The president of the Realtors Association of Edmonton released his forecast for 2009 MLS housing sales Thursday morning and despite the global economic uncertainty, he expects Edmonton to have a reasonably good year ahead.
"Buyer reluctance will continue through the first part of the year, but confidence will return in the latter part of the year and sales will pick up," said Charlie Ponde with the Realtors Association of Edmonton in a news release.
In 2008 single family dwelling prices leveled off at around $350,000 and Ponde expects that the average price of single family dwellings will vary throughout the year but will be at about the same level by the time Christmas arrives.
Our city can also expect a large new inventory of condominiums in 2009 and the average prices of resale condos are expected to drop about 5 per cent. This year Ponde anticipates the average price of condos will be $222,500 about a $12,000 drop from 2008.
While housing sales may be a little slower in 2009, Ponde expects buyers to take advantage of the wide range of housing options up for grabs.
"Buyers are urged to make a buying decision before the options become limited," said Ponde. "Sellers will have to compete for the attention of buyers and should improve the curb appeal of their homes to remove negatives that reduce the opportunities of a sale."
And some investors truly believe that Edmonton's real estate market is still worth investing in.
"In the 5 to 10 year time frame I have absolute certainty that the housing will be more than its worth today. So, as long as I've got that mindset I know my investment will be going up," said Timothy Francis with Simple Real Estate Solutions Inc.
Ponde also predicts that due to the decrease in value of stock market portfolios in 2008, there may be some consumers that will need to liquidate their recreational properties, thus providing buyers some bargains this year.
