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http://www.edmontonjournal.com/H ... /1248520/story.html
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6 T5 e% [) R8 D' bEDMONTON — 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 2008.6 W/ c. V2 H& I& t8 g
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Every indicator fared worse than it did in January of last year, showed Multiple Listing Service figures released Tuesday., a- _2 A' z! c6 e$ x% A
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- Total MLS sales plunged 40.9 per cent.
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. V9 N0 j% P5 u. Q7 F# H1 M- Value of total sales for the month was $265 million — down 42.4 per cent.
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- The single-family home average selling price fell 7.1 per cent to $352,689.# s" y$ u7 H" L) | r i
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- The average condo selling price dropped 7.5 per cent to $238,535.: M# F' e" F" z( _/ V' s8 t9 j6 O U
9 l$ z: b |8 p: ^0 J- In the single-family market, there were 502 houses sold, down from 767 in January 2008.5 t5 c( d8 M C2 f# w
2 B2 F. p& w2 p# v8 J2 n- For condos, only 189 sold in January compared to 363 a year ago.
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, ~0 Z) r @' y4 A1 CFor all that, Charlie Ponde, president of the Realtors Association of Edmonton, sounded optimistic, if cautious./ c' `$ l# E# J) v/ g6 a
! q+ d6 X$ K0 }. ~8 l* \2 B0 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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- G: @% B: h. ]Multiple Listing Service figures released Tuesday showed 730 residential properties sold in the Edmonton region in January, up from 608 in December.2 P+ _: y) C3 G
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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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5 T& A# ^0 o& y- \. A“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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