The resale housing market was roaring in Calgary last month with the best February on record.
“It was the second best month ever, and February’s a short month,” said Joyce Travis, president of the Calgary Real Estate Board. The market should stay active for the rest of the year, she said, noting that bankers had just told her that interest rates would remain low.
Right now it’s a seller’s market. The conversion ratio has been high for three months, with sales being close to the number of new listings. The list price to sale price ratio was 98 per cent in February.
There are also multiple-offer situations, indicated by the number of homes selling at or above their listing prices. That was running at nine per cent, she said. In one instance, a seller got seven offers.
Calgary Real Estate Board figures show 2,303 homes sold in February, 1,760 single-family, 534 condominium and nine mobile homes. The February total is 26 per cent more than the 1,827 sales in January and 40 per cent more than the 1,649 sales in February 2001.
Total sales were second only to May 2001, when 2,399 properties sold. But condo sales did set a record at 534 units, topping the previous mark of 517 last May. The average residential price last month was $188,328, down slightly from $189,322 in January but up 5.6 per cent from $178,279 in February 2001. The average single-family house sold for $201,676, compared to $191,838 a year earlier.
The median price last month was $176,000, compared to $164,750 for February 2001 and $174,500 in January this year.
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Another aspect of the Alberta Advantage continues to be the cost of doing business in Edmonton.
The capital showed up as the least expensive city in Canada for office occupancy costs in CB Richard Ellis’s global market survey of rents. Edmonton ranked 151st in January, compared to 150th in January and July of 2001.
In this pecking order, the lower you are on the list the better – it means your office space costs less. Edmonton’s occupancy costs were $10.63 US per sq. ft. per year.
Calgary was in 105th place, down from 97th in July and 98th a year ago, with occupancy costs of $21.77 US. Oilpatch mergers and acquisitions have cut demand for top-quality office space in both cities.
CB Richard Ellis said all Canadian cities remain low-priced compared with other major business cities.
Six of the eight Canadian cities surveyed had lower costs for premium office space than the majority of other leading cities. The survey covered 155 major cities around the world.
Toronto was the only Canadian city in the top 50, in 47th place. It remains the most expensive in Canada with top quality office space going for $34.07 US per sq. ft. The second most expensive Canadian city was Ottawa in 65th place at $28.07 US.
Vancouver was the third most expensive Canadian city in 85th place at $24.06 US. Montreal was in 100th place at $22.52 US, Winnipeg was in 126th at $17.51, Halifax 132nd at $16.72 and London, Ont. 140th at $15.09 US.
The most expensive office space in the world is in the West End of London, England, at $146.33 US per sq. ft.
Second-highest office costs are in inner central Tokyo at $122.34 US, third is the City of London at $112.23 US, fourth is outer central Tokyo at $106.72 US and fifth is Paris at $76.59 US.
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Canadian municipalities issued building permits for $2.4 billion worth of housing in January, up 24.9 per cent from December, Statistics Canada reports.
It was the best month since January 1990, the national statistical agency said.
Housing permits in January were 23.1 per cent higher than January 2001, but non-residential permits were 18.7 per cent below the level of a year earlier.
Edmonton and Calgary had the strongest beginnings to the year among metropolitan areas, with residential construction playing a key role.
Statistics Canada says residential permits rose for a number of reasons, including low mortgage rates, high immigration and low apartment vacancies in several centres.
