Fewer sales but higher prices.
This appears to sum up Red Deer’s residential real estate market for 2010, based on statistics compiled by the Central Alberta Realtors Association.
The association reported on Wednesday that 1,276 home sales in the city were processed through the Multiple Listing Service last year. That represented a 24 per cent decline from 2009, when there were 1,671 MLS sales in Red Deer, and a 35 per cent slide from 2008, when 1,952 deals were done.
But the prices of homes sold in Red Deer last year averaged out to a respectable $330,893 — 11 per cent more than the 2009 average of $298,581 and a more than seven per cent improvement over the 2008 figure of $307,935.
In the rest of the area covered by the Central Alberta Realtors Association, MLS residential sales fell 14 per cent, from 2,013 in 2009 to 1,730 last year. But the average price slipped nearly 2.5 per cent, from $247,354 in 2009 to $241,439 last year.
Meanwhile, residential MLS listings were down in Red Deer but up in the surrounding region.
In Red Deer, they dropped 4.5 per cent, from 3,455 to 3,298. Elsewhere in the Central Alberta Realtors Association area they were up seven per cent, to 5,693 from 5,316.
For the month of December, MLS sales in Red Deer were higher in 2010 than in 2009 — increasing to 99 from 86. But the average price last month was just $268,819, down from $299,111 in December 2009.
In the outlying area, 92 homes sales were completed last month, with an average selling price of $247,684. That compares with 96 sales at an average price of $262,805 in December 2009.