Edmonton, April 2, 2015: Despite a decline in all residential sales over those reported in March of 2014, last month saw continued growth of residential prices for the Edmonton Census Metropolitan Area CMA of 3%. The average sales price of a single family home was $438,880 – up 1.5% y/y; condo was $249,841 – up 1.2% y/y; and duplex/rowhouse was $354,022 – up 6.9% y/y.
Sales are down in all categories except duplex/rowhouse which are up over 6%. Single family sales were 876 down 4.5% over last March (917 reported). 416 condos sold last month compared to 474 in March 2014. All residential sales for March were reported as 1,453, down 6.5% from 1,554 reported last year.
“The fact that our prices did not have the dramatic increases seen over the past few years in other cities like Calgary, Toronto and Vancouver means we have not experienced the same overvaluation.” REALTORS® Association of Edmonton President Geneva Tetreault explains, “That is why our prices are not taking the same hit even though our inventory is up and sales are slightly down. A more accurate valuation should keep our average prices more stable.”
March 2014 had 14 million-dollar plus sales (30 YTD), March 2015 had 8 million dollar plus sales (19 YTD). “Last year we saw a dramatic increase in sales of homes priced over a million. Even though the number of those high price sales are down this year, our average price is up. That is a good sign that we are not seeing our average prices inflated,” says Tetreault. “The big story continues to be the increase in inventory. We ended 2014 with a fairly low inventory. The influx of new listings means that buyers now have the opportunity to be a little more choosey. Having a REALTOR® help you navigate the market is always a wise decision, particularly in a complex market like ours.” Residential listings are up over 31% from last March with 3,152 new listings coming on to the MLS® System in the Edmonton CMA. That left us with an ample inventory of 5,944 properties for sale.
Rural areas seem to be seeing the same trends with total rural sales down 8% from 156 reported in March 2014 to 143 reported this year. Rural listings are also up, but only by 12%, a much smaller margin than the Edmonton CMA. Over 699 million dollars in residential sales through the REALTORS® Association of Edmonton occurred in March 2015
What does all of this mean? It means that although the number of home sales in most categories are down slightly, the overvaluation that occurred over the last several years in other parts of the country did not occur here to the same degree. This is actually good news as home buyers can still purchase in confidence with the knowledge that a market value decline, if it did occur, would be smaller here versus cities like Calgary.
The numbers to date seem to indicate that unless something more catastrophic than what has already happened with Albertas economy, home prices in Edmonton and surrounding areas should remain fairly stable leading to more buyer confidence.
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