Home prices remain stable in Edmonton

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Sales continued their streak of declining sales for the fourth month in a row in Edmonton and surrounding regions, recent statistics show.

October market numbers, released this month, show resales dropped nearly seven per cent from September and 21 per cent compared with October 2021.

“There is hesitation on the buyer’s side of the market right now,” says Paul Gravelle, chair of Realtors Association of Edmonton.

“What they wanted to buy a few months ago is now a lot more than they can afford for a monthly payment, so buyers are waiting to see what is going to happen with interest rates.”

The biggest decline in sales was among the row house/duplex segment with sales down 27 per cent year over year and 12 per cent month over month.

Condominium sales also fell, dropping about 14 per cent from September, and nearly 15 per cent from October last year.

Single-family detached home sales also fell nearly 23 per cent from last October and down about three per cent from September this year.

Prices have remained relatively steady with the average price of a single-family detached home increasing about three per cent from last October to reach $462,858. The price declined slightly from September by less than one per cent. Duplex/townhome prices increased almost four per cent year over year to reach $372,027. Yet the average price slipped one per cent from the month prior.

The average price for condominiums reached $224,252, down less than one per cent from October 2021, but up nearly two per cent from September this year.

Continuing month-over-month declines in sales and pricing is expected for the rest of the year, Gravelle says, due to seasonal influences.

“Late fall and winter are typically slower for activity,” he says, adding it remains to be seen whether 2022 with finish with higher sales and price growth overall than 2021.

Edmonton realtor Trisha Zimmerling with Royal LePage Noralta Real Estate notes the market has shifted away from sellers.

“Through the spring and summer, it was 100 per cent a seller’s market, and now we’ve definitely transitioned into more of a buyer’s market,” she says, adding single-family detached homes in the lower price ranges are still receiving a lot of interest.

“Especially renovated homes under $500,000 are moving fairly quickly because that is still in a lot of first-time buyers’ price range,” she says.

“They like the fact they don’t have to put more money into the home because they’re often maxed out on their budget.”

But selection is down in the lower end of the market as move-up buyers are holding back on listing as they wait for interest rate increases to subside, she says.

By spring, rate hikes should cease, providing a floor of certainty for buyers and sellers in the market, Zimmerling predicts.

“Then we should see a new normal of higher but stable borrowing costs, with home prices pretty much holding up.”

The current slowdown in activity was neither unexpected, nor necessarily bad for the health of the housing market, Gravelle says.

“We had two years of really strong activity, and there needed to be a pause because those increases cannot be sustained indefinitely, so we’re seeing a bit of a reset now,” he says.