The final stats are in for one hard-hit market, and they show more optimism than some agents may have expected.
Sales stats for Edmonton — which were compiled by industry veteran Duane Ritter, an agent with RE/MAX, and shared with MortgageBrokerNews.ca – and they show two seemingly contradictory trends.
Sales were down, which should come as no surprise to agents, but prices were up year-over-year.
The average price for a single-family home in Edmonton was $437,569, a 1% year-over-year increase. The average price for a condo, meanwhile, was $252,511 – a 0.4% year-over-year increase.
Overall, the average price for all residential properties increased 1.5% year-over-year to $371,511.
“2015 was a steady year for real estate in Edmonton. Edmonton and the surrounding areas experienced a decline in sales due to economic uncertainty, but we saw a slight increase in price that demonstrated that the market remained relatively stable,” Geneva Tetreault, Edmonton chair for the Realtors Association, said. “This began to cool in the fall months as inventory remained higher than normal.”
According to Tetreault, buyers continue to take advantage of low interest rates.
The market also evolved over the course of the year.
“An influx of listing at the beginning of the year meant that buyers had a larger selection of homes and were able to take more time selecting properties than in previous years,” Tetreault said. “We continue to see a tight market in the popular $400,000 price range for single-family homes.”
Still, it was a tough year for Edmonton – especially considering the boom its enjoyed on the back of the oil industry.
For his part, Ritter has been in the industry for 32 years and has seen it all. He remains bullish on Edmonton’s future.
“I’ve seen three or four of the corrections and this one has a very different,” Ritter told REP. “There isn’t as much panic and there has been no push to lower prices.”
