Alberta saw growing demand for new homes in Q2 amid vaccine rollout, report finds
Vaccination and the subsequent reopening of the economy spurred demand for new homes in Alberta, and development among builders, in the second quarter of this year, a new report shows.
Zonda Urban — formerly Urban Analytics — recently published its Alberta State of the Market report for second quarter 2021, finding growing demand for new single-family and multi-family homes.
The report states standing inventory for new multi-family housing decreased by 32 per cent from the first quarter of the year while total investment in new housing grew by 11 per cent to $3.14 billion, translating into more than 5,300 new unit starts in Alberta.
Calgary saw a big boost in single-family home starts in the quarter, increasing by 63 per cent from the first three months of 2021 and 119 per cent from the second quarter of 2020. Overall, housing starts were up in the city by 36 per cent, while Edmonton saw similar growth at 31 per cent from the first quarter. Apartment starts had the largest share in Calgary with 1,389 units getting underway, compared with 1,206 in the quarter for single-family detached homes and 389 town houses.
In contrast, Edmonton's market featured 1,157 single-family home starts versus 849 apartment and 362 townhouse starts.
Among sales of new multi-family product, town houses remained popular with 526 sales in the quarter in Calgary versus 396 woodframe apartment condominiums and 76 concrete apartment sales.
The report notes the Outer North and Outer South sub-market of Calgary made up 69 per cent of all sales in the second quarter.
New rental demand also remained strong, with average rents per square foot growing to $2.17, up about one per cent from the first quarter of 2021 and nearly four per cent on a year-over-year basis.