Prices Dip As Result Of Higher Inventory

Edmonton, August 4, 2015: Prices for all residential properties in the Edmonton Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) for July were down from the previous month according to the REALTORS® Association of Edmonton. The average all residential price was $372,910 (down 1.4% from June) due mostly to the drop in price of single family homes to $436,948 (down 1.8%). The drop was not felt across all categories with condo prices up 0.4% at an average of $256,708 and duplex/rowhouse prices up 1.4% from June at an average of $356,237. While all residential average prices were down month over month, they still remained 3.3% higher than July of last year.

“This small dip in prices is expected due to our higher inventory and lower sales numbers. We continue to be surprised by how strong prices have been this year compared to last when we had higher sales and very tight inventory. The wait and see attitude of buyers seems to be diminishing, but people continue to be cautious, explains Geneva Tetreault, Chair of the REALTORS Association of Edmonton.

With reported all residential sales in July down 9.8% from June and down 2.8% from last year, average days on market is up to 50. This is up from 46 average days on market in July 2014. Single family dwellings spent an average of 48 days on market in July of 2015, duplex/rowhouses were at 43 days, and condos at 54 days.

We have seen the biggest drop in condominium sales year to date at 14%. That drop coupled with an increase of condo listings of 17% explains why condos are taking longer on average to sell. Some of these buyers may be moving over to duplex/townhouse options which is the only residential category showing an increase of sales of 6% year to date. Tetreault continues, We are seeing the effects of many condominium projects that broke ground when inventory was coming onto the market recently. Condominiums continue to offer the best price point for those entering the housing market and the ease of care and smaller size that appeal to an older demographic.

Higher priced properties continue to keep pace with sales of last year, likely contributing to the strong average prices in 2015 so far. There were 73 properties over a million dollars sold by this time last year, the exact same number as this year.

Inventory is still strong at 7,226 for the Edmonton CMA at the end of July 2015, up slightly from 7,177 in June and much higher than the 5,609 available in July of 2014. All residential listings were up year over year by 14.9% but down month over month from June by 2.2%.