Check out this month's e-newsletter! ...and stay up-to-date with the Edmonton Real Estate Market.

Keep up-to-date with news and updates with the December 2010 E-newsletter.

Month-over-month price drop brings properties to 2009 housing price levels   Although the all-residential average price dropped 3% in October, average prices are almost exactly what they were a year ago. Single family dwellings were sold on average for $365,691 which is just $1,434 less (-0.39%) than October 2009. Condos sold in October for about $2,000 less (-0.9%) than a year earlier at an average price of $235,893. “Stability is the key word for the Edmonton housing market,” sai ... Full Article...

Stay up-to-date with news and listings in the greater Edmonton area. Check out the November 2010 E-newsletter!

Edmonton, July 2010: REALTORS® report normal client activity in the Edmonton real estate market with listings, showings and sales. The residential inventory is approaching record levels set in 2007 but prices held steady in the second quarter with the expectation that they will soften as usual through the fall and early winter. “There was less external pressure on the market from incentives or rate changes last month and as a result the market seems to be operating in a normal controlled ... Full Article...

A message from the Edmonton Real Estate Board: April is the start of the busy second quarter for real estate, and resale housing sales were down over the same month last year according to a report issued by the REALTORS® Association of Edmonton. Average* prices of single family houses moved down compared to a month ago but were up by 8.2% from last year. Condominium average prices moved up from last month and were up 7.0% from April 2009. “There were three increases to interest rates and ... Full Article...

Edmonton’s new home builders continued to ramp up production in March.   According to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), housing starts in the Edmonton Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) totalled 813 units in March compared with 135 units in March 2009. This represented the ninth consecutive month of year-over-year improvements in housing starts. Single-detached home builders started work on 513 units last month, almost five times the 105 singles started in March last y ... Full Article...

Stability in Edmonton Housing Market continues through February Edmonton, March 2, 2010: Prices for residential property sold through the Edmonton Multiple Listing Service® changed marginally through February. Sales activity, however, was up dramatically when compared to last month or the same month last year.   The average* single family dwelling price was $369,573 for February up just 1.4% from January; 5.6% from a year ago. Condominium prices dipped 3.8% in the month from $240,686 to $231,53 ... Full Article...

Federal finance Minister Jim Flaherty announced new rules that will be coming into effect on April 19, 2010. The new rules are aimed at preventing homebuyers from getting into financial difficulty when mortgage rates rise. Broadly speaking, the plan unveiled has three components. First, Ottawa will require that all borrowers meet the standards for a five-year fixed-rate mortgage, even if they choose a variable mortgage with a lower rate or a shorter term. "This will guard against higher rates ... Full Article...

Single family homes sold through the Edmonton Multiple Listing Service® System sold on average for the same amount in January as at year-end while condominium prices dipped 2%. Month-to-month sales slowed by 6.8% as compared to December but the number of new listings in January doubled the December numbers.  The average* residential price was $314,783 for January, down 1.4% from last month and down just 0.7% from a year ago. Single family home prices on average were stable increasing minutely f ... Full Article...

Richard Goatcher is the Senior Market Analyst at Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), who spoke at the Housing Forecast Seminar this January about Edmonton Housing Market Outlook. His thoughts are concluded below: Richard Goatcher stated that full-time job creation is needed to sustain demand for housing. In 2009, there was a negative employment growth – Richard (CMHC) is predicting employment growth will return in 2010. In 2009, unemployment numbers were the highest since 1 ... Full Article...

Larry Westergard, President of REALTORS Association of Edmonton, spoke at the 2010 Housing Forecast Seminar. I've concluded some of his topics / stats / thoughts below. MLS System Market Forecast Larry Westergard, President (2010) REALTORS Association of Edmonton 2009 was a recovery year. Prices and sales peaked in May 2007 and slipped back slightly in 2008. We are starting to rebalance. The global recession was upon us, but we are better off in Alberta than in other parts of Canada and t ... Full Article...

Guy St. Germain, Edmonton Region President of Canadian Home Builders Association, spoke at the 2010 Housing Forecast Seminar and gave us an insiders look at HOT DESIGN TRENDS FOR 2010! Guy’s message about the housing market in Edmonton was simply this, “Cautious Optimism – It’s a slow road to recovery.” He touched on how the job market remains weak and how Edmonton has flat job growth. Personal income growth has stalled and debt to disposable income ratio has risen ... Full Article...

December Results Create Positive Year-end  Residential sales through the Edmonton Multiple Listing Service® were at the second highest level ever for December (after a record number of sales in 2006 of 1,074). Sales of single family homes, condominiums, duplexes and other residential property totalled 948 units for the month. Total sales of all types of real estate for December was 1,066, also a second place finish for monthly sales. The price of residential property remained stable in Decem ... Full Article...

Edmonton property taxes increase 5% overall. The typical Edmonton house assessed at $361,500 can expect to see a tax increase of about $70 for 2010. Homeowners will also notice an annual increase of about $68 in fees for sewer and garbage service. FIND OUT MORE...

Are you a buyer without a down payment? If you have good credit and strong employment (meaning you have been at your job for at least a year), you may qualify. The interest rate is a bit higher... today's rate (Dec. 10, 2010) is 5.49%... and it can be  locked in once you have an accepted offer.  Become one of the very happy customers this year who have been able to buy without a down payment! Contact Tanya Wold at 780-242-4226 for more information.

2010 Housing Starts are Up, according to Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) Fourth Quarter Newsletter.

Update from Edmonton Real Estate Board Year-to-date sales in November surpass 2008 year end sales: Total sales through the Edmonton and area Multiple Listing Service® system to the end of November have surpassed total year end sales in 2008. The total value of all types of property sold to the end of November is $6.64 billion. The same figure at the end of December 2008 was $6.42 billion. There have been 20,355 property sales so far as compared to 19,448 at year-end 2008. “Both sales a ... Full Article...

The Government of Canada is taking ECO-ACTION! ecoENERGY Retrofit-Homes provides home and property owners with grants up to $5,000 per unit to offset the cost of making energy efficiency improvements. FIND OUT MORE!

Want another reason to become a first-time home buyer?  Canada’s Economic Action Plan has introduced the First-Time Home Buyers’ Tax Credit (HBTC) to help with the purchase of a first home.  The HBTC will assist first-time homebuyers with the costs associated with the purchase of a home, such as legal fees, disbursements and land transfer taxes, which are a particular burden for first-time homebuyers, who must also save for a down payment. The $5,000 non-refundable HBTC amount wi ... Full Article...

Did you know first-time home buyers are allowed to withdraw up to $25,000 (tax free!) from their RRSP’s to put towards the purchase of a home? Check out the HOME BUYERS PLAN webpage on the Canada Revenue Agency website.

Resale Housing Sales Trend Remains Strong through October  Resale housing sales continued their strong trend through October with sales of all housing types through the Multiple Listing Service® in October at the second highest level on record (after October 2006). There were 1,535 residential properties sold in October; up 23% from 2008 but down almost 10% from last month which follows the normal seasonal trend of month to month sales dropping through the fall. “The housing market in Ed ... Full Article...