Posts Tagged ‘mayor nenshi’

Neighbour Day

Monday, June 9th, 2014

Neighbour Day

As part of the efforts to commemorate 2013’s epic flood, and the epic outpouring of community spirit and fellowship that followed, Mayor Nenshi has dubbed June 21 as Neighbour Day, named, according to the city’s official website,”in honour of the overwhelming community spirit that rose against the waters,” which is a pretty good line.

Some in my community, and many others I’d imagine, are planning a block party, and the city is waiving the $25 permit fees for such events on this special day. There are tools and templates, and other information available at the city’s site. If you plan on hosting a party, you’d better get cracking.

To keep up-to-date on Neighbour Day events, follow the official Facebook event page and the hashtag #yycNeighbourDay on Instagram and Twitter.

Serviced Land

Tuesday, November 26th, 2013

calgary serviced land

Just prior to the civic election, an article appeared in the Calgary Sun, furnished by the Canadian Home Builders Association – Calgary Region (CHBA-CR), raising the old arguments of a lack of serviced land in the city. The article ominously predicts the city will run out of serviced land by 2018, and bedroom communities such as Airdrie will be the only hope for those looking to purchase new homes.

However, a joint statement released last March by both Mayor Nenshi’s office and the very same CHBA-CR responsible for the Sun article detailed how Calgary currently had 22 square kilometres of serviced land available for new developments – enough for six new Auburn Bay-sized communities – with another 28 square kilometres planned for approval by the end of 2014. That remains as true today as it did seven months ago.

So, now that the election’s over, lets all just calm down and enjoy the fantastic shape our city’s in, the high quality of life Calgarians enjoy, and the wide diversity of new and longstanding communities in which we can raise our families.

Safe Secondary Suites

Tuesday, September 17th, 2013

secondary suites

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.

Breaking Records

Monday, March 11th, 2013

I’ve been talking a lot in this space about how Calgary’s housing market is outperforming all comers; well, here’s more proof: we broke a record in February for the highest average selling price for single family homes. The figure, $518,452, comes in a little over two percent higher than the previous record set in 2007 (also known as Calgary’s most recent boom). Now, of course there are extenuating factors coming into play here – notably the fact that the all-time most expensive home sale in the city’s history closed last month, as did a record number of other $1 million plus sales – so CREB’s benchmark numbers are maybe a little more useful when determining what the average Calgarian entering the market is looking at. Those put the typical single-family home at about $440,000, which is still close to $90,000 more than January’s national average.

So is Calgary’s market on-track to price itself out of reach for the average young family looking for a starter home? I don’t think so. The vast diversity of neighbourhoods – and their proximity to downtown – available to residents ensures there’s a price point for everyone, and as Mayor Nenshi wrote in the Herald last weekend, more than 22 square kilometres of serviced land are available for new development, enough to house hundreds of thousands of people at fair prices.

This has already been a banner year for me, and it’s only March; the proverbial sun is shining, so I’m making some hay. I did, however, find the time to add some new functionality to our website: our new, free Market Report tool allows you to see your neighbourhood’s detailed sales history, including addresses and prices. Check it out!

The data included on this website is deemed to be reliable, but is not guaranteed to be accurate by the Calgary Real Estate Board. The trademarks REALTOR®, REALTORS® and the REALTOR® logo are controlled by The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) and identify real estate professionals who are members of CREA. Used under license.