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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 ~6 J( d; J9 u7 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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4 W$ t2 i9 f6 q! Z2 O8 Q- Total MLS sales plunged 40.9 per cent.
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?) n' Y5 }( P7 t- Value of total sales for the month was $265 million — down 42.4 per cent.% I$ Y' l/ B9 M# r! h* {
" Y* i c i: j0 b" C5 ?3 h- The single-family home average selling price fell 7.1 per cent to $352,689.0 R% V& z5 M4 G
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- The average condo selling price dropped 7.5 per cent to $238,535.
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: x, L- R, e9 _6 b- In the single-family market, there were 502 houses sold, down from 767 in January 2008.
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8 J. [, w) X) T- For condos, only 189 sold in January compared to 363 a year ago.! B/ {$ s) V, F- B# Q* e! W
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For all that, Charlie Ponde, president of the Realtors Association of Edmonton, sounded optimistic, if cautious., i( F# H3 U$ A- _
. {) E! r- L! z" W3 m, z5 R: pHe 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.0 P5 ^. ]9 }' ?6 K
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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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“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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