BLOSSOMING IN VIC PARK

Proposed downtown condo project will include apple orchard
BY DYLAN ROBERTSON
CALGARY HERALD JULY 15, 2014

Fresh apples will be ripening between two downtown condominium towers as a developer aims to give Calgary a more fruitful and dynamic city centre.

The Orchard on Twelfth is a two-tower project at the southeast corner of 12th Avenue and 5th Street S.E., just northeast of Stampede Park. Lamb Development Corp. of Toronto is planning two 31-storey buildings, which will nestle a one-acre orchard of apple trees between them on a 61,000-square-foot land parcel.

“Not only is this a public and private amenity for the city, but also a true green feature; not a stupid green roof that really in the end doesn’t do much,” said company head Brad Lamb. “It’s a phenomenal thing to have in a city, and it’s going to produce tens of thousands of apples which are going to be eaten.”

The company commissioned an Ipsos Reid survey last month which polled 1,000 Americans and 1,000 Canadians, asking them to guess the location from a digital rendering of the project with its apple orchard. Most Canadians thought the image was in Vancouver or Toronto, placing Calgary seventh out of 13 possibilities; Americans thought of Portland or New York and placed Calgary 12th.

The same poll found that 93 per cent of North Americans — especially younger adults — want greener downtowns, and would welcome projects that delivered food.

“I always try to deliver, if I can, a public amenity that the city will enjoy and the residents will enjoy,” Lamb said, comparing the Orchard on Twelth with another property his corporation is developing, 6th and Tenth, which will include a fountain park. “Our cities aren’t green enough, visually and for taking in C02.”

Richard Cho, senior market analyst with Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp., says the projects are part of an ongoing build up in new Calgary condominiums.

“We had lower inventory and now we see that being made up for,” said Cho. He noted that in last year’s January to June period, construction started for only 1,004 apartments. In the same months this year, the city netted some 4,010 starting units, and Cho says more are anticipated.

Alberta isn’t known for its apple orchards but Lamb said an agricultural firm has chosen tree species that can grow edible fruit in the area. A third party will be paid to prune the trees and harvest the fruit for sale or donation.

But for Lamb, the buildings themselves are more interesting.

“They’re rectangular, simple in design, but they’re super clean and super modern,” he said. “We’re delivering beautiful architecture and affordable apartments; these two buildings are spectacular in their own right.”

Units will range from $249,900 for one-bedroom apartments to over a million dollars for larger units. Lamb says those prices are competitive with Beltline properties. The project will cost $130 million with $170 million in expected revenue, he said.

An older house on the block will be demolished, while buildings on the fifth of the block not owned by Lamb Development will remain in place.

Lamb says his company is currently waiting for a permit, but he expects ground to be broken within the year as no zoning exception is needed. He expects the first phase to open in about three and a half years, followed by the second about five years from now.

THE SURGE

Calgary home prices continue to surge
Sustained supply imbalance pushes prices higher
BY MARIO TONEGUZZI, 
CALGARY HERALD JULY 9, 2014

CALGARY - A sustained supply imbalance is pushing residential real estate prices higher, says a new survey released Wednesday by Royal LePage.

The company’s House Price Survey and Market Survey Forecast said the Calgary market experienced strong year-over-year price increases in the second quarter of this year across all housing types.

Detached bungalows increased by 9.7 per cent to $501,200 and condominiums rose by 9.3 per cent to $286,422. Standard two-storey homes increased by 7.9 per cent to $489,589.

“Calgary has had a serious inventory shortage dating back to the beginning of 2013, which combined with strong demand from prospective homebuyers is responsible for pushing prices skyward,” said Ted Zaharko, broker and owner of Royal LePage Foothills, in a news release. “We definitely have one of the hottest real estate markets in the country right now and all housing types are performing very well. Properties are being gobbled up as soon as they hit the market.”

But Zaharko said active listings are starting to climb.

“Slowly but surely we are seeing inventory levels creep up, which is needed to satisfy the pent-up demand after a prolonged period of insufficient supply,” he said.

Royal LePage is forecasting home prices in the city to rise by 5.5 per cent over the year compared with 2013.

“Prices are already up approximately 10 per cent year to date, and we expect this to creep up a little bit more before the end of the year,” said Zaharko. “The Calgary market is vibrant and is home to a strong local economy, fueled by the oil and gas industry. We expect the healthy real estate market to continue for the rest of this year and beyond.”

A BIG HIKE

Calgary house price growth outpacing rest of Canada
9.6% annual hike for repeat home sales to record level
BY MARIO TONEGUZZI 
CALGARY HERALD MARCH 12, 2014

CALGARY - Calgary’s housing market continues to shine compared with the rest of the country as local residental real estate prices showed the highest growth rate in Canada in February, according to a report released Wednesday on repeat home sales.

Calgary prices rose by 9.6 per cent year-over-year and by 1.1 per cent month-over-month - both the best in the country and to an all-time high for the city, said the Teranet-National Bank National Composite House Price Index.

Nationally, of 11 centres surveyed, prices were up 5.0 per cent from last year and by 0.3 per cent from January.

The index is estimated by tracking observed or registered home prices over time using data collected from public land registries. All dwellings that have been sold at least twice are considered in the calculation.

The trend in price increases in Calgary does not appear to be changing in March. According to the Calgary Real Estate Board, so far this month from March 1-11, the average MLS sale price in the city is up 5.28 per cent from the same time a year ago to $480,345 while the median price has increased by 7.25 per cent to $429,000. CREB stats indicate there have been 796 MLS sales so far this month, up 10.71 per cent from last year but new listings are down 4.05 per cent to 1,114 and active listings are off by 18.80 per cent to 3,049.

The Teranet-National Bank report said that for the second month in a row, prices for Canada as a whole rose to an all-time high, though new records were set in only two of the 11 metropolitan markets surveyed - Vancouver (for a fourth straight month) and Calgary (for the first time since September 2007).

The gain from a year earlier was well above the cross-country average in two of the 11 markets, Calgary and Vancouver (7.7 per cent). It was slightly above the average in Toronto (6.1 per cent) and Edmonton (5.3 per cent), equal to the average in Hamilton (5.0 per cent) and below it in Winnipeg (3.5 per cent) and Montreal (1.9 per cent).

In Halifax (4.7 per cent) and Ottawa-Gatineau (0.6 per cent), prices were down from a year earlier for a second consecutive month. In Victoria (3.4 per cent), home prices have been down from a year earlier for 12 months now. Quebec City posted its first 12 month deflation in 15 years (2.0 per cent). It is the first time since October 2009 that there is price deflation in at least four of the regions covered, said the report.

“In February the east-west dichotomy became more pronounced than ever,” it said.

Home prices were up from the month before in all five markets of Western Canada - Calgary, Vancouver and Victoria (0.9 per cent), Edmonton (0.6 per cent) and Winnipeg (0.5 per cent). The rise in Victoria ended a run of four consecutive monthly declines. For Vancouver it was the 10th consecutive monthly increase. In the six markets of central and eastern Canada, the only monthly rise was in Montreal (0.7 per cent), the second advance after six months of flat or declining prices. Prices were down 0.1 per cent in Toronto, making February the fourth month without a gain in the last six. For Ottawa-Gatineau (0.8 per cent) it was the sixth decline in a row, for Quebec City (1.7 per cent) the sixth in seven months. For Halifax (1.7 per cent) it was the third decline in a row, said the report.