Edmonton housing market will ‘hold steady’ despite oil prices

The Realtors Association of Edmonton predicts the region’s housing market is set to “slow down but still hold steady” this year amid the ongoing collapse in oil prices.
 
The group’s annual housing forecast said sales of single-family homes will remain at the same level as 2014’s 11,500 transactions. Prices may increase to about 3.5%, up from last year’s $432,713.
 
Meanwhile, sales of condo, duplex and row houses are set to jump modestly at 2.5%. The average price will be at $252,175, the report added.
 
“We’ve had a phenomenal year in 2014 and there are still a lot of other great things that affect our economy,” New association president Geneva Tetreault said.
 
“We just expect things to level or maintain where they are. Interest rates are still low and there are a lot of great things going on in the city as well as in the province. It’s wrong for us to look at our industry as everything being based on one thing.”
 
The predictions appear to be similar to the expectations of the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp (CMHC).
 
“For prices, we’re expecting a little slower growth in 2015 and 2016 than we saw in 2014. For sales, we agree that we’re not going to see that faster pace of sales that we saw in 2014,” said CMHC senior market analyst for Edmonton Christina Butchart
 
The Realtors Association of Edmonton represents 3,200 real estate brokers and associates in the country.

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