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September 2014 Alberta Economic Fundamentals

Ally

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August 2014 Edmonton housing starts





Housing starts in the Edmonton Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) were trending at 13,879 units in August compared to 13,213 in July, according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). The trend is a six month moving average of the monthly seasonally adjusted annual rates (SAAR)(1) of total housing starts.





"The trend in total housing starts moved higher in August due to an increased pace of multi-family units. Elevated migration and a low vacancy rate have prompted builders to increase production, particularly in the apartment segment," said Christina Butchart, CMHC's Senior Market Analyst for Edmonton.





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Alberta housing boom may outpace everywhere east of Ontario combined





Alberta`s hot economy is fuelling a housing boom that`s further stoking its economy. And that means for the first time Alberta could soon be building more homes than all of Quebec and the Atlantic region combined, even though it has less than half the population, says Bank of Montreal economist Robert Kavcic.





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Calgary resale housing market on pace to eclipse sales record





CALGARY - Calgary`s resale housing market is on pace to set a record for total dollar volume in MLS sales in a year, eclipsing the $11.3 billion peak established during the housing boom of 2007.





Year-to-date until the end of August, there have been 18,521 transactions at an average sale price of $482,185 for a total dollar volume of $8.9 billion, according to the Calgary Real Estate Board. Last year, during the same period, there were 16,712 sales with an average price of $456,629 and a total dollar volume of $7.6 billion.





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Wintry blast a disaster for Southern Alberta farmers





Flattened crops, smashed stalks and sodden, muddy fields are causing distress across much of southern Alberta, where just days ago farmers were harvesting in 20 C weather.





The rare early September snowstorm that downed trees and snarled traffic in urban communities wreaked havoc in agricultural areas, pummelling mature crops that ` in any normal year ` would be getting combined right now.





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RBC says outlook strong for Alberta's economy





CALGARY - The vast majority of indicators continue to tell a firmly upbeat story about Alberta`s economic strength, as momentum gives no signs of easing, according to the latest RBC Economics Provincial Outlook released Thursday.





RBC forecasts Alberta`s real GDP growth for 2014 will be 3.9 per cent, surpassing last year`s solid estimated pace of 3.7 per cent. It also forecasts growth of 3.5 per cent in 2015. In both years, annual economic growth in the province will lead the country.





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Calgary region records highest annual hike in new home prices





CALGARY - The Calgary region posted the biggest year-over-year increase in Canada in July for the New Housing Price Index, according to Statistics Canada.





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Massive U of C West campus development proposal going before Calgary city council





CALGARY - Another major step forward for the proposed massive mixed-use West Campus development at the University of Calgary takes place Monday when plans for the project go before city council.





The development would see 6,000 residential units, more than 6.8 million square feet of residential space, 1.5 million square feet of office space, and 245,000 square feet of retail space.





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Greenspace or future condos? Edmonton city hall works on improving information for homebuyers





The city wants the complex process of buying a home made a little clearer.





Officials are working with house builders, developers and real-estate agents to find ways of providing easy-to-understand information about Edmonton development plans.





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Housing starts in Alberta have reached the highest level in almost 17 years





According to the latest Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) Economics Provincial Outlook forecasts, released Thursday, housing starts in the province have reached the highest level in almost seven years, with second quarter numbers estimating 42,500 homes to be built this year, and home resales hitting the second highest second quarter results ever.





"Alberta's growth remains miles ahead of the pace in other provinces and we continue to expect the province will stand at the top of the provincial growth rankings both this year and next," said Craig Wright, RBC senior vice-president and chief economist.





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40% of all new jobs in Canada last year generated in Edmonton





EDMONTON ` Alberta`s Capital City continues to be Canada`s employment powerhouse. There are more jobs being created here than any other Canadian city.





The City of Edmonton`s chief economist says 80 per cent of new net jobs in Canada in the last year came from Alberta.





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Calgarians weigh on issues facing the city





Calgarians like their mayor, they approve of their sanitation services, and they rank housing and transportation among the most important issues facing the city.





Those are some of the results from a recent survey on municipal issues by Insights West, a marketing research company. The study, conducted online between Aug. 28 and Sept. 2, polled 420 adult residents.





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Residents in Calgary's older areas impervious to facts on secondary suites...because they just plain don't like 'em





They just couldn`t get it through.





Once again those who don`t want secondary suites in their neck of the woods win another round.





City brass want the green light to come up with rules and policies to approve secondary suites they feel `should be allowed in all communities.`





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Alberta will soon be building more houses than all of Canada east of Ontario





Here`s some more data to highlight just how ridiculous the gap between Alberta`s economy and the rest of the country has grown.





Combined, Quebec and the Maritime provinces have more than 10.5 million people, considerably more than double Alberta`s 4 million people.





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Alberta has highest job vacancy rate in Canada





CALGARY - Alberta had the highest job vacancy rate in the country in June, according to Statistics Canada.





The federal agency reported Tuesday that there were 49,800 job vacancies in the province during the month, up from 48,000 a year ago, and the job vacancy rate remained steady at 2.5 per cent.





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Two hotels slated for downtown Edmonton 'long overdue'





EDMONTON - A decades-long dry spell for hotel construction in downtown Edmonton is coming to an end with two new developments in the works.





The first to open will be a 14-storey hotel under construction at 96th Street and Jasper Avenue.





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Calgary resale housing price growth highest in Canada





Sales in Canada's resale housing market are approaching pre-recession highs seen in 2007, while rising prices in Calgary continue to outpace the nation - prompting an economist to warn the country's hottest markets may be susceptible to a "shock."






The Canadian Real Estate Association reported Monday that sales in August were up 1.8 per cent month over month, due to strong sales in major centres. It was the seventh consecutive month of growth for the country's housing market.





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Jim Prentice to be sworn in as Alberta premier





EDMONTON -- Alberta is to officially get a new premier today.





Jim Prentice is to be sworn in as the 16th leader of the province this afternoon by Alberta's lieutenant governor during a ceremony at Government House in Edmonton.







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Red Deer Industrial vacancy rates remain low





Demand for industrial property in and around Red Deer may have eased slightly, suggests a recent survey of the market. But vacancy rates remain low.





Soderquist Appraisals Ltd.`s annual industrial market survey, which was conducted in July and August, calculated the local vacancy rate at 3.64 per cent ` up from 3.10 per cent in 2013 and 3.44 per cent in 2012. About 468,678 square feet of new industrial building space was added during the past year, but only 236,619 square feet of this was absorbed.





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CNRL to resume work at troubled Oil Sands site near Cold Lake





CALGARY ` Greenpeace says the regime of new Alberta Premier Jim Prentice is off to a bad start.





This, after Canadian Natural Resources Limited was given the go-ahead to resume work at an eastern Alberta site where a bitumen-water mixture was found oozing to the surface last year.





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Since when did 'renter' become a dirty word in Calgary?





When did `renting` become such a dirty word in our city?





The way some city councillors talk, you would think Calgarians who don`t own property are dangerous parasites bent on spoiling communities wherever they can.





Last week, a city council committee had an opportunity to make life a little easier ` and safer ` for renters feeling the pinch of this city`s housing crunch.





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