April 2011 Alberta Economic Fundamentals

[Ally]

Edmonton housing starts down in March




EDMONTON - Total housing starts in the Edmonton region fell in March ` the sixth consecutive year-over-year decline.




Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. reported Friday there were 713 homes started, down 12 per cent from 813 in March 2010.




Numbers are also down to 1,565 starts for the year to date. That compares to 2,032 starts in the first quarter of last year.




In the single-detached homes segment, there were 236 started in the Edmonton census metropolitan area in March. That`s down 54 per cent from March 2010.





Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

West Coast oil line leads Canadian energy debate







CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) - A battle over a C$5.5 billion ($5.7 billion) oil pipeline to the West Coast and oil sands tax policy have led a thorny debate over energy and the environment early in Canada's election campaign.





Canada has become the biggest energy exporter to the United States with its oil sands the main supply, prompting Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper to tout the country as an emerging energy superpower.





It's a been double-edged sword. The industry has helped Canada's economy withstand some of the worst effects of the recession. But the unconventional crude is the target of environmentalists at home and abroad concerned about high greenhouse gas emissions and the impact of development on the water and wilderness of northeastern Alberta.





The campaign leading up to the May 2 vote has shown deep divisions over energy policy. As usual, energy threatens a political rift between oil-producing Alberta, Harper's Conservative power base, and the rest of Canada.





Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Alderman seeks automatic secondary suite zoning for all new Calgary neighbourhoods





New subdivisions slated for development in Calgary`s suburbs should be zoned from the start to allow for community-wide secondary suites, a Calgary alderman says.




The proposal would sidestep some of the charged debate that came out of an earlier attempt to implement secondary suites across the city, said Ald. Peter Demong.




`Let`s just make it so from the first,` Demong said.




A previous council debate over a proposal by Mayor Naheed Nenshi to legalize secondary suites in all residential zones was a contentious one. The discussion ended with council making plans to further study the issue.




Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Edmonton's jobless rate stays at 5.8%




Edmonton's unemployment rate held steady in March, but more jobs were created in the city.




Statistics Canada said the jobless rate for the Edmonton census metropolitan area was unchanged from February at 5.8 per cent. A year earlier, the unemployment rate was 7.3 per cent.




The federal agency said employment in the Edmonton area was up by 2,000 jobs from February and by a whopping 36,900 from a year ago.




Edmonton's jobless rate was fourth-lowest among all Canadian census metropolitan areas; Calgary, at 6.1 per cent, was sixth.





Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Enmax hires Shepard power plant builder




CALGARY ` City-owned Enmax Corp. announced Monday it has contracted with a joint venture of Kiewit Energy Canada Corp. and Black & Veatch Canada Co. to design and build its $1-billion Shepard power plant.




The natural gas-fired 800-megawatt facility in southeast Calgary has been delayed by about two years.




Initial construction begins this month and the facility is expected to come on stream in August 2015.




Charles Ruigrok, interim president and chief executive of Enmax, said Monday the project, delayed by a stumbling economy, is expected to debut in a market where there is plenty of demand for its output.





Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Higher gas prices a double-edged sword for Alberta





Higher gasoline prices are a double-edged sword for Albertans, according to the author of a CIBC report that suggests Canadians will be paying almost $12 billion extra a year for fuel as a result of the spike in the spike in crude oil prices.




In his latest Consumer Watch Canada report, Benjamin Tal, Deputy Chief Economist at CIBC, said he expects Canadian households will spend $100 billion on energy costs in 2011, or $950 per household.




But the real winner stands to be the various levels of government that will reap additional income from various fuel and sales taxes, he said in an interview.






Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

First-time Calgary homebuyers back in the market: Re/Max report





CALGARY ` First-time buyers have re-entered the Calgary resale housing market with `a renewed sense of confidence,` says a report released Tuesday by real estate firm Re/Max.




In the first two months of this year, 32 per cent of all sales occurred under $300,000 in Calgary, said the report.




Jennifer Upperton and her sister Helen, an Olympic bobsledder, have been in the market looking for their first home.




`We`re looking for inner city for sure,` said Jennifer, who has been working with realtor Tanya Eklund of Re/Max Real Estate Central to locate a property. `We`re looking for either a raised bungalow or a house that has more than one suite in it.



Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Albertans have rosey economic outlook






CALGARY ` Albertans are among the most likely in the country to feel positive about the current economy.




The latest quarterly RBC Canadian Consumer Outlook Index, released Tuesday, said 69 per cent of Albertans responding to a survey rated the economy as good compared with 61 per cent nationally.




`My assessment is that we have business optimism at the highest level it`s been since before the recession,` said Bruce Graham, president and chief executive of Calgary Economic Development. `We`re seeing building activity ramp back up again and a lot of confidence there.




`We had a very successful 2010 from (an office) leasing standpoint which is a good indication of future employment growth. And high commodity prices, particularly oil. All that is combining to create a sense of optimism in Calgary. Certainly across Alberta. I think that`s also rippling across the country but it`s really starting here first.`




Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

B.C.'s new energy champion



British Columbia, where the environmentalists are your neighbors and First Nations a force, is the gatekeeper today of Canadian oil and gas industry growth.





Without new infrastructure in the province, the Alberta and Saskatchewan-based oil industry, and the B.C.-focused natural gas industry, can`t get to what they desperately want ` new customers in Asia. B.C. is also the home of some of the richest natural gas fields on the continent, making it as important to gas producers as the oil sands are to the oil sector.





In Rich Coleman, B.C.`s newly appointed energy minister, industry will find a strong ally ` and other provincial governments a motivated competitor.





The province led the way under former Liberal Premier Gordon Campbell in the past decade in improving government terms and regulation to promote industry activity.





Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Albertans positive about the economy





CALGARY ` Albertans are among the most likely in the country to feel positive about the current economy.




The latest quarterly RBC Canadian Consumer Outlook Index, released Tuesday, said 69 per cent of Albertans responding to a survey rated the economy as good compared with 61 per cent nationally.




That`s not surprising news for Emily Scarlett, of H&M (Hennes & Mauritz AB) Canada, which is opening its fourth location in Calgary on Thursday.




`We`re a relatively young company in Canada. We`re in our seventh year right now. This is the 56th store that will open in seven years. It`s pretty amazing,` she said of the international fashion retailer`s new 20,000-square-foot flagship store at the redeveloped downtown CORE shopping centre.




Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Calgary retail vacancy one of the lowest in North America





CALGARY ` Finding retail space in Calgary these days remains a difficult enterprise as the city has one of the lowest vacancy rates in North America.




Malika Rajani, who co-owns the Passione women`s store with Natasha Jiwani, said `it was pretty difficult actually` as the retailer moved out of the CrossIron Mills shopping centre to a new location.




The two looked downtown and did their research.




Rajani said there was a lack of appropriate space for a retail clothing store. But they eventually found something along the busy 17th Avenue S.W. stretch on the outskirts of the downtown.




Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Alberta's job count slips in March




EDMONTON - Edmonton`s unemployment rate held steady in March, but more jobs were created in the city.




Statistics Canada said the jobless rate for the Edmonton census metropolitan area remained flat at 5.8 per cent, compared to February. A year earlier, the unemployment rate was 7.3 per cent.




The federal agency said employment increased by 2,000 jobs in the Edmonton area over February. But compared to a year ago, there were a whopping 36,900 more jobs in Edmonton.





Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Harsh Edmonton winter chills real estate activity





EDMONTON - Prices for condos and two-storey homes in Edmonton slipped in the first three months of 2011, but bungalows made modest gains, according to the Royal LePage House Price Survey released Tuesday.




Standard condominiums saw a decrease of 1.8 per cent from a year ago to $205,667.




Standard two-storey homes remained flat with a slight decline of 0.1 per cent to $343,143.




Detached bungalows rose 2.3 per cent to $309,857.





Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Where is Saudi's excess capacity when you need it?





Exactly how high do oil prices have to rise before Saudi Arabia will start using it supposed three million barrels of spare capacity?




Does Saudi Aramco intend to stay on the sidelines watching Brent crude prices - already $120 per barrel - climb as high as $200 (U.S.) per barrel, while blaming speculators for distorting market fundamentals?





Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Calgary real estate market 'spectacular': CB Richard Ellis





CALGARY ` Leasing activity in the Calgary commercial real estate market in the first quarter of this year has been described as `spectacular` in a report by CB Richard Ellis Ltd.




First quarter overall office vacancy fell from 15.0 per cent in 2010 to 12.0 per cent in 2011.




Sublets as a percentage of vacant office space fell to 20.6 per cent in the first quarter of 2011 from 37.6 per cent in the same period of 2010. The industrial availability rate in Calgary also fell significantly, from 5.8 per cent in the first quarter of 2010 to 4.1 per cent.




The downtown office market saw its vacancy drop to 11.5 per cent from 14.3 per cent while the suburban office market experienced a decline from 16.3 per cent to 13.0 per cent.




Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Sales fall in residential real estate market outside calgary





CALGARY ` Residential MLS sales in areas outside of Calgary fell in March compared with a year ago.




According to the latest Calgary Real Estate Board statistics, sales for the towns outside the city market fell by 22.93 per cent from 423 in March 2010 to 326 last month. Also, the average MLS sale price fell by 1.81 per cent to $354,262 from $360,805 a year ago.




In the country residential (acreage) market, sales dropped by 7.58 per cent to 61 in March from 66 in March 2010. The average sale price declined by 12.30 per cent to $850,930 from $970,295 a year ago.




Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Positive momentum in Calgary's indsutrial real estate market





CALGARY ` Positive momentum in the Calgary industrial real estate market continued into the first quarter of this year from a strong finish in 2010, says a report by Colliers International.




Vacancy declined from 5.57 per cent to 5.23 per cent ` the sixth straight quarter of decreasing vacancy, excluding the Haworth manufacturing facility and the Enerflex fabrication facility, both over 300,000 square feet which became vacant in the fourth quarter of last year.




Those two buildings increased vacancy by 0.9 per cent on their own.




Joe Binfet, managing director of Colliers International in Calgary, said there are less options available for tenants in general and particularly in the big bay sector of anything over 50,000 square feet.




Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Edmonton in urban Top 600




It sounds like a cliche, but it's undeniably true: Cities are the world's primary economic engines.




In fact, just 600 cities will account for 60 per cent of global economic output by 2025, up from 50 per cent today.




But that's only part of the tale, according to a fascinating new study on major cities by McKinsey & Co., one of the world's top management consulting firms.




The bigger story is that a huge shakeup in the global economic order is coming. The result: By 2025, 136 new cities -fully 100 of them from China -will elbow their way into the top 600, McKinsey estimates.





Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

No work yet in oil patch, but you're hired




Canada`s oil patch is resorting to increasingly unusual measures to secure workers ahead of a coming labour shortage, with one company hiring engineers before work is available and another resorting to a province-wide electronic blitz.




Triple-digit oil prices have fuelled a substantial comeback in Alberta, which has seen its unemployment rate tumble as employers brought back nearly 70,000 jobs over the past year.





Read the full article here.

 

[Ally]

Edmonton's February EI numbers dip 16%




EDMONTON - The number of people receiving regular Employment Insurance benefits in the Edmonton region fell by 16 per cent in February.






Statistics Canada said Monday there were 14,860 regular EI beneficiaries in the Edmonton census metropolitan area.




That`s down by 2,870 from 17,730 recipients a year earlier.




It`s the 11th consecutive monthly year-over-year decline for the Edmonton region.




The rate of decline wasn`t quite as dramatic as that of Alberta, which saw a 22.5-per-cent drop year-over-year to 43,070 regular beneficiaries, or a 2.9-per-cent drop from the previous month.





Read the full article here.