Single-family homes market sees bigger buy in Edmonton

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Buyers in Edmonton’s resale, single-family detached home market are getting kind of a big deal for their dollars compared with other major Canadian cities, a new study shows. National realty brokerage Zoocasa released a study comparing average single-family detached home prices in major cities with the national average price for all housing types.

And Edmonton ranked among the most affordable markets, trailing only Quebec City, Winnipeg, Saint John, N.B., and Regina.

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“You can get a pretty nice home here for that price in the study,” says Krystal Smith, realtor with eXp Realty in Edmonton, referring to the national average price in January of $659,395.

She further notes how buyers in Edmonton can purchase a two-storey home, more than 2,200 square feet with a double-garage in the southwest, among the most in-demand regions in the city, for about $660,000.

Even more notable is that the average price of a single-family detached home in Edmonton is substantially less than the national average price. In January, the study shows, the average price was $422,400, up four per cent from the previous year.

In contrast, the highest priced market in Canada for single-family detached homes was Vancouver at $1,943,200, up more than seven per cent year over year.

Fraser Valley was the next highest market for homes of this type at $1,460,500, followed by Toronto at $1,270,200.

Some residents from those cities are now purchasing real estate in Edmonton, Smith adds.

“I am finding quite a few people coming from British Columbia, for example, who are not even looking in the price range of $660,000,” she says. “They’re instead looking at about $1 million because they sold their home in Vancouver for $2 million.”

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Yet most buyers in Edmonton are seeking to purchase in price ranges significantly less than the national average price, based on recent market data from Realtors Association of Edmonton.

In February, the benchmark price — which eliminates the lowest and highest priced homes sold on the market — for a single-family detached home was $441,700, up five per cent year over year.

And the average price was $508,411, up nearly 11 per cent.

Yet prices this year are not much higher than four years ago when in February 2020, the average price was $434,796, about 17 per cent lower than this year.

Activity is picking up quickly. Edmonton saw a big jump in sales activity to start the year, the study notes, finding sales saw the second higher percentage-wise growth in Canada at about 46 per cent year over year.

Only Vancouver’s market saw more growth with sales rising 53 per cent.

Higher demand aside, Edmonton is the most affordable big city market in Canada, Smith notes. “Even Calgary is a lot higher than here.”

There, home prices have taken off considerably more since early in the pandemic than in Edmonton.

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Sales growth continues to be strong in Calgary, up more 35 per cent, compared with the national average of 22 per cent, the Zoocasa study reveals.

What’s more, its average price for a single-family detached home is now close to the national average, reaching $640,500 in January, up 12 per cent year over year.

“For the average price, you could probably buy a two-storey home about 1,600 to 1,700 sq. ft. with a finished basement and a double-detached garage,” says Calgary realtor Richard Fleming at Re/Max Mountain View Real Estate.

Edmonton could catch up to Calgary eventually, but for the foreseeable future it will remain affordable, Smith predicts. That’s especially likely as long interest rates remain about five per cent for fixed-rate, five-year mortgages, she further notes.

“A lot of people are looking in the $400,000 to $500,000 range because that’s what most buyers are approved for as a mortgage amount, so those homes are selling almost immediately.”

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