One of the major advantages of buying a new, as opposed to previously owned, home has long been the warranty coverage.  To some buyers’ chagrin, however – especially those buying homes in the mid-2000s, when labour shortages occasionally led to substandard subcontractor work – the warranty coverage maxed out at a mere 12 months. Issues that didn’t show themselves within that one year window became the homeowner’s responsibility. The vast majority of homes in Calgary are, and have been, built to high standards that lead to extremely happy homeowners. For the unlucky few, however, the short warranty has been problematic.

New home buyers can rejoice, then, as the new year will bring with it the Alberta New Home Buyer Protection Act, a piece of legislation aimed at raising the standard of construction in our fine province, making builders increasingly accountable for the products that they sell. Details are available here, but the highlights include a minimum of ten years’ coverage on major structural components, and five years of building envelope protection (with the mandatory option for homeowners to be able to purchase additional coverage).

Now, labour and materials still fall under one year’s worth of coverage, but in certain cases that coverage extends to two years, so there’s progress even on this front.

Is this Act the ideal level of protection for all new home buyers? No, of course not. It would be nice to see labour and materials be covered for longer periods of time. It’s certainly a step in the right direction, though.

When you think of Calgary, you don’t often think of sandy beaches, paddleboating, or fishing, especially within the city limits. But residents of the city’s upscale Lake Bonavista community get to enjoy these activities at their leisure (at least, when the weather cooperates).

This nearly fifty year-old neighbourhood was one of our country’s first to be built around a man-made lake (others followed suit, including in Calgary). Beginning as a trailer park, it has grown to house more than 10,000 residents with a median income over $100,000. Served by four local elementary schools and three junior highs, Lake Bonavista is a great place for young families.

With stores and restaurants (including the renowned Newport Grill), easy access to major thoroughfares, and a well appointed community centre, offering two skating rinks, a gym, and multipurpose rooms, Lake Bonavista is rich with amenities, but it’s most prominent feature is the lake itself and its associated benefits.

To see homes available in Lake Bonavista, do a Quick Search.

To get a complete market report on Lake Bonavista, or any other neighbourhood you are interested in, use our quick and easy market report request.

With the civic election just weeks away, city planning is a hot topic of conversation in the media thanks to a rather scandalous video taped surreptitiously at a home builders’ meeting earlier this year, with city aldermen called out for being friendly or unfriendly to developers’ interests, and the not always amenable relationship between our mayor and the Home Builders’ Association.

That’s led to some pretty serious propaganda surrounding Calgary’s housing market, including a website launched mid-September by Common Sense Calgary that warned of city planners making Calgary unaffordable for our children, citing the high price of property in Vancouver as an example of what we can look forward to.

Don’t be fooled; we’re not Vancouver. There is already a great deal of land within Calgary city limits set for new neighbourhoods to be constructed, neighbourhoods that will offer starter homes at relatively affordable prices. According to the Royal Bank Affordability Index, which measures how much of an average family’s income would be taken up by housing costs, Calgary is one of the most affordable major cities in which to own a home in Canada. Our affordability index is 33.6 percent. The national average is 48.4, and Vancouver’s is a whopping 85.8. And these are 2013 numbers, as we’re in the midst of a seller’s market.

Why are homes so expensive in Vancouver? Well, the obvious answer is it’s a coastal city, so land is at a premium. Add to that, the commute for people who work in Vancouver but live in the neighbouring communities – Burnaby, Langley, and so on – is hellish, so a small house in the city is still extremely appealing. Compare that to Calgary, a city built on the prairie with so much land we have the country’s largest green space (Nose Hill Park) in our city limits. Suburban life here doesn’t mean commutes of three hours each way; someone can live in Tuscany and still get to work downtown in under 45 minutes during rush hour. Plenty of residents of Airdrie, Cochrane, and even Didsbury happily commute daily, with travel times a fraction of those for commuters to Vancouver.

So, no matter what you think of Calgary’s city planning, or whether you approve or disapprove of the way the mayor’s office relates to home builders, don’t be swayed by the fear tactics employed by a special interest group looking to influence the upcoming election. Do your own research, and judge on facts, not hyperbole.

# 1305 281 Cougar Ridge Dr Sw

328 Cougartown Ci Sw

Former show-home! next door is also for sale (C3586465), own the whole duplex! 9′ ceilings, hardwood floors and tile on main. Kitchen has espresso shaker cabinets and granite counter-tops. Functional floor plan with a main floor den and an open island kitchen. Corner fireplace in living room. 3 large bedrooms upstairs. Master has an ensuite and a huge walk-in closet. Very large back yard. Right near a playground and green space. Close to schools, restaurants and shopping.

For more photos, full listing details, floorplan and virtual tour visit my webpage.

332 Cougartown Ci SW

What an opportunity! Awesome deal in a great neighbourhood. Next door is for sale too (C3586467 – you could own the full duplex). Nice open plan with 9′ ceilings, an island kitchen, a corner fireplace in the living room and a main floor den area. 3 large bedrooms upstairs. Master has an ensuite and a huge walk-in closet. Corner lot with a very large back yard with potential for RV parking. Right near a playground and green space. Close to schools, restaurants and shopping.

For more photos, full listing details, virtual tour & floorplan visit our webpage.

City council has been debating what I expect will be a hot topic in upcoming civic elections: secondary suites, where they can be, and how easy they should be to add to the market. Mayor Nenshi was pushing for major revisions to laws around the suites, but the majority of council preferred small, incremental changes: secondary suites damaged in the flood that had been grandfathered in, for example, can be rebuilt without rezoning, for example, much to the relief of the overwhelmed rental market. And a pilot project has been launched to inspect secondary suites for safety and adherence to code, which should come as a relief to tenants looking at their single window and wondering if they could actually crawl out of it in a fire.

So, good stuff, if perhaps not particularly groundbreaking. With the sales market in Calgary as hot as it is, with prices up more than eleven percent over last year, though, there are bound to be more residents looking to rental properties as a stopgap until deposits can be saved up – and plenty of investors will want to be capitalizing on their property holdings by adding basement suites for additional income. Surely once debates begin in the aldermanic races, lines are going to be drawn showing where each candidate stands on increasing our city’s stock of secondary sites, and that could seriously affect outcomes in ridings popular with, say, university students. This is a topic to watch.

Here’s a record I didn’t expect to see made: a week ago this last Friday, twelve homes sold for more than a million dollars each, at the end of a month that saw 67 percent more luxury homes change hands than in any previous month, ever. Even in the standard market, some are reporting homes selling for $100,000 over list price. Yep, it’s a seller’s market alright.

If you’re considering getting in on the fun as a buyer, I can’t recommend strongly enough that you secure a pre-approved mortgage before going shopping. When competing offers are involved, potential buyers without pre-approval are at a serious disadvantage, so a trip to your lender is a half hour well spent.

Those of you looking to sell, work with your Realtor (I’m available) to come up with an appropriate price for your neighbourhood and you should have no problems getting your home sold.

I’m often writing/bragging about how well the real estate market is doing locally, and with good reason: it’s on fire like we haven’t seen in eight years. But it’s encouraging to hear some good news coming in from around the country, especially major markets like Vancouver and Toronto.

The Conference Board of Canada predicted today that the condo market is unlikely to plummet, even in Toronto where there has recently been concern about an abundance of new multi-family dwellings being built. While things may cool a bit, especially if interest rates rise, the Conference Board concluded that banks were doing a good job of keeping construction from getting out of control by virtue of construction loans being contingent on pre-sale thresholds, and growing populations in metropolitan areas will continue to be on the lookout for condos.

And the Canadian Real Estate Association is talking about Vancouver’s market growing nearly ten percent year-over-year for July, while Toronto’s up almost thirteen percent.

So, while we’re leading the charge thanks to generous incomes and a growing population, ours isn’t the only city with busy Realtors. I love good news.

It should come as no surprise to readers of this space that 2013 is on track to set a sales record, with well over $9 billion in sales being transacted; to date, the city has seen nearly $7 billion in real estate changing hands. Resale prices are up, and people are still buying, thanks to some very solid employment numbers (we’re one of the country’s only bright points on that front), relative affordability (especially in the condo market), forced moves due to the flood, and just the general appeal of our city to people from all over. Calgary’s a place where you can get a good job and raise a family without too much fear of the bottom falling out of your lifestyle.

So, of course, there’s gotta be the end times coming, and naysayers point to a slowdown in the purchase of land for new properties to show that they’re almost here. Call me optimistic, but I just don’t buy that as proof that we’re in a bubble about to burst. Developers have bought up huge swaths of land recently to keep up with the demand in our hot seller’s market, but they still recognize that the country’s fragile economy will likely lead to some ebbs and flows. So the houses get built, they sell, then new rounds of purchasing can begin. While suggestions that land purchases have dropped more than 50 percent in Calgary year-over-year may sound alarming, the other way to look at that is there was a lot of land bought up last year that’s becoming homes sold this year.

Real estate markets cycle, they don’t generally boom and bust without outside factors manipulating them (as was the case in the US some years ago). So, as I seem to say often around here, take the alarmist news with a healthy dose of skepticism.