LATE SUMMER BUILDING PERMIT BOOM

Developers give Calgary 'a vote of confidence'
By Mario Toneguzzi,
Calgary Herald October 7, 2011

A burst of late summer construction put Calgary among the country's biggest gainers in building permit values last month.

Statistics Canada reported Thursday that local building permit values soared to $461 million in August, an increase of 23.6 per cent from July and 77 per cent from a year earlier.

Susan Thompson, business development manager for real estate for Calgary Economic Development, said the numbers indicate "developers are giving Calgary a vote of confidence. It takes time to build a building, but they're thinking there's going to be the demand there.

"By the time they're complete, we're going to need these buildings," said Thompson.

Half of the 14 permit applications valued at more than $20 million this year have been for multi-family housing projects, said Thompson.

Building permits are a good indicator of the city's economy going forward, she said.

"It speaks to intention," she said. "They wouldn't build them if they didn't think there was going to be demand. They obviously feel the economy is going to keep growing and the demand's going to be there."

Building permit values through August in Calgary now top $3.4 billion, an increase of 36.8 per cent from the same period a year ago. The total is almost equally split between the residential and non-residential sectors. The residential sector has increased by 9.5 per cent and the non-residential sector is up 84.1 per cent.

Ben Brunnen, director of policy and government affairs and chief economist for the Calgary Chamber of Commerce, said the numbers reflect renewed confidence in the Calgary economy.

"When we see building permits in Calgary increase that's for the construction sector and that tends to be the sector that falls off first in a recession and comes on last in a recovery," he said. "So the fact that we're seeing these increases in Calgary particularly relative to the other cities suggest that there's a vote of confidence for Calgary's economy moving forward."