Housing starts in St. Albert were up 60 per cent over last year and reflect the turnaround seen in the overall metropolitan Edmonton region throughout the month of October.
“The Edmonton Census Metropolitan Area experienced the best October performance for the homebuilding industry since 2002,” said Richard Goatcher.
The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation analyst stressed that CMHC counts actual building starts, not municipal permits, so the numbers he provided represent actual construction. For that reason, his numbers while optimistic, do not figure in St. Albert’s most recently building announcements for Lions Village, which will add a further 120 condo units in 2012, and the proposed Big Lake Pointe, which if approved will add 118 apartments to the city rental mix.
The biggest difference in the local housing market is this increase in multiple housing units.
Construction has already started on the 96-unit North Ridge Village Apartments in St. Albert, which will be split 50/50 with half built and sold as condos and half rented as apartments.
“Morinville construction added four new semi-detached units and 20 new townhouses,” Goatcher said, pointing out at the same time that new-home construction for single-detached houses in Morinville was down 24 per cent from a year ago.
St. Albert’s new single-detached building market held its own with 168 new houses this year. Building starts were evenly divided between the neighbourhoods of Erin Ridge, North Ridge and Kingswood.
Sturgeon County housing starts were down 18 per cent. This year 127 new houses were built in Sturgeon County compared to 156 in 2010.
“Building was spread all over the county but the biggest grouping was the addition of 31 houses built in the Sturgeon Valley in Riverstone Point, Pinnacle Ridge and Tuscany Hills,” said Colin Krywiak, Senior Development officer for Sturgeon County.
The surge in activity to produce more condo and rental housing reflects a response on the part of builders to local needs, Goatcher said.
“We saw an increase of 550 apartments in the month of October in the metropolitan area, which includes the 96 in St. Albert. That’s a huge surge, particularly in St. Albert,” he said.
