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January 2012 Alberta Economic Fundamentals

Ally

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Should Alberta look east to ship its oil?




EDMONTON ` For Alberta`s oil industry, here`s the perfect storm.




The Obama administration nixes the proposed Keystone pipeline south to the U.S. Gulf Coast after the 2012 elections and the Gateway pipeline to the West Coast gets bogged down for years in messy hearings.




How then does all the oilsands bitumen get to market?




Look east, say some high-profile public policy experts.




Sending more Alberta crude to eastern refineries, then shipping it across the Atlantic ` where there is already lots of tanker traffic ` could mean better prices for the product. From the East Coast, tankers could carry the oil to booming Asian markets through the Panama Canal.





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Alternative routes suggested for north-central LRT proposal





CALGARY ` The north-central leg of Calgary`s LRT is still a long way from reality, but one thing is all but certain: it won`t be a train to nowhere (and nobody).




This spring, transit planners will encourage council to jettison the six-year-old idea of routing the future line through the Nose Creek Valley to the Country Hills area.




`I don`t know if it`s officially dead, but it`s dead,` said Ald. Gian-Carlo Carra, who represents part of that corridor.




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TransCanada releases detailed Keystone XL job creation data






CALGARY, ALBERTA--(Marketwire - Jan. 10, 2012) -
TransCanada Corporation (TSX:TRP) (NYSE:TRP) (TransCanada) released further details today that highlight the thousands of jobs Keystone XL would create for Americans.




The $7 billion oil pipeline is the largest infrastructure project on the books in the U.S. right now. It would create 20,000 jobs: 13,000 in construction, 7,000 in manufacturing.





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Alberta bucks national trend for new home construction





CALGARY ` Alberta is expected to buck the national trend for new home construction in the next two years, according to a report by TD Economics.




After seeing a forecasted 6.3 per cent annual decline in 2011 to 25,200 housing starts, the report is predicting new home construction will increase in the province by 2.5 per cent in 2012 to 25,800 units and by another 1.6 per cent in 2013 to 26,200 units.




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Calgary an attractive location for investors





"Living in the best country, in the best province and in the best city," is a phrase I often use, so it was great to hear it echoed by Garry Beres, senior vice-president of the national investment team at CBRE, who says Calgary is a hot spot for doing business right across North America - and even farther afield.




Beres says a movement to hard assets of "bricks and mortar" by investors looking for a good home for their capital meant he and his CBRE team in Calgary finished off 2011 with sales amounting to three-quarters of a billion dollars.



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Ally

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Should Alberta look east to ship its oil?





For Alberta's oil industry, here's the perfect storm.




The Obama administration nixes the proposed Keystone pipeline south to the U.S. Gulf Coast after the 2012 elections and the Gateway pipeline to the West Coast gets bogged down for years in messy hearings.




How, then, does all the oilsands bitumen get to market? Look east, say some high-profile public policy experts.






Read the full article here.
 

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Calgary condos on a role citywide - again





Whether at or near the city's core or in the suburbs, condominiums' appeal is on a roll again.




While the market slowed for a period during the economic downturn, consumers are now taking advantage of price adjustments, redesigned floor plans, good locations and still-very-affordable interest rates, driving townhouse and apartment construction and sales to surge ahead faster than expected.






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Industry eye a 'turnaround' year





Like a climbing wall, the route to housing market recovery for single-family builders has been steep and challenging.




Although the journey has been fraught with slips, sidesteps, missteps and changes in the economic winds, the Calgary industry is optimistic about the year to come.




`Demand for new single-family detached housing is expected to improve, as employment and net migration continue their strong recovery and mortgage rates remain low,` says Richard Cho, Calgary-based senior market analyst for Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.




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Work force strong in Alberta




According to Statistics Canada, Alberta ended 2011 with the lowest unemployment rate in the country.







The unemployment rate in December was 4.9 percent in Alberta which is nearly three percent below the national average of 7.5 percent.







Nationally, the economy created 17,500 new jobs in December which is a big improvement over November, when the economy lost 18,600 jobs.





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Alberta rides strong job creation wave





Albeta enjoyed a banner year for job creation in 2011, though new figures show employment changed little from November to December.




Data released by Statistics Canada Friday said the country added 18,000 jobs last month. Few of those came in Alberta, but the province tallied 77,500 new jobs for the calendar year of 2011. Of the past 15 years, more jobs were added only in 2006.





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Calgary home sellers not required to report conditional sales





CALGARY ` There could be fewer conditionally sold stickers on for sale signs in Calgary`s real estate market this year.




Not because of declining sales, though.




A new rule change implemented by the Calgary Real Estate Board gives the seller of a property the option of keeping the conditionally sold sticker off the sign when there is a conditional offer. As well, the seller has the option to not report the conditional sale through the MLS system.






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Calgary an economic leader in 2012: Conference Board of Canada





CALGARY ` Calgary, Saskatoon, Edmonton and Regina will benefit from solid global demand for their local resources to post the strongest economic growth among Canadian cities in 2012, says the Conference Board of Canada.




The Metropolitan Outlook-Winter 2012, released Wednesday, is the board`s once-a-year simultaneous analysis of 27 Canadian census metropolitan areas.




`In spite of global economic turmoil, high prices for agricultural products, minerals and oil are likely to continue. Canada`s prairie cities will reap the benefits of this global demand for commodities,` said Mario Lefebvre, director of the Centre for Municipal Studies.






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Calgary average house prices to increase: Royal LePage





CALGARY ` A national report predicts average house prices in Calgary will increase by 3.6 per cent this year.




The Royal LePage House Price Survey and Market Survey Forecast, released Thursday, said a vibrant local economy and low interest rates will drive demand for homes in the city in 2012.




It expects Calgary to post some of the highest year-over-year price increases in Canada.






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Calgary MLS sales in 2011 beat Canadian average





Calgary MLS sales in 2011 bested the Canadian average for year-over-year growth, according to the Canadian Real Estate Association.




In releasing its year-end data on Monday, the association said sales of 22,466 units last year were up 7.0 per cent from the previous year while in Canada sales grew by 2.2 per cent to 456,749 transactions.




Sales across Alberta jumped by 6.9 per cent to 53,146 units.






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Investment in Calgary non-residential buildings rises





CALGARY ` Investment in non-residential building construction in the fourth quarter in the Calgary region and Alberta rose from the previous quarter, according to Statistics Canada.




The federal agency reported Tuesday that investment in the Calgary census metropolitan area was up by 2.8 per cent to $836 million and grew by 3.8 per cent in the province to $2.2 billion.




Across Canada, investment dipped by 0.6 per cent to $11 billion.



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International workers drawn to Canada's safety, economy





Workers from all over the world are increasingly targeting Canada to find jobs in the wake of sluggish economies elsewhere, according to some recruiters who report noticing a recent spike in the number of workers coming to Canada from struggling countries such as Ireland and others with high unemployment rates.







"We started noticing it in 2010 (and) what was really noticeable was the number of people coming from Ireland," says Sandra Miles, president of Vancouver-based Miles Employment Group. "I have never seen so many people from other parts of the world - from all over."




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Appetite for retail space strong in Calgary market





CALGARY ` A strong appetite for spending has pushed Calgary`s retail real estate market to a very low vacancy rate.




A report by Barclay Street Real Estate Ltd. said the city`s overall vacancy rate dipped to 2.2 per cent by the end of 2011.




`Calgary continues to be a landlord`s market,` said Ellisa Asaria, retail leasing specialist with Barclay Street.




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Edmonton ranked among top global performing economies




OTTAWA ` Five out of seven Canadian cities considered among the top 200 local economies in the world were in the top half of rankings for economic performance last year, a Washington, D.C.-based research group said in a report issued Wednesday.







This report from the Brookings Institution rated Calgary the top performing Canadian city, or 51st overall, in terms achieving growth in economic output per capita and employment in 2011.





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Strong year for job creation keeps Alberta, Edmonton unemployment rates low




EDMONTON - Employment changed little in Alberta from Nov. to Dec., a quiet end to a banner year for job creation in the province.




Data released by Statistics Canada Friday said the nation added 18,000 jobs last month. Few of those came in Alberta, but the province tallied 77,500 new jobs for the calendar year of 2011. Of the past 15 years, only 2006 added more jobs.




`There were job gains in just about every sector,` said Darrell Winwood, public affairs officer with Alberta Human Services. `This was the second-best year for job gains since 1997.` The main industries of growth, said Winwood, include construction, health care, social assistance and both wholesale and retail trade.





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Keystone pipeline proposal not dead yet: Redford




EDMONTON - Extremely disappointed, yet optimistic, is how Premier Alison Redford described her government`s reaction Wednesday to the U.S. State Department`s decision to shelve the Keystone XL pipeline.




Redford said that while the decision is a setback for a project vital to the province`s economic expansion, there is strong hope the pipeline can be brought back to life in the coming months.




`I actually believe it is still entirely possible for this project to proceed,` she said Wednesday. `There is no doubt that is the opinion of the applicants (TransCanada Corp.) and we are going to support them in any way they will find helpful.`





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