Contractor

When Calgary’s economy experiences a boom, Calgarians get busy. The heightened activity is particularly evident in the real estate industry, with enough hustle and bustle to qualify as a stampede in its own right.

In such a period, everyone gets into the act, from real estate agents inking deals and lawyers drawing up contracts to inspectors guaranteeing homes are up to code and contractors hired to build a home, boost an abode’s curb appeal or help consumers personalize their new digs.

Mission Condo

Life in Calgary, home of Canada’s most robust economy, doesn’t mean very much unless you have a roof over your head. It doesn’t help when the competition for active listings is so fierce, sometimes an active listing doesn’t even last a day before the ink dries on the sales contract. Folks who prefer to rent until they get an opportunity to buy a home aren’t all that fortunate, either, given Calgary’s vacancy rate barely hovering above the one-per cent mark. In fact, despite the competition for real estate, it’s still more prudent to purchase a home than to rent a place, since the inventory of active listings is comparatively much higher.

For Sale

The first thing you learn in the stock market is “Buy when high, sell when low.” And when it comes to selling your home in Calgary, such sage advice is the same. But when factoring in Calgary’s status as the hottest real estate market in Canada at a time when the economy is recovering with a vengeance after the bear market ensued a few years ago, sellers have to consider a number of other variables in the equation.

Normally, spring is seen by many sellers as the best time to get their property listed, while winter is normally viewed as the worst season during the year to sell. To many buyers, snow tends to have less curb appeal than a fresh lawn, while the cold conditions tend to deter people from venturing outdoors, an obvious prerequisite to relocating.

Rental Market

There’s an old saying among opportunists: Strike while the iron is hot. The same goes for Calgary’s housing market, and in the case of rental properties, it’s best to scramble while the skillet is scorching.

That’s because, like the real estate sales market, availability for units in the rental sector is also scarce, largely due to the influx of workers into a scorching economy that graces Calgary.

New Home

As the fastest-growing metropolis in Canada, Calgary seems to have everything, from economic prosperity to entrepreneurial opportunity. Everything, that is, except available housing. The Calgary Real Estate Board stats at the beginning of 2013 bear this out, with less than 3,000 available units listed, a 15 per cent drop from the end of 2011.

In response, the sod in outlying areas is being turned faster than ever, with new neighbourhoods like Auburn Bay, Evanston, Sherwood and Walden popping literally out of what used to be grassland. That’s kept such builders as Melcor, Homes by Avi, Jayman, Landmark, Greenboro and scores of others busy trying to keep pace with the demand, which shows no sign of stopping.

Price Trends by James Fowler

If there’s a fiscal cliff looming in Alberta’s real estate market, chances are the industry will be climbing that economic escarpment ─ and not falling off its edge.

Market signals have indicated that the Calgary real estate picture is an optimistic one, with market prices on stream to rival the $423,950 average price plateau set in 2007, before the bear market lacerated the U.S. real estate bubble, resulting in the greatest housing crash in the country’s history. Canada fared better, while Calgary in particular was one of the most fortunate municipalities although average annual prices dipped below the $400,000 mark in 2009.

Brookfield Properties

It looks like Calgary’s bragging rights of having western Canada’s tallest skyscraper in its metropolitan area will remain intact for at least a few more years. Brookfield Office Properties Inc. announced plans to construct a complex in the city’s downtown area that will include a building designed to dwarf The Bow ─ another Calgary skyscraper that’s currently the loftiest Canadian structure west of Toronto ─ by at least 11 metres.

Dubbed 225 Sixth, and slated for completion as early as 2017, the project will include a 247-metre skyscraper containing 56 storeys alongside a second tower with 42 storeys. The two structures will bookend a 50,000 square-foot, three-storey winter garden glass pavilion with retail venues and an open-air plaza.