Here is our update on the Edmonton real estate market. (Previous week's numbers are in brackets). For the past 7 days: 
New listings: 580 (541, 477, 420)
# Sales: 220 (264, 255, 231)
Ratio: 38% (49%, 53%, 55%)
# Price changes: 189 (194, 159, 152)
# Expired/Off Market Listings: 91 (196, 66, 78)
Net loss/gain in listings this week: 269 (81, 156, 111)
Active listings for single family homes: 1947 (1794, 1731, 1641)
Active listings for condos: 1559 (1440, 1391, 1366)
Second week of March and the market appears to be cooling off? Huh? That's definitely got us scratching our heads. Does anyone remember 2007 and the sudden drop in sales (from an all time high in May to an all time low in September)? I am very confident the sales will bounce back this time - the historical trend is for increasing sales through the spring.
The rise in inventory this year has not only continued but it has picked up steam. Are all those people who who bought in 2007 putting their homes up for sale and trying out the market now? In many cases people who bought at the peak can now at least break even, and I would say the rise in inventory is partially due to higher prices. However, the current trend of rising inventory in Edmonton will serve to dampen the price acceleration and many sellers will be disappointed.
The REALTORS® Association of Edmontonis reporting 572 residential sales so far this month. The average residential sale price is $347k, single family homes are at $388k, and condos are at $258k. These numbers are all up substantially from last month but this is likely due to the small sample size (only 11 days of sales to work with), not an actual increasing trend.
There has been a lot of discussion on our blog recently about prices (specifically price increases). Driving home from downtown Edmonton last night I heard on the news that the expectation is close to double digit price increases this year. That seems a little high to me.
All in all I don’t think there is that much inventory in the cue and from my perspective the growth in inventory is a welcome addition for buyers who have seen sellers go from being desperate to down right cocky in a short period of time. For what it's worth it's definitely one trend we are keeping a sharp eye on.
