by Doris Jolicoeur, CD, ABR, CCSP
Associate Broker/Realtor, Professional Realty Group
Mortgage Associate, Verico Brokers for Life
What a cold February! Hopefully, by the time this article is printed, the weather has let up at least a bit. It seems the weather has kept buyers from commencing their home search but for those who already had, it didn’t seem to deter them.
Last month, Morinville saw 13 single family homes and two condominiums sell at an average price of $343,269 and $244,500, respectively. This is a 5.4% decrease over January’s single family home price of $362,818, and a 7.6 increase over December’s. A year ago last month, the average price was 1.5% higher and 10.9% lower in 2012. Morinville’s average home is now priced at 16.8% less than Edmonton and 25.8% less than St Albert’s. The average price in the whole of the Greater Edmonton Area in February was only 19.4% above Morinville’s.
Homes took 75 days to sell, which is a decrease of four days from January, nine in December, and they took 46 days less to sell than a year ago in 2013. It took a Morinville home 29 and 33 days longer to sell than average Edmonton and St Albert homes.
In February, the MLS system reported 1955 new listings and 1122 units sold giving us a 57% ratio in the Greater Edmonton Area. This is a far cry from the 95% ratio we broke a record with in December. Have sellers anticipated a hot spring market and have chosen to list earlier this year?
This past week, in the attempts of booking viewings for buyer clients in both Fort Saskatchwan and Edmonton, I have found more than 50% of MLS listings pending. Is this a sign of an incredibly hot March? Some banks have also showed decreases in interest rates. Now, if only the weather would agree!
