Building permit values in St. Albert decreased across all categories in the first four months of 2011, according to statistics released by the city.
The value and number of residential permits is down 29 per cent. The value of commercial permits is down 21 per cent, while commercial-industrial is down 45 per cent. Overall, the value of development permits is down 32 per cent.
For single-family homes, the biggest driver in residential development, the city issued 50 permits in the first four months of 2011, down from 70 in 2010.
These figures are likely reflecting a cool April because first quarter figures were on par with expectations, said St. Albert business and tourism development director Larry Horncastle.
“We’ve had such a late spring so maybe projects have been delayed,” he said.
April figures show that non-residential sectors were at a virtual standstill while single-family residential remained even with 2010 levels. Horncastle is optimistic that building will pick up.
“We’ve been to the Edmonton real estate forum and a number of different functions around the region and everybody’s talking that they expect a significant increase in development activity ... certainly by early 2012,” he said.
“We’re seeing signs of additional commercial activity later in the year because of what’s being developed by Landrex and Triple Five,” he added.
Landrex Developers expects to see homes built in Erin Ridge North this year and is working toward servicing the commercial corridor along St. Albert Trail. Triple Five, meanwhile, has received initial council support to pursue a commercial-residential mix development along the west side of St. Albert Trail at the city’s northern tip.
Coun. Malcolm Parker, a champion of economic development, said the numbers could be reflecting St. Albert’s ongoing struggle to supply non-residential land.
“That’s one thing that everybody’s been screaming about is that we don’t have enough non-residential land, especially of any large size. I think that’s putting a bit of a damper on it,” he said.
Alberta’s economy is doing quite well, said ATB economist Dan Sumner, pointing to unemployment falling to 5.7 per cent in the last nine months, a winter of strong drilling activity and solid growth in retail sales.
“Housing is one of the sectors that’s usually really strong coming out of a recession but that’s not really been the case this time around in Alberta,” he said.
The boom of 2006 and 2007 created a lot of excess housing inventory and building starts have remained flat in the Calgary and Edmonton regions, he said.
“It’s a little bit surprising that housing starts have stayed so low still, but we just can’t think of a reason other than we’re still working off the excesses from the boom,” Sumner said.
Building data can jump around a lot so he cautioned against placing too much weight on a single quarter.
“We expect things to improve slowly,” he said, “but when you compare it to what we saw in 2005 and 2006, we’re not going back there anytime soon.”
