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According to the latest “Housing Now” report for September, published by CMHC, total housing starts in the Edmonton Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) amounted to 690 units in August, up from 558 units in August 2009.
This represents the 14th consecutive month of year-over-year gains in new home construction. Year-to-date August, there have been a total of 7,018 housing starts in the Edmonton CMA, up from 2,921 units at this time last year.
There were 519 single-detached units started in August, an increase of 38 per cent from the 375 units started a year earlier. The higher number of housing starts this year has lifted supply levels back to the level experienced in 2008.
Single-detached completions reached 592 units in August, more than twofold the 258 units completed this time last year. Absorptions increased by 51 per cent year-over-year in August to 539 units, falling short of completions by 53 units. This resulted in an uptick in the month end inventory of unabsorbed singles, including show homes, to 436 units.
While 13 per cent below August 2009 levels, the inventory is now at the highest level since last November but is still considered low by historic standards.
Multi-family housing starts, which consist of semi-detached units, rows, and apartments, totaled 171 units in August, down almost seven per cent from the 183 units started in
August 2009. An absence of apartment condominium starts contributed to the lower activity in August. Multiple units under construction stood at 4,869 in August, down by just over three per cent from this time last year. Through two-thirds of this year, multi-family starts across the region have amounted to 2,700 units, up 134 per cent from the 1,156 units started in the corresponding period last year.
Multiple unit completions totaled 361 units in August compared with 1,346 units during the same month last year. Absorptions also dropped substantially year-over-year to 358 units. With absorptions coming close to completions, inventory levels were largely unchanged on a month-over-month basis. Compared with this time last year, inventories were up by 4.3 per cent to 1,019 units. At 605 units, condominium apartments represent the largest component of the completed and unabsorbed multiple units across the region. These numbers have remained largely unchanged since the beginning of 2010.
More Information:
http://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/
Canada’s cooling housing market continues to put the brakes to residential building plans, although the slowing trend in no way signals a U.S.-style housing free fall, the Conference Board said Wednesday.
The 2.4 per cent decline, to a monthly rate of $3.5 billion, follows similar data showing housing starts and resale activity in Canada declining for months now, along with reports arguing that Canada’s housing market is a bubble waiting to burst.
Not so, the Conference Board of Canada argued in a report Wednesday. “The housing market has lost its lustre. No doubt about it,” said Mario Lefebvre, the centre’s director for municipal studies.
“However, this will not lead to a free fall for Canada’s housing market. This country will not experience home-price declines to the tune of what we have witnessed in the United States over the past few years.”
Alberta’s declines came entirely in the residential sector, Statistics Canada reported Thursday. The province’s 20.6-per-cent decline in housing permits in August was second only to the drop in P.E.I., at 39.6 per cent. Intentions were down 24 per cent in Edmonton and 27 per cent in Calgary.
Across Alberta, cities issued permits for $851 million worth of construction projects in August, an 11.1-percent decline from July.
“The decline in Alberta was due entirely to fewer residential permits, which plunged 20.6 per cent to $481 million,” said ATB Financial economist Dan Sumner in a statement.
“August’s decline brought residential permits to their lowest since June 2009. Prior to the fall, residential permits had hovered just above the $600 million mark for nearly a year.”
He added that while residential building permits in Alberta had previously “showed strong resilience” this year, as builders continued to plan construction projects, that turned around in August.
“Whenever builders want to begin a project they must first take out a building permit. Hence these figures provide a forward-looking indication of how many and what kind of construction projects will commence in the coming months.”
Read more:
http://www.edmontonjournal.com
http://www.financialpost.com
Alberta posts highest rate of population growth
As of July 1, Canada’s population was estimated at 34,108,800, up 120,800 or 0.36% from April 1, 2010. Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba posted the highest rates of population growth among the provinces.
Alberta’s population climbed by just over 18,500 (+0.50%) to 3,720,900, the highest increase rate among the provinces. Almost half of the growth in Alberta came from natural increase, the highest proportion among the provinces. Alberta has enjoyed a relatively high rate of growth in recent years, mainly because of its burgeoning economy. The province has high birthrates, relatively high immigration, and a high rate of inter-provincial migration when compared to other provinces.
Canada’s growth over the second quarter was similar to what was observed during the same quarter in 2009. Immigration increased by 11,100, but the net inflow of non-permanent residents was lower (-10,100). As a result, net international migration was stable. Natural increase, the difference between births and deaths, also changed little.
Notes:
Natural increase is the variation in population size over a given period as a result of the difference between the number of births and the number of deaths.
Net international migration is the variation in population over a given period as a result of movements of population between Canada and other countries that involve a change in the usual place of residence. A distinction is made between immigrants, emigrants, returning emigrants, net temporary emigrants and net non-permanent residents.
Non-permanent residents (also called temporary residents) are people from another country who have a work or study permit, or who are refugee claimants, and family members living in Canada with them.
Median age is the age at which 50% of the population is older and 50% is younger.
For more information, or to inquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, please visit Statistics Canada:
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/
or contact Client Services:
toll-free 1-866-767-5611; 613-951-2320; fax: 613-951-2307
e-mail: Please Click here to Contact Us, Demography Division.
0% Commission Real Estate Network launches in Canada
Bytheowner.com, a new commission-free real estate network which combines five commission-free real estate companies, went online on Tuesday with a listing of more than 12,000 properties for sale across Canada.
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We recently finished standardizing and optimizing the websites,” said Bytheowner.com general manager Martin Rygiel, pictured left. “That was our first step in creating the network. The second step involves analyzing our ways of doing business, as we would like to implement the best practices in each of these companies.”
The five companies part of the network include ComFree in Alberta, Skhomes4sale.com in Saskatchewan, ComFree in Manitoba and PrivateRealEstate in Ontario (which is under the ownership of ByTheOwner.com / Duproprio.com in Quebec).
“When we combine the transactions done through the five companies that now make up our network,” said Rygiel. “We’ve helped people sell more than 85,000 properties. For our customers, this means they’ve saved more than $1 billion in commissions.”
Bytheowner.com began in 1997, and now claims to be the largest real estate network in Canada, a challenge to the dominant Canadian Real Estate Association’s Multiple Listing Service, which still handles the majority of properties being sold in Canada, and that has come under pressure from the Competition Bureau, which has raised concerns rules imposed on agents are anti-competitive.