EDMONTON – Real estate got off to its typically slow start in January, according to numbers released Thursday by the Realtors Association of Edmonton.
Prices and sales volume of housing both cooled since December, following the usual cycle in the industry.
“As usual, this year started off slowly,” said association president Doug Singleton, who nevertheless predicted gradually increasing prices and sales for the year ahead. “Listing and sales activity is up markedly as compared to a year ago.”
Sales of single-family homes, which make up a majority of the city’s residential real estate market, increased almost 11 per cent compared with January 2011. The median price came in at $352,000, slightly higher than last year’s price but $14,000 below the same number in January 2008.
Total residential sales through the association’s multiple listing service numbered 881 – again, slightly higher than the 823 recorded in the same month last year and well back of the 1,206 seen in the month in 2008, at the tail of Alberta’s most recent economic boom.
Duplexes and row housing showed similar modest growth in sales volume and price. But the median price for a condominium continued its year-over-year decline, shrinking to $205,000 last month compared with the $214,500 measure from January 2011 and $250,000 seen in 2008.
The Edmonton real estate market generally sees sales activity peak in May or June and a slower market in the winter.
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