Slow and steady price increases are expected in the real estate market as local demand shows continued strength.
Jon Hall, marketing manager with the Realtors Association of Edmonton, said October saw 60 sales of single family homes in St. Albert. The average price of the homes was at $438,000, which is up from last year when the average price was at $429,000.
Hall said Alberta, and especially the Edmonton area, is a healthy market where people are not afraid to spend.
“Generally, Alberta is better off than anywhere else in the country. Edmonton’s economy is nice and stable. There’s consistent pricing with slow and steady price increases,” he said.
He added that prices have gone up steadily over recent years but sudden price jumps are not expected.
Since September, the price of a single-family home dropped by $50,000, though Hall said prices were unusually high in that month.
House prices reach their peak in May and drop until January, when they start picking up again. April, May and June are the most popular months for people to buy homes. A third of all homes are sold during this time.
Condominium prices across the market dropped over the past year by almost $40,000.
In October, St. Albert saw 10 sales of condos, at an average price of $227,000.
Hall said Alberta is expected to attract a large number of workers over the next years. As these people move up the income ladder, they will be able to afford to build their own homes, or buy new condos.
Already, he added, people choose to buy new condos over old ones.
“If I can buy a bright and shiny, brand new condo and pay only a little extra compared to one that somebody had already lived in, it pushes the price on the resale market,” he said.
Average house prices are calculated by adding up the prices of all sold homes and dividing them by the number of sales. Homebuyers should be aware that these numbers are not always an accurate depiction of a home’s cost.
Hall said the average price can go up if a majority of the homes sold were more expensive than the rest. At the same time, the average price drops if a majority of the homes were inexpensive.
“If you sold 10 houses for $1 million out of 48 houses, that would screw the average up. The same goes for a cheap street of houses which would push the average down,” Hall said.
