Residential real-estate sales in the Edmonton area predictably dipped month over month in August but are higher than they were a year ago, a group representing city realtors said Thursday. In a media release detailing market statistics, the Realtors Association of Edmonton said the 2,382 homes sold in August were down 16.7 per cent from July. The mark is also 7.8-per-cent lower than that from a year ago. Darlene Reid, the association’s board chair, said the Edmonton market has “definitely cooled” but that the month-over-month change came as expected. “The number of properties listed and sold in August was lower in all categories, which is typical for this time of year,” Reid said in the release. “As school starts up again and life gets busier, the buyers and sellers that are left in the market will have to change up their tactics a bit.” A home also spent an average of 37 days on the market before selling, up from 33 in July, the association said. And for the second month in a row, home prices have decreased month over month, by 0.4 per cent in August, it said, adding that the average home price of $461,281 is six per cent higher than a year ago. Among the different residential property types, the average price in August for a detached home was $569,926 – a decrease of 1.5 per cent from July and an increase of 2.9 per cent a year ago – while August’s average condo price of $218,063 was an increase of 3.9 per cent from July and 6.7 per cent from a year ago. Semi-detached homes, also known as duplexes, fell in value by 2.3 per cent month over month, while row houses/townhomes rose in value by an average of 1.5 per cent since July.
