Edmonton’s resale housing prices on the rise

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Edmonton’s resale housing prices on the rise
. R8 Z/ E! y: u0 V! M  By Bill Mah, edmontonjournal.comApril 6, 2010 12:03 PMComments (17)
& H6 `$ D& q3 Y+ U9 ]2 D# S. m0 ]  For Sale signs in Edmonton.Photograph by: Ed Kaiser/Edmonton Journal, Edmonton JournalEDMONTON — Edmonton’s resale housing prices, listings and sales all posted double-digit increases in March compared to the same month a year earlier, according to figures released Tuesday by the Realtors Association of Edmonton.
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! A9 u1 Y: a7 z# p. Q+ ?Buyers trying to beat higher mortgage rates, a seasonal surge and an improving economy heated up the market in March, said association president Larry Westergard.
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Single-family homes in the Edmonton area sold on average for $388,473 in March — up 4.7 per cent from February and up 11 per cent from March 2009.
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$ S. F  D- @" A( j% W, q5 u- T3 JThe median, or middle-point, selling price for a single-family house was $364,000, up 9.2 per cent from March 2009.
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Condominium prices rose to $252,416 in March. That’s up 8.4 per cent month-over-month and 10.5 per cent year-over-year.
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, Z4 R5 R- A( h0 PDuplex and row house selling prices averaged $313,836. That’s down a third of a per cent from February, but still up 10.4 per cent from a year ago.

' u; P$ _& x: t$ O9 z  yCompared to a year earlier, sales were up 15 per cent to 1,571.

Residential listings rose more than 30 per cent year-over-year to 3,728 in March. The rise in listings quells concerns from earlier in the year about a shortage of inventory, Westergard said.

“I think the market has reached a balance between buyers and sellers.”

Westergard downplayed the impact of banks raising their fixed mortgage rates in late March and an expected move by the Bank of Canada to boost its trendsetting rate after the second quarter.
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- b/ b1 l8 c' E0 ?; U$ NEntry-level buyers will still enter the market but may have to adjust their expectations, he said.
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8 S. \+ t7 q3 F& e0 x“You’ll see some of the buyers that are coming in on the fringe or the cusp of qualifications might have to make some choices — staying out of the housing market for a little while or perhaps lessening some of their requirements as to what they want in a home,” Westergard said.
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: ]& n+ a7 E/ s$ O; ^, t6 [; M6 bThe average time a home spent on market in March was 41, down from 47 in February.