Stabilizing City Sales Rates
Wednesday, June 24th, 2015
The Edmonton Real Estate Board has released their sales statistics for May, and while not totally unpredictable, they shows an interesting mix of trends. Though previous months coming into spring have all been strongly affected by inventory, this major factor has started to stabilize in the face of rising list prices.
Though the city currently has nearly 30% more residential properties listed, the market has begun to show signs of plateauing in this trend– which showed a 2% decrease in new listings this May compared to the same time last year. Now, well into June, this slight decline is expected to continue into the later summer months.
Days on market is a key factor in this slowing trend. With previously skyrocketing inventory, sales were forced to slow, causing an even greater surplus. Now with a saturated market, economy dictated that inventory would eventually begin decreasing.
“As expected, the average days on market is up four days year-over-year and one day over last month at 45. We can expect this number to continue to grow due to slower sales and higher inventory.” describes REALTORS® Association of Edmonton President Geneva Tetrault.
The EREB latest market report details that the May average for days on market was 43 for single family homes, 49 for condominiums, and 45 for row and duplex housing.
However, historically summer is generally the busiest time for real estate, and sales trends are starting to reflect the seasonal change coming into June. May 2015 reported 1,784 residential sales, showing a 12% increase from April 2015. Due to market inventory, year over year trends are still showing decreases in reported sales from the same time last year. Overall residential sales are down 10% when compared with May of 2014, with the exception of duplex and row housing which has increased 4% – likely influenced by Edmonton’s booming infill initiative. Tetrault comments,
“Last month we were down 13% year-over-year in all residential sales. This month we are down less than 10%. We expect this trend of increased sales to continue as confidence in the stability of the market grows.”
Tetrault goes on to explain current sales figures,
“We are still seeing multiple offers in popular price brackets. The fact that we haven’t seen a decline in prices is giving buyers more assurance. They are venturing back into the market with the feeling that prices won’t plummet any time soon.”
Sale prices showed a steady incline well into May, with the overall residential average at $381,111, a 2% increase from the same time last year. Single family dwellings showed a 3% increase whilst condominiums were up 2% year over year. Conversely to inventory sales figures, duplex and row housing showed a slight decline in pricing, down around 2% from May 2014
Tetrault concludes,
“People are continuing to take advantage of low interest rates and a greater selection in the marketplace. We are moving into our busiest season for real estate. Your local REALTOR® can help you find what you are looking for in the neighbourhood that best suits your needs.”
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