Conditions shift in September, according to CREB®

Housing statistics from September confirm that unbalanced conditions in some areas of Calgary's resale residential market are starting to push the entire sector into buyers' territory, according to CREB®.

Driven by excess inventory in the apartment sector, the overall market's sales-to-new-listings ratio — a key indicator of a buyer's market — declined further in September to 47 per cent, according to the board. That means less than five out of every 10 new listings sold during the month.

In August, the ratio hovered around 60 per cent, which was firmly in balanced conditions, according to CREB® chief economist Ann-Marie Lurie.

A look at the evolution of Calgary's playgrounds 

These aren't your parents' playgrounds.

Calgary's outdoor play areas are pushing the boundaries on safety, interactivity and, most importantly, fun, say local experts.

"The best ones for this are ones that are unique, so kids can ask for them by name," said Dana Wheatley, an experiential playground expert and mom of three young children. "A great example of this is Parkdale's Helicopter playground."

Wheatley runs the popular website CalgaryPlaygroundReview.com, which highlights many of the city's best playgrounds.

Harvesting is not an exact science

My friend Susan asked me when she should start harvesting vegetables.

"When they are ready," I replied as I wondered why she would ask such a question.

But then it sunk in: Susan has never planted a garden before. She thinks gardening is like farming where the whole harvest happens at once on some mysterious date in fall.

Heads up Susan: spinach and arugula picking is already finished in most home gardens. Oops. Sorry if you missed that. My first crop of lettuce is finished, too. It got too hot and went to seed.

Exploring the less-than-wonderful world of divorce and property division

Though a divorce or separation can be a painful period of time for a couple, the question of who gets what once a marriage dissolves can often be the great unknown.

Uncertainty about assets and individual financial security play a significant role in making a potentially difficult time even harder, says Lindsay Ewens-Jones, a family law lawyer, mediator, and arbitrator with McGurk LLP Family Law Lawyers.

"When people are separating or going through a divorce, they are anxious about their future, both financial and otherwise," said Ewen-Jones. "So what [each party] will receive in the ultimate division of property is of great concern."

Small-town experiment pays off for McKenzie Towne residents

Clifford Koss and Janice Conley have called the southeast community of McKenzie Towne home for 15 years. They moved there in 2000, after renting in McKenzie Lake across Deerfoot Trail.

"We like the area so much we named our business after it," says Koss, referring to the couple's home-based distribution company, Prestwick Resources. (Prestwick is one of four areas that make up McKenzie Towne, the other three being Inverness, Elgin and High Street, a 120,000 square-foot commercial strip.)

In fact, these days Conley and Koss say they rarely have occasion to venture outside of the community.

Will an increase in vacancy rates push down housing demand? 

Calgary has long had a reputation as a difficult place to rent – a reputation confirmed for much of last year when the city's vacancy rate hovered below one per cent.

Yet market uncertainty brought upon by oil patch woes have painted a much different picture in 2015, with Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. (CMHC) reporting vacancy rates in the city as high as 3.2 per cent.

While good news for renters, it poses as potential bad news for home sellers, notes ATB Financial chief economist Todd Hirsch.

City council has approved what it's calling a 2016 Resilience Budget. Presented as part of adjustments to its operating budget for 2016-18, the resilience budget which will change what Calgarians will be paying for many City services.

CREB®Now takes a look at some of those changes:

1. $4.90
With a property tax hike originally pegged at 4.7 per cent when the City released its 2015-2018 Action Plan, the subsequent cut to 3.5 per cent will mean the average Calgarian will be shelling out $4.90 more per month rather than $6.75.

Earlier this year, Design Talks, or d.talks, captured the imagination of many Calgarians through its Lost Space Ideas Competition. Intended to spark interest in leftover, unused or underused spaces, the competition attracted submissions from more than 40 countries.

CREB®Now recently sat down with d.Talks co-founder Amery Calvelli to discuss everything from the competition to what she feels is Calgary's best-kept secret. Here's what she had to say:

Calgary creates secondary suite registry program 

Calgary's secondary suites debate now has its very own sticker.

In an effort to promote legal and safe secondary suites, the City of Calgary has launched a secondary suite registry and sticker program. The online, searchable registry tool and registered sticker program will help Calgarians verify if a secondary suite has been inspected by the City and meets the requirements of Alberta's building codes at the time of its approval.

Having added a legal secondary suite to his southwest Calgary home shortly after its purchase, Bryan Backman-Beharry believes the City's move will increase demand for legal, safe and abiding suites like his own.

"I expect it will increase demand for legal suites," said Backman-Beharry, who has already received his registry sticker from the City.

Inventories rise as sales activity softens further

Following four months of relative stability, unadjusted benchmark prices eased as expected in September to $456,100, a 0.26 per cent decline compared with last year.

Most of this aggregate moderation was due to price declines in the apartment sector brought on by higher-than-average inventory levels.

"Overall sales activity relative to new listings caused a softening in absorption rates, which resulted in inventory gains and ultimately placed moderate downward pressure on pricing," said CREB® chief economist Ann-Marie Lurie.