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I would say demand isn't really location based, it is for any larger-scale and well marketed condo developments which there seems to be a bit more of in suburban locations right now. I don't think that many (if any) concrete condo projects will proceed like Great Gulf's Highcliffe Riverfront project because i do not think that the ROI and acheivable $psf people will pay will support concrete construction. For that to happen i think we would need to see achievable $psf on inner-city or TOD concrete condos hit closer to $650psf, and currently East Village condos are around $530-550psf. This estimate could be wrong now and would only be pushed higher with the volatility of construction materials right now. In my opinion, this is why you are basically only seeing wood-frame condos going forward, and why Theodore and First & Park are aspirationally-priced outliers and why we won't see many more of those in the short or medium term. For example the only actively marketed suite in Theodore is asking $677psf which is really high and a pretty serious outlier. This is why when i see inner-city projects look for more FAR than can support 6-storey wood buildings (around 3-4FAR), it is obvious it will either be rental if it moves forward, or the project will sit forever unbuilt. That is why i am a big advocate for seeing basically everything be 6-stories, because at least then i know i can expect to see that building completed within 10 years. Too many people doing land-use for higher FARs to support mid and high-rise buildings, for those sites to sit underdeveloped or as parking lots with high hopes of a day that over $650psf would be achievable and I don't think that day will ever come, might as well get 3-4FAR and build something that you can actually complete and see an ROI in a reasonable amount of time. I would prefer to see others do what Qualex-Landmark did with Park Point 2 than waiting for this imaginary day when the condos are so popular that it will achieve $650psf consistently. In the bigger picture, Calgary releases so much developable greenfield land that home prices are pretty stable where demand isn't usually aggressively outstripping supply like we're seeing in Toronto and Vancouver which pushed condo prices sky-high in those regions, so i don't really see concrete condos being consistently profitable for developers.
Meanwhile land owners in the Beltline are tearing down their buildings to put up parking lots
That infographic seems pretty suspect, especially coming from a Property Management company. Heres the snapshot from CMHC's latest report:
Ya i would be willing to bet vacancy has dropped as my rental projects seem to be leasing up quicker than last year, my only thing with the Hope Street infographic is a don't really know what the sample size of "private" landlords would be and if its indicative of the overall Calgary market, but that can wait until the new CMHC Report comes out. Either way @Morshed it is definitely interesting info and good find.
That 1.6% vacancy number is super suspect. A quick, non-scientific rentfaster search has some 1,000-1,500 units available in the immediate inner city. Almost every block between the two rivers has multiple apartments available. Granted, I am sure conditions are improving some what from the depths of the pandemic and prolonged oil market decline by a 3 month decline from 6% to 1.6% suggests a data quirk rather than representative of the broader trend. Last time we had 1.6% vacancy you couldn't find an apartment easily.
I don't know how anyone could measure the number of 'private investor' apartments that are in the rental pool at any given point in time. Someone buys a condo that the previous owner used as a rental property, and the new owner occupies it.....it is no longer a rental property. Similarly, someone buys a owner-occupied condo as an investment, and decides to rent it out ... it is added to the rental pool. How and who keeps track of all this?
I don't think regular Russians are part of the sanctions, just the state and those in government / close to government. Pure speculation on my part though.
Chinook Landing by Brava Living: https://skyrisecities.com/database/projects/chinook-landing
