The catastrophic impact of Hurricane Sandy in the U.S. Eastern seaboard serves as a clear reminder to us that Alberta represents the literal and economic high ground in North America. Rarely do we observe a more direct connection between Mother Nature and financial markets as reflected in the storm’s forced shutdown of Wall Street this week.
Calgary’s real property development sector continues to stand in contrast both to financial markets and Canadian real estate markets in general. Independent reports confirming a broad consensus view of Calgary’s appeal to institutional and private investors alike continue to publish weekly. We have observed several which represent a broad cross section of Calgary’s real estate development sector including:
- Jones Lang LaSalle reported that AA and A office vacancies are a scant 0.7% and another development surge appears to be taking shape;
- CIBC World Markets reported that although pricing corrections in Toronto and Vancouver appear likely, Canada’s housing market and household debt pictures are comparatively stable and dramatic corrections are rather unlikely;
- Barclay Street Real Estate’s Calgary Retail Group reported that new retail developments totalling nearly 15 million square feet are currently in progress throughout the city;
- International property developer Grosvenor Americas (among many others) announced plans for another 18-storey multi-family project in the inner city for delivery in 2016-17, reflecting their favourable outlook for Calgary urban multi-family development for the next 5 years;
At the literal and figurative centre of this concentrated market activity lies a modest, 48-unit multi-family project that one of Calgary’s longest standing urban multi-family builders will complete in approximately 26 months.
