May 2024 Edmonton Area Real Estate Market Update

April snow brings May flowers? That is how that saying goes... right? At least that is how I would adopt it for living in Edmonton. Well, if nothing else, I got a brand new look at this continued pressure with the spring market now that it is May. 

If there is one word I could use to describe April, that would be FAST. Fast is how quickly I have seen homes sell in the last 30 days. It should come as no surprise that only in January the average home took 2 months to sell, we would only sell less than 50 homes a day in the Greater Edmonton Area, and the median home price was... wait for it... $390,000!! 

Today the landscape is much different, most homes are selling in almost half that amount of time, with 36 days on the market for any type of home and as low as 29 days for semi-detached homes. If it is priced correctly, it is usually sold in a week where sellers accept one of several offers within the first day or two of listing. On top of that, we are selling 2.7x more homes than we were 4 months ago, and almost 55% more than this time last year. No wonder I received 10 offers on one of my listings this month with the highest more than 10% above the asking price, and no, that is not a typo. 

Speaking of prices, they have steadily risen this month, posting a 3.2% median price increase which is quite a bit more than March bringing our annual total to an 8.2% median price increase. This month, most of that is contributed to single-family detached as row townhomes moved up 2.8%, semi-detached took a break at a 0% change, and apartment condos couldn't even hang on for 3 months in a row of increases as they fell last month by 0.3%. 

So, where do we go from here? Well if last year is any indication (which I never bank on for any year since 2020) it wasn't until June when we started to see things level out with prices and sales. I know my buyers are over with hearing me say that they are competing once again, or to offer above asking price if they even stand a chance to be considered, but if history is even close, I would expect a very busy May at the very least.

So, if you are a seller in this market, what is the game plan this month? There is a reason why some homes get 2, 3, 5, or 10 offers and sell for some amount above the asking price, and why others help drag out a statistic and take 30+ days to sell, after all, an average is made up of two extremes. The answer lies in starting at a fair price and making your home the best in the market. If you try to get ahead of pricing or skip those last-minute touch-ups, that might be the difference between selling double digits above the asking price next week or selling next month.

Buyers, the good news is rates are better than we have seen in nearly 2 years, but with that comes some of the most competition we have seen in those same 2 years. Unfortunately, it is a high-risk, high-reward situation. People are risking their deposits just to write an offer with no financing, even when they don't have the cash in the bank to close (I'll never recommend you do this if I am solely discussing your best interest, but it sure is a winning strategy), or risking their next investment without a proper inspection, again high risk, high reward. If you are a buyer not wanting to take any risks, not pay a dollar above asking, there is one thing that checks almost all of your boxes, all of the overpriced homes that are just sitting on the market because they have been overlooked. It's a bit of a buyer's hack, because they are not all bad listings either, as a few factors can determine why a listing is sitting longer than average.  

If you want to know how to take advantage of selling in this market, reach out to me for a free home evaluation, and I am happy to walk you through selling this spring. https://lorenzgroup.ca/evaluation

If you want to know how to best position yourself in this buying market, reach out for a free buying consultation and I am happy to come up with a game plan for you this year. https://lorenzgroup.ca/contact