“Entry level buyers appear to be turning their attention to semi-detached product for the best value, as opposed to condominiums. Changes to mortgage rates and qualifying rules may be impacting these segments. In the current market there is significant selection for the value conscious buyer. We continue to monitor the market closely to gauge the longer-term impact of the new mortgage rules,” says James Mabey, the REALTORS® Association of Edmonton Chair. “A drop in month-over-month units sold in August is historically normal activity for the Edmonton region,” says Mabey. “But average sales prices were higher this August than in any August over the last five years. This may be a positive sign for the economy overall and for forward price growth in the housing market.”With the recession declared "over" by ATB this week, things seem to be looking up in Alberta, even if it's ever so slightly up:
"We've actually seen Alberta's economy post a modest rebound in 2017 and that comes after, of course, the two nasty years of recession," Todd Hirsch, chief economist at ATB Financial, told CBC Calgary. He continued: "Alberta's economy is recovering, but it is not returning to what it looked like in 2014," Hirsch said in a release. "Instead, the economy is evolving into one that is more diversified, and more typical of other Canadian provinces. It is a slow process and it may be a few more years before we see a full economic recovery."Here's our snapshot on the market, and charts showing where we're at:
City of Edmonton Stats:
Single family homes sales were right in line with last August; 756 single family sales were reported sold last month, compared with 753 last year:
Condo sales were still sluggish compared to last year - 338 sales were reported sold, down 6.9% compared to last year. Although I have no stats to support this, I suspect at least some of the sales are made up by sales in the new towers being built downtown (most of which are presales and not sold through the MLS® system).
Single family homes sold on average for $438,647, up 1.7% from last August and the median price was up 4.3% to $359,950:
Condos sold on average for $244,236 in August, down 3% from last year and the median price was down 5.5% to $222,000:
Posted by Liv Real Estate
on
Thanks Sara!
Posted by Mike on Friday, September 1st, 2017 at 7:42amSFH/Condo inventory chart would be nice to see.
What resonates in the charts above is how average this year has been for SFH sales compared to the last decade. Slow April/May, but otherwise dead center of the range. If you couple that with the fact the mortgage rules and bank financing standards tightened continually, it suggests demand remains high for SFH, which is good considering we're just now pulling out of a deep two year recession. The inventory is disturbing, but two things should help: First, we're still in net-out migration mode, which is expected to balance in 2018. Second, cost of new construction will start to creep back up in '18. It declined quite a bit 2016/17, making new builds more competitive with resale, and not all new builds hit MLS so they're not reported here. This will help draw inventory down YOY, but not until mid-2018 I'm predicting.
Posted by Trev on Saturday, September 2nd, 2017 at 2:06amCondo sales on the other hand are near disaster, especially when you consider both record new and used inventory. Young, transient interprovincial workers leaving town and no one to buy? No one buying rental investments? Too much new inventory to compete with, at lower construction costs with attractive developments? Dunno, but it's concerning.
Looking at the condo PPSF for the past 10 years and knowing that readers here are happily paying $1000 per square foot for a downtown condo is truly mind boggling.
Posted by Curtis on Saturday, September 2nd, 2017 at 4:38amCurtis,
Posted by Tom on Sunday, September 3rd, 2017 at 5:01amthe reason I and other readers are buying Sky Condos is that this type of development is more suited for Toronto, Los Angeles, or NYC, for which $1,000 per square foot is the going rate. You can compare Sky's PSF cost with a condo in Windemere lol.
In fact, $1,000 a square foot in Manhattan would be a great deal! So I think (and so do other buyers considering how hot sales have been) it's a good deal that will continue to appreciate as we catch up with other world cities.
Posted by Tom on Sunday, September 3rd, 2017 at 5:03amI've added the end of month inventory for you, will post the Sf/Condo inventory on the weekly stats.
Posted by Sara MacLennan on Tuesday, September 5th, 2017 at 1:17amThe other thing to consider is the inventory of newly built, unsold homes. A few months ago a report came out showing 2-3 years worth of supply of new homes in some parts of Edmonton.
Posted by Sara MacLennan on Tuesday, September 5th, 2017 at 1:19amLeave A Comment