Housing Market Correcting After Temporary High

Average home prices fell one per cent in September after peaking in May

Fall home prices are forcing Edmonton-area realtors to market more aggressively.

Average prices for single family houses slipped another on per cent in September to $399,555 from $403,757 in August. They peaked in May at $426,028.

“This market is still correcting after a dramatic upswing,” Carolyn Pratt, president of the Realtors Association of Edmonton, said Wednesday.

Average prices for all homes, including condos, duplexes and row houses, fell $506 to $344,286.

During September, 3,952 homes were newly listed with the Multiple Listing Service while only 1,042 were sold-for the slowest sales month since December, 2005.

MLS residential inventory rose, for the ninth consecutive month, to 9,918 units.

The excess of supply over demand means more choices and less pressure for buyers, Pratt said-but it pushes sellers and realtors to market homes more effectively.

During the past two hears, she said, “we rarely had to do an open house,” because homes sold so quickly.

“Now, with a lot more competition, you have to really step up your marketing,” she said.

“It’s important to expose your property and attract people into the property.”

Most realtors have returned to holding weekend open houses for shoppers, she said.

But the practice of realtors-only open houses, on weekday morning, has been largely overtaken by the Internet, she said, Now, realtors scan new listings online.

More and more realtors use “virtual tours” on their listed homes, with websites including video clips rather than just still photos, Pratt said.

Increasing numbers also are using software that links to Google Earth, so online shoppers can located listed homes within the city, and see surrounding features such as roads, parks and schools, she said.

Pratt noted that professional “home staging” also is becoming more popular, to show properties at their best.

Despite the current “correction,” Pratt pointed out that Edmonton prices are up 24 per cent from 12 months ago, so sellers are still earning good returns on their investments.

Greater Edmonton’s population is forecast to grow by 83,000 in the next five years, Pratt said.

With a strong economic outlook, the ear’s real estate should do well over the next several years, she said-while refusing to predict when prices will rise again.

Edmonton Journal