Home prices won't continue skyrocketing: real estate firm

Edmonton has caught up with Calgary when it comes to huge yearly increases in home prices, with a two-storey in the capital city now worth 53 per cent more than it was a year ago.

Royal LePage Canada says an average two-storey home in Edmonton at the end of September was worth about $316,000.

A bungalow is now worth $286,857, a 47 per cent increase, while a condo is worth $200,433, a 52 per cent jump in a year.

"Edmonton remained the hub of activity for those coming to work in the oil industry, maintaining tight inventory levels across the city," the company states in a release about its third-quarter real estate report.

"However, as inventory levels continued to improve in the third quarter, the rate of price appreciation should moderate slightly towards the end of 2006."

Royal LePage also predicts that in Calgary "activity will become slightly more balanced, as buyers are becoming more reluctant to participate in the frenetic activity."

A bungalow in Calgary is up 56 per cent at $395,067, while a two-storey is worth $405,778, a 53 per cent increase, and a condo is valued at $245,844, a 60 per cent increase.

'Really sensational' increase in Edmonton

Real estate agents point to Edmonton's population growth, as well as continued investment in the oilsands, as some of the major factors behind the continued housing boom.

Art Valerio, a broker with Royal LePage, says the kinds of property values Edmonton is seeing now could never have been predicted.

"In a outstanding market, it might be up 30 per cent but you know to predict a 50 per cent increase in value is really sensational," he said.

"We've had blips in our marketplace that have been exceptional in the early '80s and so on, but never anything like this."

More and more people are signing up for longer-term mortgages in Edmonton because of the rising price of property.

Mortgage broker Stephanie Blake says 35-year loans have become popular in the past four months.

"There's a couple of new programs where with your five per cent down payment you can stretch the amortization of the mortgage from 25 years up to 35."