$ v( R
4 P" M& g7 R oThe 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 ($374,143), Royal LePage said in its survey of Canadian house prices. ' i2 W: J2 a2 ~$ n; |
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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 $397,857.
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( {! D! X1 T) U$ z: n% GAn 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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% T2 E3 v# ^ e6 l“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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& M5 h( ~8 a" m, K9 E# F. DAcross most of the country, average house prices rose, but more slowly than the spikes seen in 2006 and 2007. " }2 @3 ?4 m/ w( L" |* \ v& T- j
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Royal LePage forecasts the national average house price to rise by 3.5 per cent, to $318,000 by year’s end. % a, n4 _- |8 P/ f9 f% c$ o
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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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