Well, we have looked at the South and the North so far in the last two posts and I think it is safe to say that in general, Edmonton real estate has been pretty steady in 2013. The South market seems to be a bit more active as far as raw number go, but the North has posted slightly higher year over year gains. Conversely, prices in the North have held relatively firm from 2012, while in the South they have had a modest increase.
Today lets focus on the three regions that stretch across the middle portions of the city. The WEST as you can imagine are the westernmost Realtor's Association of Edmonton zones; 10, 11, 20, 22, 57 and 58. The easiest way to describe it I guess is to take everything that is west of the river as you cross the Anthony Henday or the Whitemud up to Stony Plain Road. DOWNTOWN is RAE zones 12 and 13, and is surprise(!) the smallest area considered as it is the area immediately around Edmonton's downtown Jasper Avenue/River Valley Core. CENTRAL is comprised of RAE zones 5,6,8,9 and 23 and is the older, established areas west of 97 street and south of the Yellowhead, north of the River and east to the city boundary. Let's talk about how these three areas have done so far in 2013.
West - An area that has a good mix of housing, the West region favored the single family home market so far in 2013 with an increase of just over 7.5% in the number of transactions from 2012 (811 vs 872) and about 5% in prices (average SP in 2013 ytd is $471,603). The condo market by contrast is relatively flat in a year over year comparison with both transaction numbers and sale price increases being less than 1% -3 more homes sold in 2013 vs 2012 and sale price increase of under $900 - this isn't negative news, just very neutral a very stable environment at this time.
Downtown - As you might expect, the downtown market is dominated by condo sales which traditionally represents about 90% of the sales for the region. Because of the small number of sales that normally happen in single family homes here (43 vs 48) you can get some disparities when you look at price swings - nonetheless, we can point to a 15% increase in year to date sale prices for the area. The Condo was a tad less robust with modest activity increases (407 vs 426) but a healthy 7.75% increase in sale prices ($294,581). With the introduction of new projects downtown and river valley it may be an indication that prices in this area might breach the $300,000 level and stay there. The end of year will be an interesting point to look to for this.
Central - Without trying to "pile on", the Central region remains a challenge. Mostly comprised of some of the older, well worn areas of the city, the area tends to be an area that is always a place to find income properties at value. More recently, we have seen some enterprising people start to consider more and more infill or redevelopment projects, but this remains a challenge due to some of the socio-economic factors that still offer challenges to many districts within the area. Year over year the news is mixed; transaction wise numbers are down - over 10% for SFD (439 vs 395) and over 8% for condos (147 vs 138). SFD prices though have risen 6.3% while condo prices have remained flat with a .1% increase. There remains a great many opportunities for Buyers in the area looking for a low cost entry in to the housing market, or for investors looking for cost effective income homes.
We looked at a real "Bridge Mixture" of regions today that runs the gamut of the Edmonton home market so it is hard to offer a summary for the areas as we did in previous posts. Rather, let me touch on something that is important to realize. The city market is cyclical. What we have talked about the last three posts is the year to date market and for Edmonton, this typically means we are looking at the high water mark for prices. For the balance of the year we normally see prices trend downwards as the months and the seasons change. In many of the areas we might see a small "bump" for a fall buyer spurt, but the bulk of the buying and selling is done. The caveat to this, and the cautionary note, is years such as 2006 and 2007 where the activity did not tail off and things continue to press upwards due to economic and job growth. I don't think we will see this but things have been slightly more robust than they have been in years past. It is important when you start to look at making a real estate decision that you call in an expert to look at what the market is doing and what part of the cycle you are in. Coincidentally, I can do that! :-)
For any questions about your real estate needs give me a call at 780-919-7653 or send me an email!
Once again thanks for reading!
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