Influx of residents will continue to drive growth
Toronto condo developer Brad Lamb doesn’t need convincing that Calgary has become a hotbed of multifamily residential construction.
Figures released Wednesday by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. confirm local housing starts in the sector are soaring. It said 1,042 multi-family units were started in
the Calgary area last month, more than three times the number of September 2013.
Total starts for the month were 1,528 units.
Lamb, who was in Calgary on Wednesday, has two projects – 6th and Tenth and The Orchard – under development in the Beltline district.
“This is Alberta’s time and it’s Calgary’s time to build and gentrify the city. You’re going to see within the city core, the Beltline and the downtown, that it will continue to develop with hotels, office buildings and places where people want to live,” said the head of Lamb Development Corp.
“You have a huge influx of Canadians and immigrants everywhere wanting to live here because it’s a strong job market and that’s going to continue and that means housing growth is going to continue.”
Shoring and excavation work is underway at the 224-unit 6th and Tenth project. The 31-storey development should be completed in about 24 months, said Lamb.
The Orchard, at 5th Street and 12th Avenue S.W., will consist of two 31-storey towers separated by a roughly one-acre apple orchard.
Construction on the 432-unit project is expected to start next fall, with completion of the first tower expected to take 26 months. Work on the second tower would begin eight months later.
“We want to deliver buildings that people look at and point to and say well that’s a really great addition to the city core,” said Lamb.
Year-to-date, total starts of 13,803 are up from 8,833 for the same period last year.
The multi-family sector has more than doubled to 8,731 units.
Felicia Mutheardy, the CMHC’s senior market analyst for Calgary, said “production for all unit types continues to be at a heightened pace, supported by strong economic factors such as elevated net migration and job creation.”
Canadian housing starts inched up in September to 197,343 annualized units, from 196,283 in the prior month, he said.
Robert Kavcic, senior economist with BMO Capital Markets, said Alberta starts rose again in September, leaving the third quarter at the strongest level since the tail end of the 2006/07 boom – just shy of 43,000 units.
“Alberta simply needs the homes, with the population expanding close to three per cent year-over-year and rent growth now running at a five-year high,” said Kavcic.
By Mario Toneguzzi, Calgary Herald
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