On January 10th, 2018 the REALTORS® Association of Edmonton featured its annual market forecast conference with predictions and analysis for the 2018 calendar year.

The general consensus was “stability” through 2018, a trend that mirrors closely to the 2017 market figures.  The board is predicting an increase in year to date sales of 1.15% and an increase of average year to date prices by 0.77%.

These figures amalgamate all the market data between single family, row/townhouse, and condominium. A closer look at the data specific to the condominium market tells a slightly different story.  2017 showed year to date sales increased by 0.42% and year to date prices decreased by 0.96%. The estimation for 2018 is a similar trend with unit sales decreasing by 2.42%, and a decrease in average sale price by 1.91%.  This is tempered with an increase in inventory by 4.42%.  All signs point to a slightly weaker condominium market in 2018.  New product coming to completion in the core will add to this inventory rise but will also likely increase the downtown sales volumes.   

Looking at some of the economic indicators which influence these predictions, it is to be noted that while there are certainly improvements with year over year statistics such as interprovincial migration (Q4 2017 saw the first positive figure in eight quarters +743) the numbers are still flat.  Year over year employment was up 2.0% however in January the unemployment rate still remains at 7.0% which is above the national average of 5.9% but drastically different than the 2014 low of 4.5%. 

For further details on the underlying economic indicators that influence the predictions you can visit the Government of Alberta website link below:

http://economicdashboard.alberta.ca/

http://www.ereb.com/News&Events/2018HousingForecastSeminar.html

For market information specific to your building please call or text 780.918.2635.