A day after City of Edmonton numbers showed the average price of property value dropped in the city in 2016, the REALTORS Association of Edmonton released its own statistics Wednesday.
Overall, the prices of homes sold in 2016 decreased modestly, according to the association.
The association’s statistics showed the price of condominiums sold in 2016 declined by 0.5 per cent, single family homes decreased by 0.9 per cent and duplexes and rowhouses dropped by 5.2 per cent.
The total number of residential units sold in 2016 was also down: 16,170 compared to 17,325 in 2015.
According to the city, the typical single-family detached home dropped in value by 2.7 per cent in 2016 and is now valued at $397,000. A year ago the average single-family home in Edmonton was assessed at $408,000.
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The association’s numbers showed it took an average of 57 days for a property to sell, which was six days longer than the previous year.
“2016 was a steady year for real estate in Edmonton and many of the surrounding communities. The ongoing economic instability certainly affected unit sales and inventory, but sale prices have continued to hold,” REALTORS Association Edmonton chair James Mabey said.
In December, sales of all residential properties posted on the Edmonton Multiple Listing Service (MLS) were up 0.4 per cent compared to December 2015.
Single family homes took an average 62 days to sell in December, which was 10 days longer than a month earlier.
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“Now that the 2016 holiday season is behind us and a new year is here, we expect listings and sales to begin to increase again,” Mabey said.
“As Edmontonians are making their plans for 2017 and considering selling or buying a home, it is a great time to talk to a local realtor for expert market advice.”
The December average selling price of a single family home was $420,962, while condos sold for an average price of $247,647.
Mabey said the forecast for 2017 looks very similar to what Edmonton saw last year.
“We’re expecting a lot of stability as we saw with 2016. We’re expecting a lot of the same themes – dipping sales, stable prices – but a lot of inventory on the market,” he said.
The association is forecasting the sale of single family homes will drop by 1.7 per cent, condo sales will remain stable while duplex and rowhouse sales will decrease by approximately one per cent.
It also predicts the price of single family homes will drop by more than two per cent, condo prices will drop close to four percent and duplex and rowhouse prices will increase approximately 0.5 per cent.
Mabey said Edmonton is currently dealing with extra inventory as the result of bigger condo projects reaching completion and coming to market as well as single family homes that have remained on the market due to poor pricing or lack of preparation to their home.
“We just think that pressure that came into market last year with inventory – we didn’t see it reduce prices last year. We’re going to see that happen a little bit more this year but not to any drastic extent,” he said.
With files from Julia Wong, Global News