The local real estate market is humming along at a steady rate with home prices remaining relatively stable for single-family dwellings in both St. Albert and Morinville.
“Prices for May are slightly less than they were last year, but up significantly from January,” said Jon Hall, communications manager for the Edmonton Real Estate Board.
Hall agreed it’s not unusual and is in fact a normal market trend for houses to rise in price through the first six months of every calendar year. He also stressed there are enough positive signs of an improving economy to provide an optimistic outlook for the re-sale housing market.
“The market is fairly stable with a slight upward trend and no wild swings in prices. There is nothing in the local market causing those swings and on the future horizon there is optimism with companies such as Ledcor, which just announced last week it’s hiring 9,000 people,” he said.
In St. Albert, the average single-family house sold for $440,116 this May, down just slightly from $444,132 last year.
Morinville’s average single family-dwelling showed greater variation with house prices dropping $12,000 from a year ago in May.
“The market is slower in Morinville right now but houses are more affordable,” said Sutton Broker James Mabey.
Mabey pointed out home owners with longer commuting distances have to balance the savings they realize in their monthly mortgage payments with increases in transportation costs.
“People may move to Morinville because they like living in a small town, but if they are commuters, they still have to make it worthwhile. If gas prices go up too much, they have to look at that too,” he said.
Both the Morinville and St. Albert markets favour the purchaser right now because there are plenty of homes to choose from.
“It’s still a buyers’ market and those buyers are still very hesitant,” Mabey said.
This week there were 98 condos for sale and 338 single-family dwellings for sale in St. Albert. Houses were on the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) for 50 days, but were selling somewhat more quickly than in April.
“In April houses were listed for 53 days,” said Hall, adding that the sales-to-listing ratio is a strong indicator of market improvement.
“The sales to listing ratio for May was 52 per cent. That compares to a ratio of 45 per cent in April. It shows more of the new listings are selling more quickly.”
St. Albert Re/Max broker Jack Jacknisky agreed it is a buyers’ market, but he also sees positive signs of recovery for the local market.
“House prices remain stable and the inventory is going down. It’s a good market for both buyers and sellers because there are no surprises and the economy is good,” he said.
