Edmonton Real Estate Blog

It is amazing what can happen in just a few weeks. We have had a complete turnaround in the real estate market here in Edmonton. Just a few short weeks ago we were in a buyer’s market and now we are in a seller’s market.

As of today April 04^th there are 2,673 actives single family homes for sale in Edmonton proper. That is a healthy level but I expect it to rise as we get deeper into this spring marketplace.

In the last 30 days there has been 849 single family homes sold in Edmonton proper. This would give us a listing to sales ration of 3.14:1 much lower than the 4:1 that we need here in Edmonton for a balanced market.

With this low of a ratio I will be expecting home valuations to start rising. If you have been thinking about buying you should do it now before valuations and interest rates rise any further.

To get pre-approved for a mortgage visit www.edmontonmortgagesource.com

This has been one of the most strangest years that I can remember since I started real estate back in 1985. I say strange because it was the busiest January and February that I can ever remember having but by looking at the sales statistics it would appear not everyone was having the same success.

As of today March 03, 2012 there are 2,318 single family homes listed in Edmonton proper on the Multiple Listing System.  That is a reasonable listing level.

In the previous 30 days there were 604 single family homes sold in Edmonton proper through the Multiple Listing System. That is a significant increase over last months sales level.

This would give us a listings to sales ratio of 3.84:1 which is below the 4:1 we need in Edmonton for a neutral or balance market. This tells me that we are starting to see some increased pressure for valuations to start to rise.

If you are a buyer you better buy now before prices go up and interest rates go up. Call me today to help you find your dream home now. Serge 780 – 995 – 6520

According RBC Economic Report thing look bright for Alberta for the next couple of years.

Here is an a portion of that report as it pertains to Alberta.

On a fast track

Amid the heightenedeconomic uncertainty spreading globally in the past severalmonths, Alberta’s
steady progress toward full recovery from the recession is refreshing. Overcoming obstacles of its own—chief among them the wildfires that caused significant economic disruptions in May—the provincial economy is now displaying the stuff that made it a growth powerhouse a little more than half a decade ago. Impressed by the performance to date, we upgraded our call for Alberta’s real GDP growth
to 4.0% this year, which is a pace that we believe will be largelysustained in both 2012 and 2013, at 3.9% and 3.8%, respectively. Were it not for the even stronger performance by Saskatchewan, Alberta would recapture the crown of Canada’s fastest growing provincial economy.

Job market booming

With the oil industry buzzing like it was in 2006 and serving as a catalyst for activity in other sectors, Alberta’s job market is booming. In the first 11 monthsof this year, there have been 98,000 net new jobs created in the province, representing the best tally since 2006. The gain could well cross the 100,000 mark when all is said and done in 2011, which would set a new record for Alberta. What is most
impressive about this supercharged job market is that gains are broadly based across industries. The energy sector is directly responsible for only a small portion of these gains. Small to moderate advances are being registered in the vast majority of industries. Moreover, the boom entirely emanates from the private sector, which is the source of an astounding 116,000 new jobs this year. Such strength easily made up for declines in the public sector and among the self-employed.

Albertaconsumers spending big

With job prospects improving so quickly and confidence rebuilding, Alberta consumers have been big spenders in 2011. Retail sales in the province have increased at one of the faster rate in the country, with big ticket items such as motor vehiclesenjoying further resurgence from their recessionary lows. We expect that favourable labour market conditions—we project employment to rise by a nation-leading
3.1% next year—will continue to support such positive consumer spending trend in 2012.

Non-conventional crude production setting new records

Generally, the outlook for the Alberta economy remains very bright (notwithstanding the higher risks that face virtually all global economies). Oil production in the province has now fully recovered from the disruptions caused by the wildfires in May and is now on a record pace. We expect that, with more oilsands capacity continuing to be added, non-conventional crude output will set new highs in the
period ahead. Pipeline capacity issues—the topic of much debate in the United States in the past several months that ultimately resulted in delaying the approval decision on the Keystone XL project—might create some transportation bottlenecks to U.S. refineries by 2013, which could restraingrowth in the
province’s exports that year.

Alberta’s oilsands: a boon for years to come

Meanwhile, work on several oilsands megaprojects is proceeding and will continue to generate tremendous economic activity in the province. There is an inventory of $120 billion worth of oilsands projects at various stages of development currently; and given the strong commitment by all stakeholders to build this resource, it will be a boon to Alberta’s economy for years to come.

Source: RBC Economic Report, Dec. 2011

We are nearing the Christmas and it is no surprise that the real estate market here in Edmonton is
slowing down.

As of today there were 2,413 single family homes for sale in Edmonton proper. That is about an average
inventory level for this time of year.

However the number of sales of single family homes in Edmonton proper in the last 30 days has only been 510. This gives us a listings to sales ratio of 4.73:1 which is still higher than the 4:1 that we need for a
neutral or balanced market.

This indicates that we are going to continue to have downward pressure on house valuations here in Edmonton and it is going to continue to be a Buyer’s Market.

If you want your homes to sell you are going to need to have your home very aggressively priced and be the lowest priced home against your competition.

That is one thing we can always depend on is the market to continually change.

Only last month I was telling you that based on the listings to sales ratio that we had upward pressure on valuations. Well that is now changed.

As of today May 15, 2011 there are 2,945 single family dwellings for sale in Edmonton proper. That is an increase from last month. In the past 30 days there were 733 single family dwellings sold. This would give us a listing to sales ratio of 4.02:1. A 4:1 ratio is a neutral or balanced market with valuations remaining stable.

Many people were waiting for the snow the melt and spring to finally arrive to put their homes up for sales which explains the increase in inventory that we currently have and why the market has balanced out.

But in my opinion over the next few weeks as buyer start to eat away at the current inventory level we might see ourselves back in a seller’s market again soon. There is too much positive economic drive in the Edmonton area for this not to happen.

We also know that in the next few months we are all expecting some interest rate hikes. Now is a perfect time to buy before valuations go up and interest go up. Call me today to help you find your dream home while the window of opportunity is open.

April 14, 2011 – Well just when you thought maybe spring was here we are being hit with a snow storm this morning with a forecast with between 5 – 10 cm of snow.  I think we might just skip spring and move onto summer.

The spring marketplace continues to be strong.  As of this morning there are 2,551 single family dwelling for sale in Edmonton proper. This is a pretty typical inventory level for this time of year.  In the previous 30 days there were 661 single family homes sold in Edmonton proper.

This would give us a listing to sales ratio of 3.85:1 just slightly below the 4:1 ratio that we require for a neutral or balanced market. As long as this ratio stays below the 4:1 market expect valuations to continue to have upward pressure to increase.

I am experiencing this first hand as I was trying to sell a property to one of my buyers earlier this week and there were 6 offers written on the property before we could present. Ultimately we had to write an unconditional offer $12,000 over the list price in order to acquire the property.

This is our new reality again. Really good properties listed at a good price are selling within 24 – 48 hours and don’t be surprised to be in a multiple offer situation.

The average list price of a single family dwelling in Edmonton proper is $398,717 and the average selling price in the last 30 days was $386,028. The average number of days on market was 43 days.

Source: Realtors Association of Edmonton

Last week I was really excited to see the listing to sales ratio drop below the 4:1 ratio that we need for a neutral or balance market. I guess that was short lived because that ratio did not stay below the 4:1 ratio.

As of today there are 2,174 single family homes listed for sale on the Multiple Listing Service for sale in Edmonton proper. In the last 30 days there were 496 sales a slight drop from the previous week. This will give us a listing to sales ratio of 4.38:1 slightly higher than what we need for a balance or neutral market.

With the ratio bouncing just over and just under the benchmark ratio it is indicating to me that the market is not sure which directions it wants to go so we will probably see a fairly stable valuation of homes for the time being.

Once I see at least 3 consecutive weeks of the ratio being one direction of other we will not really know which way it is going.

Just like I have been telling you would happen the market has changed from a buyer’s market to a seller’s market.

As of today there were 2,126 single family homes listed on the Multiple Listing System (MLS ®) in Edmonton proper. That is an increase of 92 listings from last weeks inventory level of 2,034

More importantly there was 535 homes sold on the Multiple Listing System (MLS ®) in Edmonton proper in the previous 30 days. That is an increase of  106 sales from last week’s number of 429 sales.

This gives us a listing to sales ratio of 3.97:1 which is a significant drop from las weeks and is now marginally below the 4:1 ratio that is the benchmark for a neutral and balanced market.

I say we are swinging over to a seller’s market beause I expect that ratio to continue to drop even lower in the next few weeks and we are going to see upward pressure on home valuations.

If you are thinking of buying then the sooner you make that move the better price that you will get.  With all that is driving the Edmonton economy at this time I continue to expect the Edmonton Real Estate market to continue to grow stronger.

Well folks I am back from my trip to China and I am here to let you know what is happening to the Edmonton real estate market.

As of today “Valentine’s Day” there are 2, 034 single family dwellings for sale in Edmonton proper. That is a much lower number of listings than we were seeing at the end of last year which I see as a positive sign.

However in the last 30 days there has been only 429 single family dwellings sold in Edmonton proper. This is also a drop from the volume of sales that we were seeing at the end of 2010.

This gives us a listing to sales ratio of 4.74:1.  That ratio is still a little bit high.  If you remember we need a ratio of 4:1 for a neutral or balanced market.  So based on this ratio in the short term I still expect that there will be some downward pressure on valuations and only those homes that are priced very competitively are going to be the ones that sell.

I think that we might see this change soon as we see the buyers come back to the market as we get deeper into this early spring market.

Interest rates are on the rise again.  I am also expecting rates to continue to increase slightly as we progress into our spring market place.  If you are thinking of buying this year you may want to move your time table to the next 60 days before we see any further increases in rates and before the new mortgage rules come into effect in April.