'Condos in Edmonton' asked us "if we could give her our opinion on whether the glut of condos in Edmonton is beginning to ease off a bit?"
Speaking specifically about MLS® condo inventory in Edmonton, it is down over 50% from over 3200 active listings in May of '08 to 1469 this past Friday.
So while the single family inventory in Edmonton has reduced more dramatically than condos, it can invariably affect the condo market. For example, if the overall average price in the Edmonton area increases mostly due to increases in the price of single family homes, some people may perceive that prices overall are going in a positive direction, even if the average price for condos dropped in the same period of time.
Thus it's very important to not get to carried away by what's happening with the average prices. It is more important to look the factors affecting your value. The fact of the matter is that condos in certain areas of Edmonton have performed better than other areas in terms of price, and some types of condos have performed better than others.
One of the other questions this reader asked was: "there still seems to be a lot of new construction of condos around Edmonton, particularly downtown. Why is there still this kind of construction when the market seems glutted with condos already?"
Some of these projects are long term projects such as hi rise condo buildings which take years to complete. Stopping construction on these projects is no simple matter, and by the time they are completed conditions in Edmonton real estate market may have improved significantly. The real issue isn't these projects but population growth and net migration, both of which have significant impacts on demand.
