Here is our weekly update on the Edmonton real estate market. (Previous week’s numbers are in brackets). For the past 7 days:
New listings: 671 (566, 823, 869)
# Sales: 279 (293, 336, 272)
Ratio: 42% (52%, 41%, 31%, 36%)
# Price changes: 603 (493, 679,567, 550)
# Expired Listings: 450 (115, 181, 125)
# Canceled/withdrawn/terminated listings: 71 (39, 65, 65)
Net loss/gain in listings this week: -129 (119, 241, 407)
Active listings for single family homes: 3985 (4088, 4063, 3888)
Active listings for condos: 2953 (2969, 2921, 2851)
That is the first decrease in overall inventory we’ve seen since January. Granted, we see a larger number of expired listings at the end of each month, which certainly contributed, but a shrinking inventory is good news for everyone right now in my opinion.
Good analysis, but again, if the inventory is broken down by SFH and condos, then sales should be borken down as well.
I’m not seeing an apple to apple comparisson here.
Bob Truman stats show that price per sq.ft having plumetted to below Feb 2007 levels.
This is a better measure than simply sales prices – still imperfect, yes.
BOTTOM LINE: Any one who bought in the past 14 months have lost money.
Those who waited and if to buy now, have won.
Vern said “Any one who bought in the past 14 months have lost money. That’s not accurate. In comparison to current prices, those who bought between March 07 and Oct 2007 may be down. This too is largely dependant on the local area. Those who have purchased since Nov 2007 have made money and I predict will continue to build equity.
The price per square foot will be much higher for a new or renovated property. Also, the style of home has a lot to do with the price per square foot. For example, a 1200 square foot bungalow will have a much higher price/square foot than a 1200 square foot 2 storey.
Without an in depth analysis of the sales data, it is impossible to come to the conclusion that anybody who bought in the last 14 months has lost money. I would say that buyers who picked up a decent property from Nov/Dec 2007 onwards may in fact now be ahead.
Edmonton prices are doing fine. Sales are doing fine.
Bob’s site shows steadiness in sales stats for Edmonton. EREB will soon do so.
The bubble blog is seeing no activity now, must be because they are past the denial stage of acceptance for no RE crash!!!
This site got more proof of economic and real estate prosperity: pricedoutinedmonton.blogspot.com
Bob Truman’s “what’s new section” is indicating that the price per square foot for pending sales in Calgary at all time high since July 2007. Also, according to some investment group private research, about a third of the people who migrated from other provinces 2-3 years ago in the peak should be starting to purchase their homes. Their point is that people migrate from other provinces or countries would rent at first. After 2 – years, some of them go back, some of them purchase and settle and the rest continue renting. Since the migration peak was 2005-2006, they expect the later part of 2008 to 2009 to be another influx of buyers in the market. It makes sense especially with lower interest rates and optimism in the oil and gas industry i.e. job stability
Hi,
I am looking to buy a 2006 condo apartment in Edmonton. The wall of this condo has a lot of rust stain and at some place water is falling from the ceiling in the underground parking. Should this be a ”no go” to go on and buy the condo? I read the engineering report made on this condo and the report doesn’t say mention the presence of water in the underground parking.
Thanks!,
Melina
Price/sq.ft indicates that anyone who bought in the past 14 months have lost money – SFH or condo.
Over long periods, we can believe in relative comparisons. A deeper analysis would be better but is unavialble. However, price/sq.ft. is a better measure than simply median/mean.
I fail to understand how sales/listing can be used to suggest “balanced market” while ignoring the ridiculous inventory.
It is sales/invetory that matters as listing number can be manipulated from both perspectives.
As for migrants waiting 2 years – sounds like a suggestion without merit. If people can wait 2 years, they can wait 4, till prices come down. Why wouldn’t they?
Nobody knows the future but current stats are extremelly bad for sellers.
Sales/inventory suggests that you have only 10% chance of selling your home in a month.
Re Melinda’s post May 03, 2008 at 11:02 AM
The engineering report. Did you commission and pay for it? Or someone else?
For many people, purchasing a home is the biggest purchase of their lives. I’m not an engineer. I think it is worth getting an independent report of some sort which targets your concerns specifically.
Someone I knew living in London, UK had two home purchases fall through because the structural report was unsatisfactory. This was in the early 1990s. Each report cost her about 1,000 pounds, at a time when the exchange was 2.4 Cdn to 1 pound. Initially she thought she’d wasted her 1,000 pounds, but really it saved her a much greater financial liability repairing the structural problems later on.
Good luck.
Hi Vern,
The engineering report was paid by the seller. The owner of the building is selling all the rented suite as condo, so by the law he has to provide to the potential buyer some condominium papers, at this report is one of them. They discouraged me to ask for an another engineer’s opingion, since it will cost me too much.
Thanks for your answer,
Melina
The most probable next term US president issued “John McCain” issued a comment
“My friends, I will have an energy policy that we will be talking about, which will eliminate our dependence on oil from the Middle East that will prevent us from having ever to send our young men and women into conflict again in the Middle East”. Not sure where the US is going to get its oil if not from the middle east, hmm may be from Venzuela, nope, may be from Mexico, Mexico does not have any oil to export any more real soon. Do you think of somewhere else where the US where be getting enough oil to make up for the oil they get from the middle east today?
mike your wrong again
I think people should take a step back and look at the numbers. Given that sales are typically highest in the spring and this spring has been slower than normal, shouldn’t we start to wonder what’ll happen in the summer and fall when sales typically slow down?? Let’s not forget the record inventory (10k mls + 3k comfree).
Before the big mess down south they had a similar 6-12 month “lull”.
There’s never just one cockroach. If you see some markets going bust, then there’s another on the way.
Hey, the bubble heads are back under new names, welcome George and Pete. Hey George or shall I say Brent, since you think that I’m wrong, what’s right smart fellow, Mr. Telecom Engineer?
“There’s never just one cockroach. If you see some markets going bust, then there’s another on the way”
This is a kind of a twisted logic. Real estate markets are based on clear facts. The bankers and the economists have expressed many times that Canada is quite different that the US. However, I do not blame you, since you are US resident, you may need to educate yourself on the Canadian financial systems which is quite sophisticated compared to the ones in the US.
I have to disagree with Mike.
Real estate is based a large part on emotion and inertia.
Canada is definitely different from the US in many ways except for one important one. The fact that real estate has climbed in value at an unprecedented rate. We do not have a sub-prime crisis, that is true. But the sub-prime was just the final straw, the weakest link.
What happened is that most just thought that real estate prices would increase at a phenomenal pace. Big mistake.
I believe that if you are looking at the next 10 years out you will be fine if you have to buy in now. In the short term your real estate value will probably drop. This is not a big deal unless you are trying to speculate on the market.
My two cents (which may only be worth one cent by the end of the year…)
Melina,
Some advice
-Get an inspection – This should always be done however especially if there are easily visible signs of owner neglegence. This is so you know exactly what you are getting into. Second opinions are invauable sometimes; for instance you were smart enough to ask these questions.
-Talk to other people in the building to enquire about the cause of the leaking water and rust.
-Given the high numbers of inventory if you are having any doubt at all perhaps look at another place (I’d guess 3-6% of edmonton is for sale right now
). Chances are if the deal is to good to be true it usually is. People don’t ignorantly discount 100k.
Best of luck.
No Mikey, I’m not George.
Dave,
Canada’s subprime is the 40 year mortgage.
Melina,
Good points from bluff. During those bubble years, the craftmanship was let’s say…not the best. If you could pound a nail, you had a job.
Boy, I wish there were 100 year mortgages, then real estate prices could maybe double or even triple again
And if that happens, maybe then they can introduce 200 year mortgages…just so we can all have affordable payments.
Do anybody here know about Fort McMurray real estate? I got a job there and planning to move in a month. I am thinking of buying a two-bedroom apartment and wondering if I buy now or wait for some time. A decent two-bedroom two-bath apartment is in the range of 430K to 500K and the rent is in the range of 3000 to 3800 for a similar apartment. I heard prices escalated almost 100K in last year and is expected to go up this year too. After seeing Edmonton I am little scared to buy a property when prices are escalating quickly.
What should I do? Should I wait for a stable market or jump in?
MB,
It depends on your situation I guess. Are you single or married with a family? Is your job permanent or temporary? Ask Mikey,
he works up there and rents a closet for $1,000 a month or so he says.
Just spent 4 weekends looking at Open Houses and Showhomes in Toronto, Markham, and Whitby, during a business trip. Houses and townhouses look cheaper there than in Edmonton, before I left. And because most are clad in brick, I would assume that they were more expensive to build.
The biggest difference, though, was the total absence of For Sale signs in front of developments that had been completed recently, or are to be completed in 2008. It looks like pretty much everybody who took possession of a condo or townhouse is actually living in it, or at least is not trying to get rid of it quickly
In Europe, our daughter is currently looking for a rental appartment in Frankfurt, Germany. Not a small city by any comparison. She complains that landlords are asking $750 for 2 bedrooms, which is similar to the prices in Cologne, where she lives now….. Makes you wonder about rents in Edmonton.
mdm,
My thoughts exactly and to think any landlord having bought investment property in Alberta during the last two years is having to subsidize his rentals. Makes you wonder about the price of real estate in Alberta too.
Oh! I forgot, Alberta is different then the rest of the world, we have dirty oil. LOL
Brent,
I am married, my job is permanent and I am thinking of living in Fort Mc for atleast 5 years.
MB,
unfortunately, no job comes with a guarantee of being permanent…. There is always the chance of cutbacks. Or you may find that Fort McMurray is not the right place for you, for whatever reason.
Prices, just like rents, seem to have spiralled out of control up there. Since you may only want to stay for 5 years, you might be putting yourself in a scenario where you “buy high and sell low”.
My suggestion is to move up there, rent for 6 months to a year, and assess the situation. That will give you a longer window to shop for just the right property, if you find that Fort McMurray suits you. I don’t think you need to worry that prices will run away on you, during that period.
It sucks to pay that much rent without building equity, but it would be worse if you got stuck with a house that you might not be able to sell, in 5 years, because you paid too much for it, in the first place.
Hey,
Brenty, I live in Fort Saskatchewan and not in Fort Mac, do you where is that? Fort Saskatchewan is a considered a suburb of Edmonton and it 360 km from Fort Mac, and you are telling me that you are from Edmonton, Brenty, you need to ramp up on Alberta Geography if you want to pretend that you are from here lol. As far as I know, Fort Mac never and will not go down for a long time. The shortest mine life is 50 years. MDM, since your job is for 5 years, I would buy. It does not make sense to rent a basement for $3000 a month. Good luck.
Sorry Mikey,
I though you said you worked up in Fort Mac and rented a closet up there for a G a month.
Sorry. Yes, I know where Fort Saskatchewan is. It’s a poor suburb of Edmonton.
How could fort mac’s home prices be sustainable?
You can argue that some families enjoy living and raising children in Edmonton, but fort mac? You’re only fooling yourself.
Given time, enough new homes will be built to satisfy the demand of all the new workers moving there, once demand is met, there is nothing to sustain prices.
Do you ever see that city having many retirees? Large universities? I’m sure the students and elderly will enjoy the toxic ponds, 8 month winters, record crime rates…
Nate,
Don’t forget the scenic moon landscape surrounding the beautiful toxic ponds.
BRENT the poster for the bubble blog wrote:
“Dave,
Canada’s subprime is the 40 year mortgage.”
Hence, Brent the bubble bogey man compares an orange to an apple. Typical bubble boy.
The sub-prime fiasco in the USA actually implicated banks delegating lending to “mortgage brokers” who in turn, under pressure to sell from the banks with a lure of lucrative commissions and bonuses, were given an “open season” to sell, sell and sell and ignored basic rules, in the name of greed and profit.
Mortgage brokers sold, sold and sold mortgages.
Don’t have a job?
Don’t pay your bills?
Don’t have collateral?
We don’t want to know!
Don’t ask, don’t tell!
Brent, bubble boy, how can you compare idiocy to strict banking practices here in Canada?
You’re just another voice that thinks that he’s right.
Guess what?
You’re dead wrong. Again.
Keep renting.
Ray,
Brent is actually dead right. Keep on buying Ray, leverage yourself up. After all, real estate is just a printing press for money. It just “always” goes up – right? Guaranteed not to lose.
Of course, Brenty is always dead on, Fort Saskatchewan is indeed a poor suburb where the average trades person makes in the 120K and where Kentucky Fried Chicken can’t find students to work for less than $16 an hour, poor for sure and it is even getting poorer with the construction of at least 3 mega upgraders. Even poorer with enhanced EOR using the CO2 from the upgraders to extend the life of the current reservoirs NE of Edmonton. Brenty, if you need help understanding what EOR is or the difference between 40 year mortgage and sub prime, I’m your man.
Brenty said:”rented a closet up there for a G a month.”
I’m not sure if we use the word G here in Alberta as a slang for a thousand bucks, hardly even heard the word Grand, only from older folks. I heard a lot in the southern US though, another proof that Brenty never even came to Albreta.
Explaination of the subprime mortgage in a really funny way:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OtKt3ezHY0
Mike,
You seem like you have all the answers. I have a simple question. Can you tell me why mortages with 40 year amortizations are being offered and why they never previously existed? Any why 40? It’s just a number, isn’t it? If it’s to make the unaffordable affordable, why not go longer and allow people to take on even more leverage and make it even more affordable. Maybe that way, I can also go out and get a loan to buy a huge gas guzzuling Lincoln Navigator or something similar and burn all those huge wages that are being paid here.
Another question: Does inflation destroy wealth or create wealth?
Personally, I do not like 40 year mortgages, but they are completely different than subprime. Most of the people I know who took 40 year mortgage signed for it to qualify only, once the mortgage was disbursed, they took the 15% payment increase which took the amortization down to 26 years roughly. Seriously, watch the video and you’ll have fun and you would see what the subprime mess was.
Mike,
Hope you have a place for sale, you remind me of all the internet “pump and dump” guys that troll stock forums.
Is Ft. Sask a heavily industrialized city?
Nate, I do not have a place for sale. I bought my home in 2005. If I had a place that I do not need (which I don’t), I would not be selling it right now, I’ll just rent it and wait few years.
Kat, Fort Sask has a large industrial area to the north of it, but the town itself is quite nice with the river valley, parks and quality life style. I love it here.
Brent the bubble bogey man is a guy that never lived in Edmonton. It shows, the now is why is he interested in a bubble here?
Roadrunner said:
“Brent is actually dead right. Keep on buying Ray, leverage yourself up. After all, real estate is just a printing press for money. It just “always” goes up – right? Guaranteed not to lose.”
roadrunner you sound like Jim_s from that bubble blog. What are you doing here since you agreed with squiddly77 that this blog is out to lunch?
BTW, anybody that agrees with Brent should get his/her head checked!!!
With Brent discredited, I’m sure market sentiment will turn positive again and reduce that 10 months of inventory.
Keep fighting the good fight.
EREB is again slow at releasing its report.
I agree with Mike and Ray – just attack and name call people who disagree with them so as to shut them down. This obviously shows that Mike and Ray are correct.
When is EREB releasing there report?
The only thing supporting the Ft. Mac RE market is the 100+ oil price.
And how many of you heard that NewFoundland has its own oil reserve? They are having a big surplus now and will certainly draw many of the 25,000 NewFoundlander currently living in Ft. Mac back home.
If I were into RE investing, NewFoundland is the way to go.
Ray said:
—BTW, anybody that agrees with Brent should get his/her head checked!!!—
Did Sara and Sheldon stop policing their blog? Or, the Realtors do agree with Ray’s statement?
****A. we have a life and can’t police the comments 24/7, we’ll get to it as soon as we can. B. the code of conduct has nothing to do with whether or not we agree with what people say.***
Mike:
—Of course, Brenty is always dead on, Fort Saskatchewan is indeed a poor suburb where the average trades person makes in the 120K and where Kentucky Fried Chicken can’t find students to work for less than $16 an hour, poor for sure and it is even getting poorer with the construction of at least 3 mega upgraders. Even poorer with enhanced EOR using the CO2 from the upgraders to extend the life of the current reservoirs NE of Edmonton. Brenty, if you need help understanding what EOR is or the difference between 40 year mortgage and sub prime, I’m your man.—
Dead on, man.
That’s what we call “paper rich” and “RE poor” or “brain poor” or “environment poor.”
What’s the use of the 6-figure salary, if you cannot buy a decent house or if your kids drop out of school to learn a cyclical trade or if you are more likely to die from cancer?
Front page of the Edmonton Journal tomorrow?
http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/story.html?id=0be9f278-6b80-4825-9478-75f42e6237a2&k=9171
Comments are interesting, looks like a lot of bears out there that don’t post on the real estate blogs.
Help stats needed,
My wife and I are currently in the market for a ‘move up’ property as we have paid off our first home in edmonton. We have been looking at many houses in the 600-750k category over the past 6 months. We have noticed that very few of the houses in this price range have sold in the areas we have been looking. These areas also include many house at a much higher price point which also haven’t been selling. Does anyone have a stat on the average list price of SFH’s in edmonton versus the average sale price. If you do what is the discrepancy between the two? It would give us a good starting point to calculate an offer at real market value.
If you watch Mike Fotiou’s site, the average seems to be at least 10%.
http://www.findcalgary.ca/index.jsp
Mal Pais,
I have been watching the same price range you are interested in. After 4 weeks out of town, I just spent the weekend catching up with the price movements on pretty much every house from 600K up.
It’s astonishing how many of those properties are lowering their prices significantly, and have done so multiple times over the often lengthy time of their listing.
I am not sure that “one size fits all” though, when it comes to a percentage that you can apply to the asking price, to calculate your offer. Some properties in that range have reduced their prices by more than 20% and are still not selling, others have not lowered their listing price at all.
I will continue sitting on the fence for a bit longer. I am not convinced that prices above 600K have bottomed out yet.
Bunny honey said “if your kids drop out of school to learn a cyclical trade”
First, what’s wrong with trades? Second, cyclical trade is not a correct assumption. The shortest oil sand mine life is 50 years.
Bunny honey said also “you are more likely to die from cancer”
Air quality in Alberta is much better than your home town in Houston, New York or even Toronto.
Edmonton Realtor’s Association call this a stable market. When i look at the numbers I see a sea of red.
http://albertarealestatewatch.blogspot.com/
Alberta leads building permit decline
The value of building permits in Canada fell unexpectedly in March — led by a big decline in Alberta — due to rising costs and weakening demand, Statistics Canada said Tuesday.
“Construction intentions in Canada continued to cool,”the federal agency said, with both residential and non-residential sectors declining in March. “This was the fourth decrease in five months.”
Permit values dropped 4.5% to $5.6-billion in March, as a 32.9% plunge in Alberta pulled the rest of the country into negative territory.
http://www.financialpost.com/story.html?id=496204
The sub-prime comparisons are interesting. The forty year mortgage is not equal to sub-prime, that much is correct. But once again, sub-prime was not totally to blame. It was just the weak link that let the house of cards fall.
What started this mess is the fury in which people just had to own real estate, and thus drove up prices. Simple supply and demand. This is where the emotion comes into the market. You can see it in this blog with some of the comments, and I don’t have to name any names…..
Our area has seen a lot of hype of new projects coming on line. Some have been cancelled, Synenco for one. Some are waiting, Total, Statoil, Petro-Can. Shell’s third upgrader may not happen here either. CO2 storage? Not even proven. A pilot plant at best awaits us. How much energy will that require to supposedly save us from the effects of green house gases?
Do you see all the chemical companies closing plants? Dow, Erco, Celanese. We are becoming a one horse town. Pretty good horse to be on right now though we have to admit.
But back to housing prices. What has hit the US so hard is that the real estate bubble they experienced was not sustainable. Much like ours. Think about it. Sell your house in Edmonton and move to Kelowna? I like it here, but let’s be serious folks.
You buy a piece of land here for what, $100K? How about a piece of land for that price in the outlying areas like Lamont, Redwater? Does that start to sound a little silly? A $400K home in Bruderheim where three years ago a lot cost $6500?? Downwind of these new supposed new projects?? Let’s see. A $10K lot, $180K to build an overpriced house and you get….<$200K. I’m sorry, that still looks like a bubble to me.
Reminds me of all those sure things years ago. Things like Nortel. Couldn’t lose there. What about becoming a millionaire with Bre-X? Whoops!
In the long run a real estate investment is fine. But if you are at all thinking short term, the surest way to lose $50K is to buy a house right now.
There, play with those comments for awhile.
***comment deleted – personal attack***
Fredmonton,
Ok fair enough, and same with Dave. I’ve seen more articles in news papers from BAD supporting what Dave is saying (not exactly, but similar) then you Fred, so I guess if everything is sunshine and roses, why not tell the rest of us what you “know” is fact about RE in Edmonton right now, and maybe a small prediction say the next 4 weeks.
With someone like yourself knowing so much about RE, Oil, etc, it shouldn’t be difficult at all.
-
And I think to myself, it’s a frothy world.
“”Money is desperately trying to find a place where it can still get a return,” he said in describing oil’s current global use as a financial asset akin to gold, diamonds or rare art while the value of mainstays from houses to the American dollar decays.
“There is intense speculation. We have a term for that in economics. It’s called a bubble,” Hall said.
“The risk is squarely on the downside,” he said.”
http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/business/story.html?id=764ae97b-f11a-47b5-bafb-a5085247372a
-
sabb, of course you’ve seen more articles from BAD supporting what Dave is saying….that is all he does. His contribution to this blog is to scour all the papers for any negative news and put up a link, of course ignoring any positive news along the way.
In my opinion, there are negative AND positive aspects to this market which is why there seems to be little momentum price wise one way or the other. Yes we have an excellent economy, and yes we have too much inventory. Yes affordability is an issue and yes sales remain very strong. Inventory, and affordability for the average Joe are the biggest reason that prices quit going up 4% a month. Why all the inventory…well, lower migration for one, rampant speculation for another. The speculators are gone and most of their houses are on the market already. Migration will stay lower unless the negative nellies are right and prices tank…then the Alberta advantage kicks in again and migration ramps up suddenly because now housing is affordable and we go through this whole thing all over again with 6 months of very low new home starts coming on the market.
In short the greatest protection for lower prices is lower prices. The more affordable things get, the more people you bring into the market. Of couses if the economy tanks for one of a dozen different reasons all bets are off.
If you want predictions saab, I’ll stick one out there…it’s the same one I’ve been saying since Dec/07. Prices will be up 3 or 4% during the busy buying months of Jan-June and if we still have a huge inventory issue come July then prices will likely drop 5 or 6%, leaving us within a percent or 2 one way or the other of where we started in Jan. I also believe we will see very divergent condo and SFD markets come next spring with more normal levels of SFD inventory and much higher condo inventory. Condo sales to listings are already running 8-10 points below SFD and there is a lot more condo inventory coming on. I also believe we are very near the top for SFD inventory. Balance people…that’s where it’s at and likely to stay for a while. By the way, and I’ve been trying to figure this out for a while….What would be a normal inventory now? I mean 4000-5000 seemed normal 5 years ago but we’ve gotten bigger….is it 5000-6000 now or what do you think?
Sabb,
I never said i was a prophet. I said I KNOW what im doing and how it is going to make me money. Dave said “In the long run a real estate investment is fine. But if you are at all thinking short term, the surest way to lose $50K is to buy a house right now” This is the type of advice you give if you know very little. Since this so called slow down, i have made more money than during the “boom”. Short term or long term RE investing requires two things 1)kahunes and 2)Knowledge or INFORMATION. and someone who leaves a comment like that really has no idea. So if you ask my opinion on what will happen in the next 4 weeks? I will say this 3 out of my 5 current listings have conditions removed and will be in possession of their happy new owners on the 1st of June. 2 of them sold for 100% of asking and the 3rd i had to throw in a garage kit from totem so lets say 98% of list. Meaning if you know what you are doing the most money is made in this type of market. BTW Unlike some people here my money is where my mouth is…….
Sabb
“I’ve seen more articles in news papers from BAD supporting what Dave is saying ”
If your a negative person you will see negative points in news papers articles, even if they are positive.
If your a positive person you will see positive points in news papers articles, even if they are negative.
It’s called “the human psyche”. People interrput what they see, hear, and read the way they want to see, hear or read it, even if it was meant to be negative or positive.
Time will tell whether the news paper articles BAD is posting or Dave is refering to are right or wrong.
PS: The majority of news articles are negative because it sells news papers. Studies put it at %20 pos:%80 neg ratio. People love to read negative articles because it makes their mundane life look more tolerable.
Sabb
“I’ve seen more articles in news papers from BAD supporting what Dave is saying ”
If your a negative person you will see negative points in news papers articles, even if they are positive.
If your a positive person you will see positive points in news papers articles, even if they are negative.
It’s called “the human psyche”. People interrput what they see, hear, and read the way they want to see, hear or read it, even if it was meant to be negative or positive.
Time will tell whether the news paper articles BAD is posting or Dave is refering to are right or wrong.
PS: The majority of news articles are negative because it sells news papers. Studies put it at %20 pos:%80 neg ratio. People love to read negative articles because it makes their mundane life look more tolerable.
Neil,
Thanks for the cup is half empty/full speech, but I don’t need the coffee house psychology lesson, but you are right, bad does look for some of the worst, but honestly alot of them I don’t know how he comes across them given doing searches on the titles only brings up those articles some of the time.
I agree though that time will tell regarding those posts.
Fred,
Well I wish you luck man. Sounds like you are doing rather well in a market where most seem to be struggling or relisting their houses for the 2nd or 3rd time. I can’t believe the number of houses with last years pictures still on their. Last summer that is, unless of course someone can get their lawn that green already. Myself, everything in my neighborhood is still coming to life with blotches of green
Sabb,
Thanks for the good wishes. Just wanted to give a bit more insight as to why this market has taken blame for something that is not its fault. Some so called investors bought junk during the “boom”. Price per square foot being the motivation for their purchase. THAT FORMULA NEVER WORKS!!!! It was junk then and its junk now. The only reason someone would pay hard earned or borrowed money for said junk was lack of selection. Since selection is no longer a problem, those listings now sit. Secondly you have all those stunning, cookie cutter, mass produced, held together with snot new homes. Most of these were bought with $5000 down and balance on completion. This scenario changed with the market but for the most part “investors” and i use that word loosely,bought more than enough. some sold but most got greedy, held on and as soon as things looked a little less heated out come the for sale signs. Further more the builders kept on building and selling these NEW homes to people before these investors ever had one showing. So now they sit. HOWEVER, there is more than enough great property in Edmonton that still sells at a reasonable rate. My current average DOM is 54. Which in my opinion is more than acceptable. I calculated that from the 9 homes and 4 condos i have sold since September of 2007. Only one of those had a price reduction and that was my personal condo in Lemarchand tower. Though It is tough to sell an $800K condo in any market. Think of life in Edmonton before 2005. You could have 2 identical homes one in lets say Lessard and one in the wellington area. Not only would the one in Lessard be worth 10-15% more but it would sell 3 times as fast. Those days are coming back in a big way. People are way to general, “house prices are tumbling”, “the market has gone to $#!+”. Well no it hasn’t. What they should be saying is “A house on 5th avenue is worth a ton in new york, but 5ave Edmonton is not worth $400k.” Now Location and selection in that area will dictate the DOM and price. Just like they did before. This Market will do just fine….And so will you.