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http://www.edmontonjournal.com/H ... /1248520/story.html% P# ^' {( ]( T% J/ {, V
0 y: j" ^8 ~- @6 P+ @0 [' FEDMONTON — 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.
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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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6 n- o M) B1 Y: U$ {/ v9 l- Total MLS sales plunged 40.9 per cent. J) V% T+ i0 P4 W
u0 E- J' [' Z: P/ b2 O0 f- 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 $352,689.4 ?( A) }* ]7 D6 i# J" F
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- The average condo selling price dropped 7.5 per cent to $238,535.
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( K4 F8 e# U2 K( ^( P0 s8 t- e- ]- 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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3 w# D, m4 Z6 S( T: FFor all that, Charlie Ponde, president of the Realtors Association of Edmonton, sounded optimistic, if cautious.# {8 r5 l% |) [/ b
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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.8 @& U3 J j' ]" l7 b6 @' \: M! h
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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.3 l- ]5 n! A/ v* H: ?
# m7 Z9 x I# \3 f3 d7 ?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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! N: ]/ z) G2 J& v4 IHe 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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