Calgary’s booming construction market competes with last year’s record high

Posted Aug 4, 2022 3:20 pm.
Calgary’s construction industry is booming, trailing close behind a record year in 2021 for permits issued.
Last year saw just over $3.3 billion at this time for construction permits, with this year closing in on $3 billion.
The city received nearly 4,500 development permits applications and over 11,000 building permit applications during the first half of 2022.
“Developers and builders are investing more in present-day Calgary, which helps to position our city and economy for a successful future,” said Stuart Dalgleish, general manager of planning and development with Calgary, in a release.
“During this incredibly high-volume environment, we continue to meet our service level targets 85 per cent of the time for multi-disciplinary development applications and 91 per cent of the time for building applications for new single and semi-detached homes in new communities.”
The total construction value in 2021 was $5.7 billion, which is a record in building permits.
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Ulrik Seward, chief building officer and managing chief of approval in development, business, and building services, says that there were many contributing factors to the increase in permits in 2021.
“We saw during the pandemic Calgarians were investing heavily in home improvement projects, as all of us navigated creative new ways to use our space with a lot of people teleworking and things like that,” Seward said. “So that resulted in higher than average permit volumes for renovations and additions to people’s homes in 2020 and 2021.”
Five new apartments are being built in Calgary
Among the close race between this year and last year’s permits awarded, there are five new apartment buildings being developed with a construction value of nearly $3 billion, reports the City of Calgary.
The five apartments are being developed alongside several permits for single-family homes and semi-detached homes.
Seward confirms they are in Bridgeland-Riverside and Temple, with a student residence being built in Banff Trail.
“We feel that affordability and immigration are two contributing factors for the strong demand in new home construction,” Seward said.
With housing being a large part of the distributed permits, the hospitality and entertainment industry has added a 262 per cent increase in the value of construction projects in the city.
The largest of the hospitality projects is the new 28-storey Dorian Hotel, with the name inspired by the book “The Picture of Dorian Grey” by Oscar Wilde. The total cost was $57 million according to Seward.
“The Dorian is one of the largest hospitality related projects in the City since 2010,” Seward said.
Other construction permits issued include a 244,000 square foot logistics facility at Barlow Crossing, a seven storey concrete apartment building in Calgary’s beltline, and the Montgomery School Replacement Project which will see a new school built near the former site that will support 1,000 students upon completion.
Despite the increase of building in Calgary, and housing with the new apartments, there are numerous reports that Calgarians and Canadians alike are struggling to afford any form of housing.
According to a Angus Reid survey, this year, 75 per cent of Canadians say it’s a very bad time to buy, 15 per cent say it’s a good time to buy, and 10 per cent are not sure.
The survey report suggests there is a significant minority of Canadians in dire financial situations, with 28 per cent barely able to make ends meet. The rate has increased 10 points since July 2020.
Also, according to a report from ratehub.ca, Calgarians need to make around $110,000 a year, at least, in order to afford a home as of June 2022.
To learn more, visit the City of Calgary website.