Rising Sales in a Slowing Market
Strathearn Drive Home in Edmonton
According to reports released by EREB earlier this month, the most notable real estate sale statistic has been June’s increase in year-over-year sales. This is the first instance we have seen this year of monthly reported sales eclipsing those of 2014.
While June of 2014 saw a reported 1961 residences sold in the Edmonton census metropolitan area, this year the market saw 2008 homes sold, a small increase of 2.4%. The breakdown of residential property styles sold shows an overwhelming popularity of duplex/row houses, of which sales increased over 11% from this time last year, followed by single family dwellings at 2.1%, and finally condominiums with the smallest change at 1.6%. The largest statistical change reported for the month of June were the increase in sales from the previous month of May 2015 showing a 13% growth.
However, though EREB acknowledges that this shows clear market growth, the fact we are seeing this year over year increase so late in 2015 is largely indicative of an overall slowing of the market, which we are only now seeing the results of.
“The reality of what we are seeing in the market is that the slight hesitation from buyers that came with the drop in oil prices is lessening. Edmonton has not been hit nearly as bad as what many predicted and buyers are becoming more confident that our market won’t plummet. This renewed confidence coupled with low mortgage rates and a healthy selection means that people are realizing that this is still a good time to buy.” Explains REALTORS® Association of Edmonton President Geneva Tetreault.
Inventory, which so heavily influenced late spring and early summer market numbers, remains high with 7177 listings on the market at the end of June, though likely due to higher june sales figures, is still less than the 7303 reported at the end of May 2015. Inventory continues to remain higher in year over year comparisons, up 7.7%.
As far as pricing, which has seemingly been unaffected by high inventory numbers, we’ve seen only a 0.8% drop from the month previous for all residential listing costs. Single family homes have seen a 2% increase in year over year figures, currently averaging $444, 862. The same 2% increase was seen in duplex/rowhouses, despite their rising popularity, while condominiums are showing no change at $255, 662 on average.
“We finally saw prices take the expected small dip month over month that we have been waiting to see due to lower sales and higher inventory. Prices still remain higher than the same time last year and with sales ramping up again and inventory starting to settle, we likely won’t see our prices drop much more than this,” explains Tetreault.
Lastly there has been a slight increase in average days on market; residential properties in general spent an average 49 days on the market. Condominiums had the highest report DOM at 52, followed by the 50 days for Duplex/rowhouses, and 46 for single family homes (up from 43). These increases have likely been influenced by the combination of sale prices and inventory surpluses.
“People move when their lifestyle warrants a change. This will always be true. There are always buyers and sellers, no matter what the market looks like or what analysts predict. REALTORS® are here to help you decide what move is best for you.” Concludes Tetrault.
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