September 2012 Alberta Economic Fundamentals
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CIBC looks to play oil patch real estate agent
Over the past few years, banks with ambitions in the oil patch have increasingly focused on the real estate side of the business ` an area where Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce is now expanding.
CIBC on Thursday unveiled the purchase of Houston-based Griffis & Small, a 10-person operation that focuses on acquisition and divestiture. A&D is the business of helping oil and gas companies trade land. It`s a business banks like for all sorts of reasons.
Read the full article here.
Over the past few years, banks with ambitions in the oil patch have increasingly focused on the real estate side of the business ` an area where Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce is now expanding.
CIBC on Thursday unveiled the purchase of Houston-based Griffis & Small, a 10-person operation that focuses on acquisition and divestiture. A&D is the business of helping oil and gas companies trade land. It`s a business banks like for all sorts of reasons.
Read the full article here.
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Kuwait Petroleum looks to invest up to $4 billion in oilsands partnership
CALGARY - Athabasca Oil Corp. confirmed Friday that it is in the early stages of forming a joint venture for two of its Alberta oilsands properties.
The news followed a report in the Globe and Mail that Kuwait's state-owned petroleum company is looking to invest as much as $4 billion in an oilsands partnership.
Read the full article here.
CALGARY - Athabasca Oil Corp. confirmed Friday that it is in the early stages of forming a joint venture for two of its Alberta oilsands properties.
The news followed a report in the Globe and Mail that Kuwait's state-owned petroleum company is looking to invest as much as $4 billion in an oilsands partnership.
Read the full article here.
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Calgary resale housing market shines
CALGARY ` Calgary`s resale housing market continued to shine in August as it heads into the fall on a pace to surpass last year`s level of activity.
In August, MLS sales and average prices in the city have risen compared with a year ago.
`Calgary`s market continues to shine because of its plentiful economy not just in Calgary but throughout the province and alluring housing affordability,` said Tanya Eklund, a realtor in Calgary with RE/MAX Real Estate Central. `Our (rental) vacancy rate is close to two per cent, interest rates and unemployment rates remain low. All of these factors are driving buyers to enter the market or consider upgrading their existing home. Buyers have their confidence back and are ready to move on from the past.
Read the full article here.
CALGARY ` Calgary`s resale housing market continued to shine in August as it heads into the fall on a pace to surpass last year`s level of activity.
In August, MLS sales and average prices in the city have risen compared with a year ago.
`Calgary`s market continues to shine because of its plentiful economy not just in Calgary but throughout the province and alluring housing affordability,` said Tanya Eklund, a realtor in Calgary with RE/MAX Real Estate Central. `Our (rental) vacancy rate is close to two per cent, interest rates and unemployment rates remain low. All of these factors are driving buyers to enter the market or consider upgrading their existing home. Buyers have their confidence back and are ready to move on from the past.
Read the full article here.
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Kuwait seeks piece of oilsands
Athabasca Oil Corp. confirmed Friday that it has signed a memorandum of understanding on an oilsands joint venture but denied a firm deal is in place.
The company was reacting to a news report that it had a deal under which stateowned Kuwait Petroleum Corp. would inject up to $4 billion, but its news release - issued after its stock was suspended from trading - mentions neither the company nor the figure.
Read the full article here.
Athabasca Oil Corp. confirmed Friday that it has signed a memorandum of understanding on an oilsands joint venture but denied a firm deal is in place.
The company was reacting to a news report that it had a deal under which stateowned Kuwait Petroleum Corp. would inject up to $4 billion, but its news release - issued after its stock was suspended from trading - mentions neither the company nor the figure.
Read the full article here.
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Enbridge receives approval for pipeline extension from Fort McMurray to Edmonton
Calgary based Enbridge has received approval from Alberta's energy watchdog to ship more oilsands crude from Fort McMurray to the Edmonton area.
The 385-kilometre Woodland pipeline extension project would start delivering crude by 2014.
Enbridge says additional pipeline capacity will be needed to accommodate the growing crude volumes it expects to flow out of the region in the coming years.
Read the full article here.
Calgary based Enbridge has received approval from Alberta's energy watchdog to ship more oilsands crude from Fort McMurray to the Edmonton area.
The 385-kilometre Woodland pipeline extension project would start delivering crude by 2014.
Enbridge says additional pipeline capacity will be needed to accommodate the growing crude volumes it expects to flow out of the region in the coming years.
Read the full article here.
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Alberta records strongest gain in a year in help-wanted index
CALGARY ` Alberta posted its strongest gain in a year in July in the Help-Wanted Index by the Conference Board of Canada.
The index is based on the seasonally-adjusted number of new, unduplicated jobs posted online during the month across 79 Canadian job-posting websites.
Alberta`s index rose by 12.6 points.
Read the full article here.
CALGARY ` Alberta posted its strongest gain in a year in July in the Help-Wanted Index by the Conference Board of Canada.
The index is based on the seasonally-adjusted number of new, unduplicated jobs posted online during the month across 79 Canadian job-posting websites.
Alberta`s index rose by 12.6 points.
Read the full article here.
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Condo prices expected to rise in most cities in 2013, highest jump predicted in Edmonton
TORONTO - A new condo report suggests first-time buyers, retirees and population growth will continue to fuel demand and price growth for the compact living spaces over the next few years.
The study by Genworth Canada found that average condo resale prices are expected to rise next year in seven of the eight metropolitan centres studied.
The highest increase is expected to be in Edmonton, where prices could rise 3.2 per cent.
Read the full article here.
TORONTO - A new condo report suggests first-time buyers, retirees and population growth will continue to fuel demand and price growth for the compact living spaces over the next few years.
The study by Genworth Canada found that average condo resale prices are expected to rise next year in seven of the eight metropolitan centres studied.
The highest increase is expected to be in Edmonton, where prices could rise 3.2 per cent.
Read the full article here.
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Bank report backs West Coast crude oil pipelines
CALGARY ` Western Canadian heavy oil producers have missed out on about $5.8 billion in the first half of 2012 due to the discount prices their products receive, a national bank commodities analyst declared Thursday.
And the double discounting of Canadian crude will likely continue until West Coast exports are increased by building pipelines, Scotiabank vice-president Pat Mohr pointed out in a report.
Read the full article here.
CALGARY ` Western Canadian heavy oil producers have missed out on about $5.8 billion in the first half of 2012 due to the discount prices their products receive, a national bank commodities analyst declared Thursday.
And the double discounting of Canadian crude will likely continue until West Coast exports are increased by building pipelines, Scotiabank vice-president Pat Mohr pointed out in a report.
Read the full article here.
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Kuwait deal with Athabasca sparks interest from other oil sands players
Athabasca Oil Corp. is in talks with at least one other Canadian oil and gas company to expand an oil sands joint venture planned with Kuwait Petroleum Corp.
According to people familiar with the discussions, Calgary-based Connacher Oil and Gas Ltd. is seeking to transfer a large portion of its oil sands properties into a development venture that Kuwait Petroleum has agreed, on a preliminary basis, to finance. It`s possible other companies could be invited to roll in additional oil sands assets.
Read the full article here.
Athabasca Oil Corp. is in talks with at least one other Canadian oil and gas company to expand an oil sands joint venture planned with Kuwait Petroleum Corp.
According to people familiar with the discussions, Calgary-based Connacher Oil and Gas Ltd. is seeking to transfer a large portion of its oil sands properties into a development venture that Kuwait Petroleum has agreed, on a preliminary basis, to finance. It`s possible other companies could be invited to roll in additional oil sands assets.
Read the full article here.
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Canfor makes $50 million investment in Grande Prairie sawmill
Giving customers what they want, when they want it, and in the quantity they want it`that`s the strategy driving a $50 million investment by Canfor in its log yard, sawmill and biomass power plant in Grande Prairie, Alberta.
The upgrade has also resulted in a major change for the company`s logging contractors, who have gone from supplying tree length logs to cut-to-length (CTL) logs.
Clem Luken, Grande Prairie sawmill plant manager, says that Canfor is making adjustments and investments along its entire value chain from the forest to the customer`s door to ensure it can respond to customer demands while generating a better return on investment for its shareholders.
Read the full article here.
Giving customers what they want, when they want it, and in the quantity they want it`that`s the strategy driving a $50 million investment by Canfor in its log yard, sawmill and biomass power plant in Grande Prairie, Alberta.
The upgrade has also resulted in a major change for the company`s logging contractors, who have gone from supplying tree length logs to cut-to-length (CTL) logs.
Clem Luken, Grande Prairie sawmill plant manager, says that Canfor is making adjustments and investments along its entire value chain from the forest to the customer`s door to ensure it can respond to customer demands while generating a better return on investment for its shareholders.
Read the full article here.
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Megaproject angst not new
Controversial megaprojects are as old as Canada itself, but their long-term benefits to the nation's growth are both undisputed and profound, the president of the proposed Northern Gate-way pipeline told a review panel on Tuesday.
In opening remarks to the panel, John Carruthers said his proposed $6-billion project to ship Alberta oilsands crude to Asia-bound tankers on B.C.'s west coast "is no different."
"Canada has witnessed this [controversy] as far back as 1871, when the Canadian Pacific Railway was constructed in return for British Columbia agreeing to enter Con-federation," Carruthers said.
Read the full article here.
Controversial megaprojects are as old as Canada itself, but their long-term benefits to the nation's growth are both undisputed and profound, the president of the proposed Northern Gate-way pipeline told a review panel on Tuesday.
In opening remarks to the panel, John Carruthers said his proposed $6-billion project to ship Alberta oilsands crude to Asia-bound tankers on B.C.'s west coast "is no different."
"Canada has witnessed this [controversy] as far back as 1871, when the Canadian Pacific Railway was constructed in return for British Columbia agreeing to enter Con-federation," Carruthers said.
Read the full article here.
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Red Deer industrial rate stays low, despite addition of new buildings
Despite the addition of 285,000 square feet of building space, the availability of industrial property in Red Deer tightened between July 2011 and the same month this year.
That`s one of the findings of a market survey conducted recently by Soderquist Appraisals Ltd. The Red Deer real estate appraisal and consulting firm calculated that the local industrial vacancy rate stood at 3.33 per cent in July, down from 3.57 per cent a year earlier.
Mike Garcelon, the CEO and senior appraiser at Soderquist, said the latest figure suggests that there is strong demand for industrial space here and the sector is healthy.
Read the full article here.
Despite the addition of 285,000 square feet of building space, the availability of industrial property in Red Deer tightened between July 2011 and the same month this year.
That`s one of the findings of a market survey conducted recently by Soderquist Appraisals Ltd. The Red Deer real estate appraisal and consulting firm calculated that the local industrial vacancy rate stood at 3.33 per cent in July, down from 3.57 per cent a year earlier.
Mike Garcelon, the CEO and senior appraiser at Soderquist, said the latest figure suggests that there is strong demand for industrial space here and the sector is healthy.
Read the full article here.
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Student renters face hot market in Calgary
CALGARY ` Calgary post-secondary students returning to school this week are facing one of the hottest rental markets in years, leaving many scrambling to find affordable accommodation.
Observers say the market for rental properties is the tightest since the past economic boom. And with apartments getting harder to find, one rental website is reporting an 11 per cent hike in the average cost of renting a unit over past year.
Read the full article here.
CALGARY ` Calgary post-secondary students returning to school this week are facing one of the hottest rental markets in years, leaving many scrambling to find affordable accommodation.
Observers say the market for rental properties is the tightest since the past economic boom. And with apartments getting harder to find, one rental website is reporting an 11 per cent hike in the average cost of renting a unit over past year.
Read the full article here.
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Why newcomers are choosing Alberta
Did you know that Calgary, Alberta, is the fifth most livable city in the world? That`s according to the Economist magazine`s 2012 list released this August. It is among three Canadian cities ranked in the top five (Vancouver is number three, Toronto is four, after Melbourne, Australia, and Vienna, Austria, which took the top two spots respectively).
Based on criteria like health care, stability, culture and environment, education and infrastructure ` with a score of up to 100 ` Calgary earned a score of 96.6, less than one full point away from top-rated Melbourne (97.5).
Read the full article here.
Did you know that Calgary, Alberta, is the fifth most livable city in the world? That`s according to the Economist magazine`s 2012 list released this August. It is among three Canadian cities ranked in the top five (Vancouver is number three, Toronto is four, after Melbourne, Australia, and Vienna, Austria, which took the top two spots respectively).
Based on criteria like health care, stability, culture and environment, education and infrastructure ` with a score of up to 100 ` Calgary earned a score of 96.6, less than one full point away from top-rated Melbourne (97.5).
Read the full article here.
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Massive carbon-capture project announced for the oilsands
CALGARY ` The Alberta oilsands' first carbon-capture project will be pumped up with $865 million in government cash.
The $1.35-billion Shell-Chevron-Marathon Oil program to store C02 emissions from the Scotford upgrader is set to commence in 2015.
It's estimated the Quest project to inject CO2 emissions 2.3 km underground will sequester 35% of the greenhouse gases produced by the facility.
Read the full article here.
CALGARY ` The Alberta oilsands' first carbon-capture project will be pumped up with $865 million in government cash.
The $1.35-billion Shell-Chevron-Marathon Oil program to store C02 emissions from the Scotford upgrader is set to commence in 2015.
It's estimated the Quest project to inject CO2 emissions 2.3 km underground will sequester 35% of the greenhouse gases produced by the facility.
Read the full article here.
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Albertans get good value
Housing is not a bargain in Canada, with ownership costs having risen (mostly) steadily since the mid-1990s, both in real dollar terms and also as a percentage of household income. But Albertans just received some positive news last week with a report from the economics wing of the Royal Bank of Canada that affordability in Alberta has increased in the second quarter of 2012.
RBC Economics noted how Alberta has been further solidified as the province with the lowest home ownership costs as a share of household income in Canada. And the reason? Decreasing utility costs. The bank noted how a 17-per-cent decline in utility costs was the biggest contributor to across-the-board improvements in housing affordability in the second quarter of 2012.
Read the full article here.
Housing is not a bargain in Canada, with ownership costs having risen (mostly) steadily since the mid-1990s, both in real dollar terms and also as a percentage of household income. But Albertans just received some positive news last week with a report from the economics wing of the Royal Bank of Canada that affordability in Alberta has increased in the second quarter of 2012.
RBC Economics noted how Alberta has been further solidified as the province with the lowest home ownership costs as a share of household income in Canada. And the reason? Decreasing utility costs. The bank noted how a 17-per-cent decline in utility costs was the biggest contributor to across-the-board improvements in housing affordability in the second quarter of 2012.
Read the full article here.
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Calgary industrial real estate market strongest in Canada
CALGARY ` Calgary`s industrial real estate market is the most active one in the country relative to inventory size, says a report by Cushman & Wakefield.
Although oil prices are softening, ongoing long-term projects will ensure the market remains `expansionary for the foreseeable future,` it says.
`Speculative development activity in Calgary is the strongest in the country, though demand, which is outpacing supply, drove the vacancy rate down to 4.3 per cent from 4.9 per cent during the second quarter,` says the report.
Read the full article here.
CALGARY ` Calgary`s industrial real estate market is the most active one in the country relative to inventory size, says a report by Cushman & Wakefield.
Although oil prices are softening, ongoing long-term projects will ensure the market remains `expansionary for the foreseeable future,` it says.
`Speculative development activity in Calgary is the strongest in the country, though demand, which is outpacing supply, drove the vacancy rate down to 4.3 per cent from 4.9 per cent during the second quarter,` says the report.
Read the full article here.
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Alberta unemployment rate dips to 4.4%
CALGARY ` Alberta`s unemployment rate fell from 4.6 per cent to 4.4 per cent in August, the lowest in the country along with Saskatchewan, according to Statistics Canada.
The federal agency reported Friday that Alberta created 3,900 jobs in the month, up 0.2 per cent. On a year-over-year basis, the province`s employment growth rate of 2.1 per cent created 43,300 jobs from August 2011.
Read the full article here.
CALGARY ` Alberta`s unemployment rate fell from 4.6 per cent to 4.4 per cent in August, the lowest in the country along with Saskatchewan, according to Statistics Canada.
The federal agency reported Friday that Alberta created 3,900 jobs in the month, up 0.2 per cent. On a year-over-year basis, the province`s employment growth rate of 2.1 per cent created 43,300 jobs from August 2011.
Read the full article here.
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Massive thermal coal mine planned for Hinton, Alberta
An Australian-based company has submitted an application to regulatory authorities in Alberta and is planning the construction of a mine near Hinton, which could become one of the largest thermal coal export facilities in North America.
`We are currently undertaking the detailed engineering, which will be the blue print for the entire mine,` said Chris Borowski, spokesperson for Coalspur Mines.
Read the full article here.
An Australian-based company has submitted an application to regulatory authorities in Alberta and is planning the construction of a mine near Hinton, which could become one of the largest thermal coal export facilities in North America.
`We are currently undertaking the detailed engineering, which will be the blue print for the entire mine,` said Chris Borowski, spokesperson for Coalspur Mines.
Read the full article here.