Weekly Market Update, Feb. 16/18

Great to see us bucking the national trends with a very healthy market with higher sales. I agree, this proves that trends such as higher rated and tougher mortgage restrictiond aren't affecting us much! Here's to a red hot spring!

Condo prices the worst in 5 years, yikes

Huffpost is posting different numbers for Edmonton... http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2018/02/14/house-prices-falling-in-majority-of-canadian-cities-as-new-rules-kick-in_a_23361508/?utm_hp_ref=ca-business

Who is telling the truth???

Those numbers are for January.

So this blogs story is that we're trending in the opposite direction, i.e. higher listings and sales.

How much higher exactly?
Is this sustainable in the long run?

I think when you look a bit closer (which most people don't and this blogs knows that) the real story is that we are in a buyers market as defined by a sales to listing ratio that has been well below 50% for some weeks now and the market will remain this way for the foreseeable future.

Sales will lag this year, as will prices.

Remember, ignore the average price, it's meaningless.

Markets may be local but national trends do have an effect on local markets.

yes, the CBC link you refer is talking about January also...

Me. The truth is those numbers are not even for January but for December because Teranet stats are a bit delayed but regardless it doesn't mean anything for now because of the pre-approvals. I think we will have a better picture starting somewhere in March or April and it might take longer for the fog to clear. By the end of the year you'll know much of the truth.

I have been following this site since 2015.

Corrections are often made to admitted "errors" in the reports.

I also find this forum to be loaded with contradictory and bogus comments that paint an unreliable picture of Edmonton's real estate market.

Until now the postings are allowed to be made under symbolic names.

To infuse some reliability, I suggest the postings to be a allowed if the posters disclose their verifiable full names and businesses.

The site operators have a responsibility towards the readers especially those that may have a potential interest in the Edmonton market.

Hope measures are taken to rectify the situation before I abstain from checking out this site.

Dr. Mohamed Foda

Hi, it looks like the banks don't approve mortgages for more than 4 times the income... Do you know any other option in Edmonton?

Really, 4 times the income. That is, if your family income is $100,000, you can only afford $400K house.

That is not true unless you have a very high debt ratio

Thanks for calling Sara out on this BUBU.

We all know that whoever controls the headlines creates the story...unless you fact check the story behind the headlines!

The four times figure is actually true, for banks. I made $50,000 salary when I moved to Edmonton 7 years ago. Banks only pre approved me for around $200k mortgage. I ended up going to a credit union, and got a mortgage for $340k, and bought a house worth $395k. The house is now worth almost $700,000, which works out to be an 8% annual increase for the seven years.

Thanks Tom, can you please tell me the credit union name?

Thanks for the suggestion Dr. Foda, I really do appreciate your comments. I have tried that in the past and there was no discussion at all. I appreciate the discussion and differing points of view, I've learned quite a bit from the comments on this blog over the year. At times, it gets very confrontational, and the anonymity of it all seems empower people to say things they wouldn't say otherwise. I can't tell you the number of people we've met with, who say they love reading our blog "but they don't comment" because they don't want to be associated with all the craziness. I do hope you'll keep reading and commenting.