They may not be building homes, but houses are being sold. A Tuesday report from Reuters said both housing permits and non-housing permits in British Columbia and Alberta were both down in June.
But in July, Dave Cooper from the Edmonton Journal is reporting that housing sales are up while the price of homes is starting to decrease.
Buyer’s market anyone?
The report said the average single family home dropped from “$342,014 in June to $335,501 in July, a drop of 1.9 per cent.”
Also, with mortgage rates low, the time to buy seems to be now.
Cooper’s report also said first-time home buyers are purchasing homes below the median price of $325,000. Now even though that takes away from that market, homes being purchased above $450,000 or higher is “up 26 per cent in 2012 as compared to the past five years,” as stated in the Edmonton Journal.
The Realtors Association told the EJ that it expects that trend to continue throughout the remainder of the year.
Look at what Realtors Association president told the EJ:
“We sold 1,257 this year (in the $450,000 to $600,000 bracket). And people buying those homes are getting more home than they were three to four years ago as the market has come down,” said Singleton.
Already 500 homes sold in the $600,000 to $1 million range. That’s up from 410 a year ago. Furthermore, the housing market is on pace to break sales for the over $1 million range.
“We have had good activity in sales of homes over $1 million, and that was a bit surprising,” said Singleton. “We don’t usually sell that many million-dollar homes in Edmonton, but we sold 64 so far this year compared to 66 in all of 2011.”
The article went on to say the hopping areas of transactions are in Grandin, Belgravia, Crestwood and Laurier as new homes are being built next to renovated older homes.
The best part about lowering of home prices means the potential to get more for your money. So if you’re thinking about purchasing that $325,000 home, two years ago it could’ve been $365,000.
For more information on the Edmonton Journal article, click here.
