COMINGHOME REAL ESTATE

YOUR Edmonton, St. Albert, & area resource for real estate news, advice, & statistics.

April Numbers — Still Calm, Steady, & Stable

Every month I review, modify/ adapt, and post the MLS® data for Edmonton and area real estate activity. The information is adapted from the REALTORS® Association of Edmonton Monthly MLS® Report and Press Release. You can view the original report in its entirety by visiting the REALTORS® Association of Edmonton website. Click HERE for a graphical representation of Edmonton’s average price over the course of the calendar year. Click HERE for a graphical representation of Edmonton’s actual month-to-month price over the course of the calendar year.

According to numbers released by the REALTORS® Association of Edmonton our local Edmonton and area market is riding a sea of calm. In April, the average*** residential price was up just 0.8% from last month at $337,363. The average price of a single family detached home was $382,384, up 0.9% from the previous month. The average price of a condominium in April was $235,036, up 1.3% from March. Duplex and rowhouse properties sold on average for $329,025; a 3.6% rise from the previous month. The average days-on-market in April was 50-days, down 3-day from March.

Residential sales through the Multiple Listing Service® System in April were up 5.3% from the same month last year but below average for April. There were 1,713 residential sales in April as compared to the 5-year average of 1,940 sales. There were 7,334 residential properties available in inventory at the end of April which is up 7% from last month.

Residential prices were also up when compared to a year ago:

  • Single family up 0.4%
  • Condominium up 1.1%
  • Duplex/Row house up 8.9%
  • All residential up 2.99%

“There is plenty of choice in the market at this time,” said REALTORS® Association of Edmonton President Doug Singleton. “Single family prices have risen slightly each month this year which is encouraging sellers to list their property.” He urged home buyers to remain calm, to confirm their financing arrangements and to study the market with their REALTOR®. “Of course, when your REALTOR® shows you the ideal home you should move decisively to make an offer and begin the home buying process in case another buyer is also interested.”

The average days-on-market in April was 50 days (down three from March) and the sales-to-listing ratio was 53% (up 2% from last month); both indicators reflecting increased market activity. REALTORS® participated in the sale of $578 million worth of residential property last month and total MLS® activity for the year is $1.5 billion (up 15% from 2011 YTD).

“If a change in your lifestyle requires a change of address, then this a great market to be in,” said Singleton. “Choice of neighbourhoods, variety of housing types and stable pricing may not be available in every market but they are features here in the Edmonton area.”

The REALTORS® Association of Edmonton releases month-end and year-end results for sales through the local Multiple Listing Service® and includes all residential sales for the City of Edmonton and surrounding communities and counties. ***Average prices indicate market trends only. They do not reflect actual prices, which vary from house to house and area to area. Prior period figures have been adjusted to include late reported sales and cancellations and therefore reflect a more accurate view of the period than previously reported at month end. For information on a specific area, contact me directly***
Activity (for all residential sales on Edmonton MLS® System)

April 2012

Change from
March

Change from
April 2011
SFD2 average selling price – month

$382,384

0.9%

0.4%
SFD median3 selling price

$365,000

1.4%

2.2%
Condominium average selling price

$235,036

1.3%

1.1%
Condominium median selling price

$223,250

1.5%

1.5%
All-residential4 average selling price

$337,363

0.8%

2.99%
All-residential median selling price

$327,000

1.6%

3.8%
# residential listings this month

3,253

-0.5%

1.9%
# residential sales this month

1,713

1.4%

5.3%
# residential inventory at month end

7,334

7.1%

-4.9%
# Total5 MLS® System sales this month

1,926

1.8%

6.2%
$ Value residential sales this month

$578 Million

12.5%

8.4%
$ Value of total MLS® System sales – month

$667 Million

24.7%

0.2%
$ Value of total MLS® System sales – YTD

$2.2 Billion

49.4%

21.7%
1. Residential includes SFD, condos and duplex/row houses.
2. Single Family Dwelling.
3. The middle figure in a list of all sales prices.
4. Includes residential, rural, and commercial sales.

///…CP

Post Mortem: #Lifex2012

The St. Albert Lifestyle expo last weekend was my first attempt at a trade show booth…by all accounts it was a successful first outing. I received great feedback on my booth and on my giveaway items.

I met a ton of new people, saw a lot of familiar faces, and saw some Clients I haven’t seen in a very long time…many thanks to all who stopped by my booth!

Another big thank-you to Trevor DeKneek from RBC, Lucy Carvalho from Axiom Mortgage, Stefan Cherwoniak from TMG, and Jinan El Halabi from ATB. These fine folks were the mortgage experts on-hand at my booth for the entire weekend answering all of your mortgage and finance-related questions.

Here are a few pics from #Lifex2012

///…CP

Acting In The Best Interests Of Your Sellers?

Maybe…

My Buyers drove by your ‘New Listing’ sign Saturday then called me and asked me to follow-up with you because they couldn’t find it on REALTOR.ca. Turns out it really is a new listing and is not yet on the system… 0 days-on-market.

You and I spoke briefly about the home and it’s features. I asked a few questions and indicated I would like to show it. You mentioned an agent from your office had expressed interest on behalf of their buyers and that you may have an offer coming. I asked you to please let me know if and when you confirmed that was going to happen as my Clients seemed genuinely interested and we would not want to miss out on the opportunity.

You assured me you would.

I called you again a few hours later to schedule an appointment for the next evening — Sunday. You paused then stated, “that shouldn’t be a problem” then asked me to confirm with you the next day. Your request for me to call during your open house Sunday afternoon seemed odd to me at the time, however I complied and had you paged that afternoon as requested. At the time I didn’t understand why you would be better equipped to confirm my appointment Sunday afternoon at your open house…

I must say, the voicemail you left for me Sunday after I paged you caught me off guard! You accepted an offer Saturday night from the agent in your office.

Excellent work; no doubt your sellers are pleased. Perhaps their instruction to you was to proceed with the one offer from your office and not worry about notifying us or generating a multiple offer opportunity for them? Perhaps your sellers were not willing to wait another day for us to view it and jeopardize losing the offer that was coming?

Maybe, though I’m not entirely convinced.

///…CP

I’m Confused (Again)

I’ve argued this point in the past and lost… however, I still believe it to be true. This is a good example.

You’ve hired a professional to sell your home. No doubt they are well-qualified and have an over-the-top guaranteed-to-sell-your-home marketing plan.

I have no doubt they are and do — that’s not the point of this post…. keep reading; I spell it out at the end of this post…

I called you, as per the showing instructions, and left a voicemail requesting to show your home. To your credit, you got back to me in a timely manner and an appointment was set. A few minutes later you texted me asking me to contact your real estate agent. When I inquired as to why, you said “he wants to talk to you”. No problem. I called him…

He proceeded to provide me with showing instructions that included getting in through your garage because he has an older keysafe that is incompatible with my access device. If I’d have contacted him directly to schedule the appointment in the first place we all could have avoided a lot of hassle.

The point of this post is this: why the hell am I calling you, the home owner, to schedule an appointment? What’s your guy doing?

I understand in certain circumstances it is preferential for home owners to be contacted directly rather than through the listing agent however, I believe that should be a rare occurrence and not the norm. The point I’ve argued is, except under certain circumstances, home owners should not be put in the position of fielding calls and scheduling appointments.

It’s just my opinion, but I firmly believe if you’ve taken the best step and hired a professional you should be entitled to full service; not partial.

As an aside… he answered the phone “hello” so I didn’t even know who I was calling and when I identified myself, he asked me why I was calling.

///…CP