Multi-family construction starts soar over last year
Led by a surge in new apartments, construction starts for all multifamily development in the Calgary area last month grew 92 per cent from the same time a year ago.
Shovels were in the ground for 945 multi-family units of all kinds in the Calgary census metropolitan area in June, up from 491 year over year, says Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. The census metropolitan area includes work in neighbouring cities and towns, such as Chestermere, Cochrane, and Airdrie.
“We are seeing an increase on the multi-family side,” says Richard Cho, CMHC’s principal of market analysis. Some large-scale condo developments are planned in advance and don’t necessarily reflect current demand, Cho says.
“We do have some concerns about the multi-family market, just because the inventory levels are quite high in Calgary,” Cho adds. “At some point, I think we are going to see a slowdown on the multi-family side as developers look to move their current inventory as opposed to starting new projects.”
While new construction picked up in all multi-family segments compared to June 2016, apartments recorded the most substantial upswing. There were 640 of these starts, rising 170 per cent from 237 year over year.
The bulk of last month’s activity came from the Beltline district with 290 new apartments. Southwest Calgary, the only other area in triple-digit apartment starts, trailed with 149 on the books.
Meanwhile, last month, new construction on townhomes jumped 30 per cent, while duplex starts increased by 12 per cent, says CMHC.
There were 151 new townhome starts, up from 116 last year. Here, there was a wide lead on Calgary’s northwest end, where 82 of these units took root, trailed by southwest and northeast Calgary, with 16 and 15, respectively.
Northwest Calgary had a similar hold on duplex activity. Starts in this segment for the Calgary area grew to 154 from 138 year over year, with 52 coming from the northwest.
For under-construction inventory, the city’s northwest also led the count for duplexes and townhomes, while downtown Calgary had the tally for most apartments underway.
For potential buyers in the market for an immediate possession, all three multi-family types offered wider selection that the same month last year. And for each segment, northeast Calgary had the city-leading number.
The most pronounced increase came from apartments. In June, there were 1,150 constructed but unabsorbed apartments in the Calgary area, up from 485 year over year, says CMHC. Northeast Calgary recorded 275 of these units, followed by 188 in downtown Calgary and 163 in the Fish Creek area.
In June 2016, a notable difference, with no immediate possession apartments downtown.
Meanwhile, constructed and unabsorbed townhomes grew to 150 from 106, and duplexes were up to 178 from 152, year over year.
Behind the 42 duplexes in northeast Calgary, busy areas in this segment included 25 in the northwest and 24 in the southwest.
Pacing the townhome side were the northeast with 25, 21 in the northwest and 17 in the Fish Creek area.