Melody Kilbank

It is a hot topic amongst most people these days…”What is the real estate market going to do with these lower oil prices?” January statistics have come out and here are a couple of noteworthy numbers for interpretation.

• There were 498 sales in the City of Edmonton in January. Compared to the 1793 new listings, the market absorption rate is 28%. This is down by 23% over January 2014. It is down 50% over December 2014. This could mean 2 things, a typical seasonal low for post-Christmas spending. Or it could be the early trending of a softer market for 2015. Only time will tell.

• Average prices are still up year over year. The average price for single family homes was $435,908 which is up from January 2014 by 3.4%. Condo average is 246,611 which is up by 5.3% from January 2014 and Duplex/Rowhouse average is 409,936 which is up 15.4% from January 2014. So, one month does NOT a trend make!

• Based on the City of Edmonton’s overall inventory and January’s sales we have 6.2 months of inventory which is typically moving from a balanced market to a buyers market.

So if you are thinking of selling, NOW is the time if the trending is softening. If you are thinking of buying, NOW is the time because there is a good selection of inventory and the mortgage rates have dropped due to the Bank of Canada’s lending rate dropping to .75%.

Call me for any of your real estate questions or valuations!