If you read back over the past few months, you’ll see that Sheldon and I were a bit surprised that prices were holding as strong as they were, given the sheer number of homes for sale in Edmonton. Well, I think the average price has finally caught up with the market.
What’s interesting, is that this has occurred at a time when the numberof sales are improving, and inventory is dropping. So, we’ll have towait and see how the improved sales will affect the average in a month or two. As for November ‘07, sales appear to be within the norm:
The sales to new listings ratio puts us back into a balanced market, which will have an impact going forward:
As we’ve mentioned in previous posts, good listings are selling quickly, and we’ve had more than one buyer miss out in the past week because someone else moved quicker on a good listing.
To keep things in perspective, here is the average price per year for Edmonton:
In summary, our thoughts are that the drop in average prices this month is more of a reflection of prices over the past 3-5 months than a one month slide. I think listings that were on the market in the summer, and have chased the market down for months in order to sell, have now sold below what they could have gotten if they’d priced correctly in the first place, and have brought down the average.
For months people have speculated about a great unwinding in the market, and that just hasn’t been the case. They’ve pointed at credit crisis, royalty reviews, fluctuations in the stock market and more as reasons that this market isn’t viable. Time and time again, they have been proven wrong. Even with CIBC announcing Edmonton is the best local economy in Canada, and with other strong fundamentals, it comes down to supply and demand and the affect that has on consumer confidence.
"Tis not good nor bad, but thinking that makes it so." Shakespeare.
We’ll have more analysis on absorption, time on market, types of listings and more throughout the week.
