December 2018 Monthly Real Estate Report

January 10, 2019 11:08 am Published by

Well 2018 is now behind us and what an interesting year it was! The stock market went up and then went down, NAFTA was iffy and now it’s the USMCA, Trump is, well Trump, and we in the west are finally getting some attention about our fledging oil industry. What does 2019 look like? I’ll speculate because that’s what I like to do, but who really knows.

I’m a bit optimistic going into the new year. Why? Because I feel it’s going to be a year of change that might be necessary as we move forward. No doubt what is happening south of the border has had a significant impact on us Canadians. I’m hopeful that with both Federal and Provincial elections this year we will have some mature conversations about what we as Canadians believe is most important and better position ourselves to compete economically on the global stage.

Yes, well what about the Edmonton Real Estate market? No doubt 2018 was defined as one with moderating prices, reduced sales activity and a record number of listings. Our slowly recovering Alberta economy and mortgage stress test qualifications were factors but we were not alone. In fact, across Canada and the US, home sales activity declined from previous years.

For 2019, I’m betting that in the Edmonton area we might not see a bump in sales or prices but that we won’t see a significant drop either. With new home builds on the decline I’m expecting that the amount of surplus inventory will decline some and let’s hope the condo market flattens out. Also, the current forecast for mortgage rates is to not increase as much as expected and if so, will certainly benefit Buyer’s. So, what does 2019 look like? I’m looking forward to finding out!

Chris

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This post was written by Cat and Chris