Well I think it is time to pull our boots up and get ready. Back in 2007 when the market turn around on us so violently we went from a listings to sales ratio of close to 1.5:1 and overnight went to slightly over 7:1 and we had the quickest and most sever reversal of valuations I have experienced in my 25 years of being a realtor and investment advisor. If you have been following this column you know that we need a ratio of 4:1 for a neutral or balanced market.

As of this morning in Edmonton proper there are 3,408 single family homes for sale. That is only a marginal increase over last week’s inventory level. Sales on the other hand have dropped to 551 for the previous 30 days. That is almost a 7% drop from the previous weeks 30 day number. That would give us a listings to sales ratio of 6.19:1 again an increase over last week’s ratio. But it is a ratio that creates some concern for me.

The fact that the ratio is still rising is telling me that the market is still not stabilizing. There is going to be continued downward pressure on valuations to come down.

I am still hopeful that we will stabilize by September and possible see the ratio decrease to the point that we might see upward pressure on valuations again.