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JILL THOMAS
RE/MAX REAL ESTATE
Market
Commentary
September
2007
WHAT
IS THE MARKET DOING?
“Edmonton’s
once-torrid housing market is showing clear signs of cooling off”, says
Gary Lamphier of the Edmonton Journal.
“With Alberta’s economy still red
hot, oil prices remaining high, and $150 billion worth of oilsands
projects, upgraders and related work in the pipeline, no one is
forecasting anything like an ‘80s-style housing crash. In fact,
quite the opposite. According to Canada Mortgage and Housing
Corporation’s latest forecast, average local MLS prices for all of 2007
will undoubtedly show healthy gains, even if second-half prices are
basically flat.
“Moreover, CMHC and most local
builders predict another strong year for the housing market in 2008
once the resale market manages to digest the current bloated inventory
of unsold homes. That will take a couple of quarters to happen,
they figure. And that could give buyers the upper hand, at least
for a while. Speculators who hoped to flip properties for a quick
profit may not be so lucky. Gregg Becker, Jayman MasterBuilt’s
Edmonton-area general manager says “I don’t really want to use the word
‘softening’ because I think this is more of a normalizing market.
We were superheated, and now we’re coming down to something that’s more
reasonable.”
I HAVE HEARD …
The reason for the softening in the
market place is the need for the oil producers and steel manufacturers
to get the service providers back into line in terms of costs.
Once the production starts again in
the fall, the market will continue along more normal lines. The
unusually high inventory is a result of higher than average property
listings in May, June and July. There were 4,331 residential
properties listed in August which is up 63% from the previous August
(2657)! There were 9,185 homes of all types available as of
August 31, 2007.
458-4800
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