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Walkable neighbourhoods, like Sunnyside, improve a community’s vibrancy and quality of life.
News

Feb. 10, 2017 | Gerald Vander Pyl

Rethinking Calgary's car culture

Walk21 Conference to explore the city's walkable future


Experts hope an upcoming international conference will boost efforts to make Calgary more walkable.


Hosted by the University of Calgary, the Walk21 International Conference on Walking and Livable Communities will see 600 local, national and international experts gather to discuss what they're doing in their own communities, and how it could be applied to Calgary.


"(Calgary) is not the city that comes to mind when you say walking," said John Brown, a professor and associate dean with the faculty of environmental design at the university and co-chair of the committee bringing Walk21 to Calgary.


John Savard, principal office leasing specialist with Bedrock Realty Advisors says suburban market especially hard hit in the City’s south end.
News

Feb. 10, 2017 | CREBNow

Suburban financial market faces significant challenges

Record vacancy rates predicted to trend upwards


Commercial real estate felt the pinch of a slumping economy in 2016 and Calgary's suburban office market was no exception.


From headleases – between a landlord and a tenant – to subleases – where a tenant puts some of their excess space on the market – commercial real estate outside the core had its challenges.


"A significant amount of very, very large blocks of vacancies are available on the sublease market and the headlease market, for that matter, and we have not seen a great number of tenants going in to take those spaces,'' said John Savard, principal, office leasing specialist with Bedrock Realty Advisors Inc.


Known for its lake, Chestermere's people are what make it an amazing place to live. Photo courtesy City of Chestermere
News

Feb. 10, 2017 | Andrea Cox

There's something about Chestermere

Not your traditional suburban community


The rapidly growing community of Chestermere exudes an intrinsic lightness of being and a twinkling joie de vivre. You can feel it crackling in the air as you stroll down the pathways, watching people run, blade and bike during the summer months or cross-country ski in the winter, whooshing, swishing, all the while laughing.


"It's the people that really make this an amazing place to live," said resident Ryan Armstrong.


He moved his young family from northwest Calgary to Kinniburgh Estates in East Chestermere four years ago and hasn't looked back.


Walkable spaces with retail located moments from your door, Melcor’s newest development, Greenwich, is expected to be a draw for young urban professionals and those looking to downsize. Photo courtesy Melcor Development
News

Jan. 26, 2017 | Barb Livingstone

New Normal

Greenwich community in northwest Calgary to put live/work/play into practice


Calgary's "new" northwest will have a familiar face touting a popular concept starting
this year.


Industry veteran Melcor Development has announced pre-sales for its new community of Greenwich will start this March. The 16-hectare live/work/play development to be located just off Highway 1 toward Banff will see a mix of residential, retail and commercial offerings.


Jon Mook, executive vice-president of industrial division for Barclay Street Real Estate, said absorption in Calgary's industrial sector ended the year in a positive position, and vacancy has turned the corner. Photo by Wil Andruschak/For CREB®Now
News

Jan. 19, 2017 | CREBNow

Poised for growth

Calgary's industrial market shows signs of turning the corner

While Calgary's downtown office sector and its plunging vacancy rates overshadowed all commercial real estate activity in 2016, the city's industrial market has better weathered the storm and is poised to grow in 2017, say experts.

According to Barclay Street Real Estate, vacancy for the industrial real estate sector finished 2016 at 7.76 per cent. It had peaked at 7.8 per cent in the third quarter of the year. In 2015, it was 6.57 per cent.

"Absorption was a negative 127,373 square feet for Q3. This was the only quarter of negative absorption we have had since the '90s," said Jon Mook, executive vice-president of Barclay Street Real Estate's industrial division.

Richard Cho, pricipal market analysis for Calgary with CMHC, expects rental vacancy rates to hover around seven per cent in 2017. Photo by Wil Andruschak/for CREB®Now
News

Jan. 10, 2017 | Barb Livingstone

Rinse and repeat

Housing experts predict Calgary's rental market to see another year of high vacancies, low rents

Calgary's rental housing market this year will not change much from 2016 as historically high vacancy rates will continue to usher in incentives and lower rents, say experts.

"We expect the vacancy rate to remain close to 2016 levels" said Richard Cho, Calgary-based principal market analyst for Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. (CMHC).

Town of Cochrane economic development manager Mike Korman believes Cochrane’s population will grow by about three to four per cent, and building starts will maintain 2016 levels. Photo by Wil Andruschak/For CREB®Now
News

Jan. 10, 2017 | Gerald Vander Pyl

Domino effect

Surrounding housing market to follow Calgary's lead in 2017 after challenging conditions in 2016

Slow stabilization in Calgary's housing market in 2017 is expected to create similar momentum for satellite communities such as Okotoks, Cochrane, Airdrie and Chestermere, say local officials on the heels of CREB® releasing its 2017 Economic Outlook & Regional Housing Market Forecast.

According to the report, Chestermere in Rocky View region experienced a widening gap between sales and new listings during 2016, putting downward pressure on benchmark prices – notably detached homes, which dropped 2.5 per cent from 2015 to $490,808.

Amy McGregor, retail associate with Barclay Street Real Estate, says the pop-up retail trend is becoming more popular in the city. Photo by Adrian Shellard/For CREB®Now
News

Jan. 28, 2017 | CREBNow

Pop-up goes the store

Calgary retailers making the most of high vacancy rate


Calgary commercial experts say local retailers are becoming increasingly savvy in their fight for market share, challenging the traditional brick-and-mortar concept of doing business in favour of a pop-up model.


''I do think the trend is becoming more popular because of online shopping," said Barclay Street Real Estate retail associate Amy McGregor, who is working with Calgary Economic Development to research pop-up shops and facilitate a process for new business owners by connecting with landlords.


"Online retailers kind of want to dip their toe in the retail market and it's a low investment way to do that. There's more opportunity and more likelihood that landlords will give them the opportunity for the shorter-term leases."


Industry experts believe proposed drywall tariffs will eventually be passed onto homebuyers, adding about $1,000 to $2,000 to the price of a home.
News

Jan. 19, 2017 | Joel Schlesinger

Tearing down trade walls

Homebuilders hope recommendations to lower duties will lead to lower cost for industry, consumers

Recent recommendations by a federal trade tribunal have the homebuilding industry hopeful that high duties on U.S. drywall imports will soon come to an end.

The Canadian International Trade Tribunal issued its Statement of Reasons Jan. 19 outlining why it found drywall duties on U.S. imports are negatively impacting Western Canada's housing industry. Yet it also found U.S. manufacturers were indeed dumping drywall into the Canadian market, an unfair advantage over domestic manufacturers.

Housing industry officials expect conditions to favour the renter in 2017 much like it did in 2016. CREB®Now photo
News

Dec. 23, 2016 | Barb Livingstone

Renters' market

Economic conditions create ideal situation for renters, challenges for landlords

In the most volatile economy in the country, it is no big surprise Calgary landlords endured 2016 with the highest rental housing vacancy rate in a quarter of a century.

"It is a free market economy, with all the ups and downs, and in the middle of (this downturn), you just hope many will survive it," said Gerry Baxter, executive director of the Calgary Residential Rental Association (CRRA) of Calgary's current seven per cent vacancy rate.

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