Weekly Stats # Listings # Sales # Price Changes

Nov. 17-Nov. 23   44         26          60

Listings declined a little bit this past week, which is not a bad thing. We still have plenty of listings to choose from and from a selling standpoint it helps to get the numbers cleared out. We also had a small increase in listings which makes for a positive improvement overall for listings in Red Deer. Why the change? well this past week was Christmas week, at least the start of the Christmas season. every year the DTHR Festival of Trees marks the beginning of the Christmas season here in Red Deer, much like the American Thanksgiving does for our friends to the south.

Tuesday was the beginning with the lighting of Red Deer's biggest Christmas Tree, and the Santa Claus Parade. The festival is a huge fundraiser for the health region (DTHR) and draws a ton of visitors. It is not uncommon for the rest of Red Deer to experience impacts form traffic. Retail tends to do very well near the festival head quarters, other venues tend to be somewhat quieter. So no surprise we had less people looking to sell. This trend should continue to decline as we get closer to December 25th and 31st.

Some other note worthy highlights:

* RBC profit to fall 15%
* Alberta slowdown predicted
* The price of Oil dropped to its lowest point in 3 years and rebounded today to $54.080/barrel
* Holiday shoppers plan to spend 14 percent less than they did last year
* U.S. stocks posted the biggest two- day rally since 1987 after the government guaranteed $306 billion of troubled Citigroup Inc. assets and lawmakers pledged to pass another economic stimulus package.

The ride is not over yet. Locally we have lots to be thankful for, and also cautious. Red Deer is a Strong Oil based community and when the revenue gets a bumpy ride so do we. I would look at the last few years and note that the cost of Oil today is comparable to when our boom was at a high point. Don't let the bumps scare you, real estate has been a proven excellent long term investment. Buying today and you could be enjoying a great deal. This will be the time you will look back upon and say I should have bought then.

Your Friend in Real Estate,
Patrick Galesloot

Century 21 Advantage