However, this decline might reach a price floor soon
Amid substantial residential inventory, Edmonton’s home prices continued to veer down during the first quarter of the year, according to the Royal LePage House Price Survey released last week.
On an annual basis, the city’s residential prices ticked down by 1.0% to reach $371,782. The report noted that this decline might level off soon, however.
“Home prices are down but they’ve reached a price floor,” Royal LePage Noralta Real Estate broker and owner Tom Shearer said. “We’ve already seen the drop and now we are in a relatively flat market.”
Shearer added that the OSFI-mandated stress test introduced early last year has had a notable impact on move-up buyers and investors going for rental properties. Thus, the newly announced federal housing incentives might not make significant ripples in the local market.
“First-time homebuyers do quite well in Edmonton,” Shearer explained. “The stress test limited purchasing power for other buyer groups, creating an expectation gap behind what they want and what they can afford.”
Breaking down by asset class, the median price of two-storey homes fell by 2.1% year-over-year to end up at $420,656. This is compared to the 2.6% growth in the national average for this housing type.
Meanwhile, bungalows had a modest 1.3% price increase to reach $375,582. This is within acceptable range of the 1.1% growth in the national average.
Going from Q1 to Q2 this year, Edmonton’s aggregate home price is predicted to remain relatively flat, with only a 0.4% shrinkage to $370,416.
