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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.% Y x: t0 | q3 b
( P# T ?0 z: [4 p. j5 ~Every indicator fared worse than it did in January of last year, showed Multiple Listing Service figures released Tuesday.
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( X: o7 B0 v+ d! b- Total MLS sales plunged 40.9 per cent. V# y3 I) y- Z( @
% O6 u3 i. |; W( E4 S+ m- Value of total sales for the month was $265 million — down 42.4 per cent.
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k4 X5 B. y7 p, _7 N5 k9 B# Y2 b- The single-family home average selling price fell 7.1 per cent to $352,689.2 n' O& P) G) P6 c1 Z9 a
, t, L1 V' K3 m8 A6 W0 ~9 o; U" ^- The average condo selling price dropped 7.5 per cent to $238,535.
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6 H; D/ a, t" h! v) h- In the single-family market, there were 502 houses sold, down from 767 in January 2008.
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1 G1 R5 P4 h- O5 f- For condos, only 189 sold in January compared to 363 a year ago.
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For all that, Charlie Ponde, president of the Realtors Association of Edmonton, sounded optimistic, if cautious.
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: P; c# v' D; n$ s. jHe looked on the bright side, the month-by-month comparison — January figures were modestly better than December’s gloomy statistics.* u( C$ {3 q- M/ x* m
$ e- t5 ]& j) f/ w$ M9 A( b, OMultiple Listing Service figures released Tuesday showed 730 residential properties sold in the Edmonton region in January, up from 608 in December.1 o. F/ e; S2 E4 S7 C
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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 $299,222.
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7 n: |9 n* t; V( P* I6 r4 i8 }1 p6 }“Nobody rings a bell when prices hit the bottom,” he said. “The bottom is evident only after several months of rising prices. One month does not make a trend but the market is certainly welcoming to home buyers.”# r1 E: o$ ]& W s5 Y" N8 D% U5 }
, j- f1 ~" s8 _5 ]. a8 ?0 E! F5 K' aHe 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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