Edmonton's condos among Canada's most affordable
Edmonton has been one of Canada’s most affordable real estate markets among major cities for several years now, but a new study reveals it’s also a rock-bottom bargain for condominiums compared with more than three dozen Canadian municipalities.
“The condo market has generally been very boring in Edmonton,” says Drew Carlson, realtor with Carlson Real Estate Group at Exp Realty. “In past years, when listing condos, it was hit or miss whether it would sell.”
The recent study by national realty firm Zoocasa suggests that long-running slump has turned the city’s apartment condo market into a bargain-hunter’s dream with the lowest average price among 41 Canadian cities.
The report notes that Edmonton’s average condominium price in October of about $180,600 was 67 per cent below the national average price of about $541,500 — the largest gap among all cities.
Yet the tide may be turning for the market as condominium sales in parts of the city are heating up.
“In south Edmonton, for example, people are snapping up properties,” Carlson says. Recent statistics for November from the Realtors Association of Edmonton (RAE) points to burgeoning demand for condominiums. Last month, the segment experienced the largest percentage jump in sales activity year over year, up 55 per cent with 296 transactions.
Still, average prices have yet to gain much traction, RAE numbers show. The average price for a condominium apartment in November, actually slid about 11 per cent year over year to about $172,000.
By comparison, the next lowest priced condo market was Regina, the Zoocasa study found, where the average price was about $217,400.
“Value in the Edmonton market is phenomenal,” notes Wally Fakhreddine, local realtor with Top Edmonton Real Estate, MaxWell Devonshire Realty.
“I constantly see clients astonished by what they can purchase here in Edmonton for a fraction of the price in Toronto, Vancouver and even Calgary.”
In Calgary, the average condo price of $323,800 — 40 per cent below the national average, or the 13th least costly condo market in Canada, the Zoocasa study found.
Greater Vancouver had the highest average price at $770,200, which was 42 per cent above the national average.
British Columbia’s Lower Mainland had the second highest average price at nearly $715,000, or 32 per cent more than the national average price.
The Greater Toronto Area was in third spot at $703,500, nearly 30 per cent more than the national average price.
All told, single-family detached homes, townhomes and semi-detached homes are generally more affordable in Edmonton than most major Canadian cities. In November, the average price for a single-family home in Edmonton was about $479,000, an increase of about two per cent from November last year, RAE statistics show.
By comparison, the average price of a single-family home in Toronto was about $1.45 million. RAE figures for last month also reveal the average price for townhomes was $271,000, up about 12 per cent. The average price for semi-detached homes in November was about $362,000, up less than one per cent from last November.
Although these housing types have average prices substantially less than Calgary, Vancouver and Toronto, Edmonton’s condominium market stands out as the best deal in Canada for price-conscious buyers — a fact not missed by investors across Canada, Carlson says.
“They are buying properties here recognizing prices are about as low as they’re going to get.”
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