Edmonton Brings up the National Average

by Sheldon Johnston and Sara MacLennan on 15. Jun, 2009 in Alberta's Economy, Canadian Real Estate, Edmonton Real Estate Market

All the Canadian newspapers are aflutter because the Canadian Real Estate Association released their monthly report today, with positive news. I think people tend to get over excited about these releases whether positive or negative, but, here is the gist of it.

Resales of existing Canadian homes showed continuing improvements in in May, with both the number of transactions and the national average price on the rise. The national average sale price in May hit the highest monthly level on record, at $319,757, which was up four-tenths of a percentage point from the previous record in May 2008.

The real-estate association said the dollar value of sales through its members reached $11.4 billion in May, up 10 per cent from the previous month and more than 50 per cent above the low of $7.5 billion in January.

The association said the the rebound in activity was led in some of the most expensive local markets in Canada and that had the effect up pushing the national average price upward.

Seasonally adjusted sales were up on a monthly basis in about 70% of local markets. Monthly activity gains in Toronto (9%), Calgary (25%), Montreal (10%), Vancouver (8%), and Edmonton (12%) contributed most to the overall increase in monthly activity.

"Inventory levels are still high in many markets, but fewer new listings and rising sales activity suggests that the selection of homes available for sale may shrink as the year progresses. The supply of homes up for sale needs to be drawn down further before average price increases become more widespread among local markets," said CREA economist Gregory Klump.

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One Response to “Edmonton Brings up the National Average”

  1. Andrew 16. Jun, 2009 at 2:46 pm #

    “Edmonton Brings Up the National Average” seems to be something of a misnomer. If you are referring to price Alberta and BC negatively impacted the national average in being the only two Provinces in Canada that posted lower sale prices then last year. So pricewise we need to give the maritimers credit with year over year price increases of an average 12%, with NF and PEI both over 15%.

    I’m surprised with the challenges in the manufacturing sector that ON still posted year over year price growth.