Market Conditions for St. Albert, Alberta Reported by Teresa Mardon, REALTOR, C.E.T., TOP 5% Edmonton Real Estate Board Yearly since 2001, Royal Lepage Director's Platinum Award! Updated January 8, 2012.

Current Market Rating: 2 1 2 3 4 5 Buyer's Seller's

Current Price Trend: 3 1 2 3 4 5 Falling Rising

All statistics reported here are courtesy of the Edmonton Real Estate Board, (see my website at www.TeresaMardon.com).

As we embark upon another New Year, our news analysts reflect on the year just past, searching for meaning, trends and significance in our usually chaotic world. And it certainly has been an eventful year. Europe seems unable to solve its debt problems, the Middle East appears on the cusp of a brave new world as the "Arab Spring" unfolds, and our American friends continue to inch toward economic recovery while gearing up for elections next November. It all makes our Edmonton real estate market look like a sea of tranquility and consistency in comparison. We continue a trend established in late 2007, bobbing along unable to decide conclusively between a Balanced Market, (spring and summer months), and a Buyers Market, (fall and winter months), and with average prices confined to a narrow band around $325K. As I've said before, a trend line applied to our average prices over this time period would be completely flat. Sales volume fluctuations are totally seasonal.
We have made little progress in dealing with our large inventory overhang. In a more ordinary environment the market would force a solution, most likely through price reductions. Historically low interest rates have been around so long the market has been artificially skewed and we have almost come to believe the current state of affairs is normal. It's not, and once rates start to rise, as they eventually surely will, we should expect real estate prices to adjust in response. Bank of Canada has made a few false starts in this direction, but has always been held back by the US Federal Reserve's refusal to lead the way. Fortunately for Canadian borrowers this isn't a step we can take independently from the US as it would send our currency soaring and cripple our export market - an extremely unpalatable outcome politically.
The gathering strength of Alberta's economy as demonstrated by our rate of job creation, (Edmonton is second among Canada's metro areas, and fifth in unemployment rate), insulates us somewhat from economic reality, but we continue to languish at 14 out of 27 in MLS unit sales and 20 out of 27 in MLS prices. We are thirteenth in housing starts and fifteenth in building permits, putting us squarely in the middle of the national pack.
We find ourselves slipping a bit deeper into a Buyers' Market in December. Average days on market is 65, (over 60 signifies a Buyers' Market). This is a good time and a good time of year to be a Buyer - if you're a Seller, proper pricing is critical. Not being priced on market is a recipe for frustration.



Location Characteristics: St. Albert is a city in Alberta, located northwest of Edmonton, on the Sturgeon River. It was originally settled as a Metis community, and is now, other than Edmonton itself, the largest city in the Edmonton area. St. Albert first received its town status in 1904 and was reached by the Canadian Northern Railway in 1907.

Originally separated from Edmonton by several miles of farmland, the 1980s expansion of Edmonton's city limits placed St. Albert immediately adjacent to the larger city on St. Albert's south and east sides.

St. Albert was founded in 1861 by Father Albert Lacombe O.M.I, who built a small chapel: the Father Lacombe Chapel in the Sturgeon River valley. This chapel still stands to this day on Mission Hill in St. Albert and is the oldest building in Western Canada. The original settlement was named Saint Albert by Bishop Alexandre-Antonin Taché O.M.I. after Lacombe's name saint; Saint Albert of Louvain. Although Lacombe had originally intended to found the mission at Lac Ste. Anne, the soil proved infertile and he moved the settlement to what would become St. Albert. The location offered several advantages, notably its easy access to supplies of wood and water, its excellent soil, it being a regular stopping point for First Nations peoples on their travels, and its proximity to Fort Edmonton, where the priests could purchase necessary supplies and minister to Catholic workers. A few years later, a group of Grey Nuns would follow Lacombe from Lac Ste. Anne.

During the late 20th and early 21st century it was mistakenly assumed that the community had been named after St. Albert the Great. This was due to incorrect information in the 1985 history of St. Albert; The Black Robe's Vision, published by the amateur historians of the St. Albert Historical Society. This led to the City of St. Albert erroneously promoting St. Albert the Great as the community's patron saint and even erecting a statue of the wrong saint in the downtown area. This misconception was not corrected until 2008. The original chapel has since become an historic site staffed with historical interpreters and is open to the public in the summer season.

Also in St. Albert is the St. Albert Grain Elevators Park. There are two historic Grain Elevators there; one constructed in 1906 by the Alberta Grain Company, the other was built later in 1929 by The Alberta Wheat Pool company. There is also a reproduction of the original 1909 railway station housed at the Grain Elevators Park, the reproduction was contructed in 2005. On Madonna Drive stands the Little White School House which is open to the public. Arts and Heritage - St. Albert maintain this site as well as the Grain Elevators and other heritage buildings and sites under restoration in the City. In June 2009, the City Council approved a multi-staged plan for the heritage sites. The plan features the restoration of the grain elevators and the opening of both a Métis and French Canadian farm on adjacent lots by the River.

According to Statistics Canada 2001 Census, St. Albert had a population of 53,081 (subsequently it grew to 54,588 in 2003,56,310 in 2005 and 58,501 in 2008). The growth rate from 1998 to 2003 was 10.8%. A total of 19,037 private dwellings were enumerated in the city, which has a land area of 34.61 km2 (13.36 sq mi), resulting in a population density of 1,335 people per km² (3,457.6/sq mi).

In 2006, St. Albert had a population of 57,719 living in 20,938 dwellings, an 8.7% increase from 2001. The city has a land area of 35.04 km2 (13.5 sq mi) and a population density of 1,647.4 /km2 (4,266.7/sq mi). St. Albert has placed in the top 5 of "Most Wealthy Cities in Canada" based on average net income per citizen, since 2000.



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