Sep 8, 2011, Calgary building permit value shoots up

The estimated construction value of building permit applications in Calgary in August jumped by 91 per cent compared with a year ago.

The value in August was $426 million while it was $223 million in August 2010.

The City of Calgary says building permits in August were also up 48 per cent compared with the five-year average of $287 million and up 56 per cent compared with the 10-year average of $273 million.

For August, residential values increased 139 per cent from a year ago to $270.3 million while non-residential values rose 41 per cent to $155.4 million.

“This August residential activity was more than double the previous year,” said Stuart Dalgleish, acting general manager of planning, development and assessment for the City. “The apartment sector in particular shot up, with $126 million in value compared to only $12 million the previous August.”

Year-to-date ending August 31, total values across all categories were up 49 per cent over the previous year to $3.09 billion compared with $2.07 billion for the same period in 2010. The residential category increased 20 per cent to $1.45 billion and the non-residential category has risen by 89 per cent to $1.64 billion.

The City says year-to-date non-residential values are significantly higher than 2010 due to a major airport terminal improvement project valued at $600 million from January.

Major projects for August include nine apartment projects ($124 million), seven office improvement projects ($23 million) and 10 new townhouse projects ($11 million). Projects over $10 million include Keynote Tower 2 ($37 million), Qualex-Landmark apartment ($28 million), Indigo Sky apartment ($20 million), Wing Kei senior citizens home ($16 million) and Highland Park condominium ($12 million).

On Thursday, Statistics Canada released its latest building permit numbers for the provinces. In July, Alberta’s permits totalled $1.1 billion, up 10.9 per cent from June and an increase of 17.7 per cent from July 2010.

The federal agency said the non-residential sector rose to $641.6 million during the month, representing a monthly hike of 13.3 per cent and a jump of 9.3 per cent year-over-year.

In the non-residential sector, Statistics Canada said building permits increased to $469.7 million in the province. That’s 7.9 per cent higher than June’s level and up 31.6 per cent from a year ago.

By Mario Toneguzzi