Ice District fuels jump in multi-family home sales
The skyrocketing popularity of the Ice District’s Sky Residences helped Edmonton new multi-family home sales more than double during last year, a new report shows.
Sales of new condominiums and town houses rose to 766 in the last three months of 2017 from 323 in the same period of 2016, according to information released Tuesday by research firm Urban Analytics.
Much of that increase was fuelled by the 242 condos sold in the Sky Residences being built on the upper half of the 66-storey Stantec Tower, which became available to the general public at the end of October.
“The project’s location adjacent to Rogers Place arena, appealing views from all residential units (which start on the 31st level), combined with luxury finishing specifications, drew many local and out-of-province buyers,” the report says.
The units, ranging in price from about $300,000 to more than $1 million, are expected to be ready in October 2019.
There were more than 30 other multi-family home projects launched in Edmonton last year.
Downtown had a total of 319 sales in the last quarter of 2017, almost tripling from the last quarter of 2016, to make it the busiest sector of the city.
Many of those purchases were made as investments, with people in Toronto and Vancouver targeted in online webinars attracted by offers to lease the units they buy, the report says.
By comparison, the busy southwest market, where sales were up 60 per cent (to 225), was driven mainly by first-time buyers.
In St. Albert, sales more than doubled, to 53, and also increased in the northeast and northwest, but dropped in the southeast and Sherwood Park.
“The increase in sales is encouraging in that, in spite of higher borrowing costs, the impending stress test rules set for implementation at the start of 2018, and some of the economic uncertainty that continues to prevail, many purchasers feel confident enough … to commit to a home purchase.”
At the same time, the number of move-in-ready units on the market dropped over the year by 29 per cent, to 723, a good sign for the market, the report says.
However, developers still offered incentives to encourage people to buy before the end of the year. These included free surface parking stalls, upgrades and basement completions, condo fee waivers for as long as one year and up to $100,000 off original asking prices.