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City's housing market stable
TENILLE TELLMAN “But I think it’ll probably still take a little while,” said Realtors are also doing their part to keep the housing
ttellman@medicinehatnews.com
Baba. market attractive. They lobbied to increase the amount
“It could be gradual, you can’t really know.”
first-time home buyers could borrow off their RSPs
The economic downturn initiated a shift in Medicine
from $20,000 to $25,000. The recent approval was the
Hat’s housing market in 2008, but industry experts
Medicine Hat has observed such an increase of
first increase of this nature since 1992, she noted.
are confident this year the market will take a turn for
residential listings, it will take time to settle. Spring
And with interest rates as low as the 4.49 per cent
the better.
and summer are always the strongest months for
local residential sales and Baba expects to see the shift
average, now is a great time for buyers. Even if people
Following several years of a regional boom, residential
upwards starting then.
are selling their houses for less, they’re also buying for
real estate sales and prices started leveling off last year.
cheaper as prices continue to adjust.
House prices increased by 4.3 per cent from 2007 —
New development will not continue at the rate it has
“You’ll find new listings are a little more reasonable
bringing the average for all Medicine Hat and Redcliff
in the past, but phase three of Ranchlands on the
these days.”
homes just below $270,000 — Ellen Baba, president
north side of the city and two parts of the Southlands
for the Medicine Hat Real Estate Board, says the
development are still scheduled to grow. There is The housing market remains varied in Medicine
statistic is based on a strong start to the year with a
potential for a land sale lottery in the fall, but dates Hat and there isn’t really a bad area to move to, she
sharp drop by the winter.
have not been scheduled yet. added. We may be developing more of a big city feel,
but everything is still highly accessible and there are
The good news is the Canadian Real Estate Board
Local builders are using this opportunity to cut back
predicts Alberta will be the only province in the
by “working harder and working right,” says Baba. Ten
prices for everyone.
country to see some improvement in 2009. Alberta
members of the local builders' association are looking Medicine Hat house prices recorded for 2008 ranged
is expected to rebound by five per cent after a 2008
at opportunities to showcase their work — including from $11,000 for a mobile home to an $880,000 house
national sales decrease of 14 per cent.
a possible parade of show homes from various in Riverside.
companies in the spring — to generate interest in the
new home market.
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