April numbers are in

It's that time of the month again... okay, well, not that time of the month... or perhaps it is that too... you know what, never mind. The EREB released their final April resale stats today. There, we'll go with that.

I guess the big story this time around would be sales, April saw a rebound back into their normal range for the month, coming in at 1,843. Which is up 1.1% over last April, which is the first time we've seen that in 2009.

Ultra low interest rates seemed to finally draw out the buyers. I just hope for their sake that they aren't leveraging themselves to the max, cause you have to figure rates are going to be going back to 6%+ eventually.

Though Mark Carney tells us they'll be this low for at least another year or so... but back in February he was also screaming from the rooftops not to worry and to expect 3.8% growth in 2010... and walked away from that prediction soon after.

Ultimately Carney will just follow whatever the US does... if they hold them, we'll hold ours... if they jack theirs, we'll jack ours... and if they go negative, we'll go negative.

Whodathunk that last possibility would have ever existed even just a few months ago?!

Back to the Edmonton resale situation. Inventory and prices for the most part stayed the same, going up about a point each. Condos a bit more, at 2.4%. Compared to last year though they're all down between 7-10%.

Obviously with sales increasing and inventory holding we're seeing the absorption rate go down, and is now at 4.1. Still considered a buyers market, but the lowest we've seen it since the inventory explosion of 2007 when over six months it went from 1.09 to 9.52. So it's getting back into the normal range, but 4.1 is still very high for April.

Finally, as always, here are the hard numbers.

Sales = 1,843
Since April '07 = -24.5% (-598)
Since April '08 = +1.1% (+20)
Since last month = +33.6% (+463)

Active Listings = 7,539
Since April '07 = +139.3% (+4,388)
Since April '08 = -28.9% (-986)
Since last month = +0.8% (+63)

Single Family Homes Median= $337,000
Since peak (May '07) = -15.8% (-$63,000)
Since last April = -9.5% (-$35,000)
Since six months ago = -1.7% (-$5,750)
Since last month = +0.9% (+$3,000)

Residential Average = $312,127
Since peak (July '07) = -12.0% (-$42,591)
Since last April = -7.4% (-$24,804)
Since six months ago = -1.8% (-$5,657)
Since last month = +1.0% (+$3,095)

Single Family Homes = $353,386
Since peak (May '07) = -17.1% (-$72,642)
Since last April = -8.5% (-$32,647)
Since six months ago = -2.7% (-$9,888)
Since last month = +1.0% (+$3,670)

Condos = $236,020
Since peak (July '07) = -13.2% (-$35,888)
Since last April = -8.1% (-$20,927)
Since six months ago = -0.7% (-$1,570)
Since last month = +2.4% (+$5,551)

Townhouses = $291,068
Since peak (Oct '07) = -20.9% (-$76,896)
Since last April = -7.9% (-$24,997)
Since six months ago = -5.2% (-$16,110)
Since last month = +5.2% (+$14,292)