Calgary Downtown Office Report VS 5 other major cities in Canada

Coming out of a quarter that saw a downtown office vacancy rate of 25.13% and a feeling of cautious optimism, that sentiment has taken a more pessimistic turn as oil prices continue to languish and the vacancy problem persists due to the long-term oversupply of inventory.

• * The Q2 vacancy rate is now 27.20%, an approximate 2% increase from last quarter.

• * With the downturn in the Calgary economy, landlords have become more creative and flexible in order to be competitive.

• * Higher demand for finished space in move in condition has continued to be a prominent trend in the downtown office market.

BY Curtis Scott Colliers International

The Office Market

Of the three major markets, Calgary has a slightly larger inventory at approximately 70 million square feet. This is followed up by Vancouver at 63 million square feet and Edmonton at 29 million. That being said, of the two Albertan markets, Edmonton is just under 18 per cent regional vacancy rate and Calgary is nearing 23 per cent, whereas Metro Vancouver has experienced a significant decline since the last supply boom, resting at a 6.3 per cent regional vacancy rate.

The demand in the Vancouver market is largely driven by the technology sector, which currently represents 18 per cent of the downtown market, and the current demand for space is nearly one million square feet (based on mandates tracked by Colliers internal reporting and understood as a proxy to the market). The decline in vacancy and solid market fundamentals is a result of the Vancouver market maturing and diversifying over the last couple decades, moving away from predominately mining and forestry related industries to professional service firms, health care, education, consumer goods, and, of course, technology.

The Calgary office market is still largely energy focused, with nearly 77 per cent of the downtown office market involved in the energy market: 55 per cent in oil and gas exploration, 10.66 per cent in engineering and energy services, and 10.89 per cent in pipeline midstream. That being said, Calgary is starting to see more technology related industries absorb high quality office space due to the opportunities with high vacancy and lower rental rates. With the market still recovering since the drop in oil prices, different industries within Calgary have seen this as an opportunity to attract talent from the Energy sector and grow their organizations within the market.

Challenges continue for Calgary’s apartments rental market

“Very cautious optimism” is how Gerry Baxter, executive director of the Calgary Residential Rental Association, describes the industry’s view of Calgary’s current rental landscape.

While Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. (CMHC) pegged Calgary’s rental vacancy rate at seven per cent last fall – the highest it’s been in more than 25 years – Baxter says he thinks residential vacancies in the city are actually closer to the eight-to-10-per-cent range.

“There’s been some slight improvement in the rental market over the last few weeks, but it’s still a challenge to rent,” said Baxter, attributing the slack rental market to the economic downturn that started in late 2014 and early 2015.

“We lost a lot of people out of the province and many of them haven’t come back,” said Baxter, adding that until migration into the province picks up, rental vacancies will remain high.

“I think we’re in this for another year or so, at these vacancy rates.”

Richard Cho, principal market analyst for Calgary with CMHC, says he expects Calgary’s apartment vacancy rate to sit around 7.5 per cent (CMHC bases this number on purpose-built rentals, not the secondary market, which includes investor-owned condominiums) when CMHC releases its next Rental Market Report in the fall.

Cho says while CMHC actually expects the demand for rentals to increase – as it did in 2016 compared to 2015 – because of the supply of new units entering the market, the overall vacancy rate will remain high compared to Calgary’s historical vacancy rate of around three per cent.

“Over the last couple of years, we have seen supply levels rise, both with purpose-built rentals and investor-owned properties,” said Cho, adding that, in the fall of 2016, 30 per cent of apartment condos were investor owned.

“We’ve seen this tremendous influx of new units in the past few years, combined with a smaller pool of tenants,” said Baxter. “The supply is greater than the demand.”

Come October of 2018, however, Cho says CMHC expects the rental vacancy rate to fall to 6.5 per cent, due to improved economic conditions – leading to gains in rental demand, as well as reduced supply of new units on the market.

David McIlveen, director of community development for Boardwalk Rental Communities, says Boardwalk is taking advantage of the slower rental market to refresh and upgrade hundreds of the suites it offers for Calgary tenants. The company is also rebranding some of its existing buildings, including the Chateau Apartments and Centre Pointe West, to move them into an upscale bracket.

“We had suites that were rented all the time, back-to-back, but when we began to see a significant slowdown and suites became vacant, that allowed us an opportunity to do renovations,” said McIlveen.

For the past couple years, Boardwalk has been offering rental incentives to potential tenants, sometimes adding up to as much as $300 per month.

“We’ve seen a decrease in move outs – and an increase in rentals – over the first six months of 2017,” said McIlveen.

Baxter believes that, given the challenging nature of the current economy, whatever landlords are doing in term of rental incentives to attract renters can be nothing but helpful. “It’s such a competitive market out there at the best of times,” he said.

One thing everyone agrees on is that it’s a fantastic time to be a renter in Calgary.

“It’s really good news for tenants in the city right now. They have lots of choice and lots of places they can go,” said McIlveen. “We’re competing very hard with a combo of fantastic service and product to make it a great experience to live at a Boardwalk building.”

Original Posted by Kathleen Renne

贷款政策预计还会锁紧，请买家注意

8月25日卡尔加里房地产局发布提示信息，未来贷款政策还会锁紧，希望我们作为业内人士及时反馈个人意见给相关部门，因为我们阿省房地产已经备受经济形势、政治的影响，要是本行业的政策再不支持，形势还是很严峻的。

所以，请准备首次购房的买家注意，及时和你们的贷款人员保持密切联系。

For more details, please read the link below.

http://www.osfi-bsif.gc.ca/Eng/fi-if/rg-ro/gdn-ort/gl-ld/Pages/b20_dft.aspx

2015-2016 Elementary schools ranking in Calgary

SOLD 成功出售 42 DALHOUSIE CR NW, c4122590, $369,900

房主夫妇真是一对好人家，还是陌生人，我这辈子习惯和陌生人打交道了。大学毕业后最初从事商业房地产，就是和陌生经理、老总们打交道，亲戚有几个能购买租赁写字间、公寓的啊？！。

见面之后，几天内就上门签订挂牌协议。但是什么价格开始卖呢？这是西北Dalhousie 社区的麻屋，duplex。原始装修、后院没有车库、地下室没有装修。因为短期的已售房源信息对比不强，而先生又想卖个好价钱，我们只能先赌一把，看看市场上对于这种特殊产品需求如何？挂牌38万。

在我做过的open house中，一个现象很明显，就是很多买家找寻地下室单独出入口的那种。well，也许其他买家是我们的买家。20天前后过去了，迹象不理想，我们调整到37万。这期间，一条街上一套53万挂牌的duplex，在Dalhousie，duplex挂牌53万？人家卖掉了。一夜之间降到499，900，就这个价钱卖掉的。那我们怎么办？不断做open house，哎，我们也收到offer了，pending。在买家解除条件之前，邻居#23也挂牌了，41.5万，就因为#63、#23人家有地下suite。#23，买家们还是抢offer，才买下的。

anyway，因为价格并不高、地段有独特优势，上市第65天彻底帮助卖家给卖掉了。谢谢！Longlong。

卡尔加里上半年房地产表现如何？请看最新报告！

上半年房地产市场更新--- 市场显示稳定迹象

卡尔加里房地产局CREB^® 预计下半年的市场将会逐步复苏

2017年上半年是阿尔伯塔省自经济衰退以来开始逐步好转的一个重要标记。市场条件开始支撑房地产市场的稳定发展，而不是遥遥无期的等待复苏。

"经济发展的挑战当然仍然存在，因为我们的高失业率，新移民迁入也减弱，另外贷款政策也收紧，" CREB^® 首席经济学家 Ann-Marie Lurie说到。"这些市场条件在下半年将会持续左右房地产市场的调整。然而，预期并不会把上半年好不容易涨回来的这部分有调整回去。（也就是还是慢慢悠悠地涨，或者小跌然后接着慢慢悠悠地涨。要是有政策利好，那就大涨。怎么听说央行基率可能还要再涨，从0.75涨回1？不知道会是什么时候的事了。）" 

预计今年总共卖掉18,401 单元，比2016年增加3.3%。增长的步伐也许会比预期快一点儿，因为上半年市场表现比预期的要强。  "我们看到很多买家原本因为经济发展停滞不前推延了购买计划，现在有再次回到市场上，" 房地产局CREB^® 主席David P. Brown讲到。"市场上的更多潜在买家帮助卖家们把房子放到市场上，开始帮助形成价格的稳固发展。" 

逐步改善的供需平衡，主要是独立屋产品段、连体房产品段，帮助价格的回复上涨。下半年需求的增加，期待会缓解库存可售房源继续挤压，这样将会防止价格进一步走低，从而帮助价格复苏上涨。总体来说，整个城市价格上预期和去年差不多。（这岂不是没有涨？？原本大家还期待今年会好些呢，闹了半天还是慢慢无期。经济啊？！政府要帮助我们阿尔伯塔省复苏经济啊！！）

尽管市场条件逐步改善，但是共管公寓市场仍然面临严峻挑战！好不容易卖掉的房源，怎么也超不过大量涌入的新挂牌房源量，导致库存房源大量积压、价格持续走低。这部分产品段在2018年也将会持续面对严峻挑战，因为吸收在售的库存房源需要很长时间，这还包括开发商的新公寓上市，以及租金不高的公寓租赁市场的挤兑。 

"今年劳动力市场的逐步改善正帮助房地产市场的转换，然而过去两年市场的微弱市场表现是我们见过的经济危机年份中最弱的两年”! Lurie提到。"但是市场转型对我们来说仍然是好消息，我们预期复苏的过程还是会很缓慢的，尤其还得看什么样的房屋产品，那种产品的市场条件如何？（就连社区地段的区别、建成年代的区别等等等等….那就多了去了，总之不同产品，不同表现。"） 

具体报告，请点击这里。

Calgary Real Estate Mid-Year market update shows stability

CREB^® forecasts a process of recovery for the remainder of 2017

The first-half of 2017 marked a shift in Alberta's economy from recession to recovery, with conditions supporting stability rather than expansion.

"Economic challenges continue to exist, as high unemployment rates, weak migration levels and more stringent lending conditions are weighing on the housing market," said CREB^® chief economist Ann-Marie Lurie. 

"This will continue to cause some adjustments in the housing market for the remainder of this year. However, this is not expected to offset earlier gains supporting general stability in 2017." 

Resale sales activity is expected to total 18,401 units in 2017, a 3.3 per cent improvement over last year. The pace of growth is slightly faster than originally anticipated, due to the stronger growth that occurred in the first half of the year.  

"We saw many of those consumers who delayed any purchasing decisions willing to re-enter the market as concerns regarding the economy eased," said CREB^® president David P. Brown. 

"More potential buyers on the market helped move some of the product in inventory and started to create some price stability." 

Improvements in the supply demand balance, primarily in the detached and attached sector, caused prices to start to trend up. Demand growth through the remainder of the year is expected to ease relative to inventory levels. This should prevent further substantial shifts in pricing. Overall, annual city wide prices are expected to remain at levels comparable to last year.

Despite generally improving trends, difficulties continue to exist in the condo-apartment ownership market. Rising sales cannot keep pace with the growth in new listings, keeping supply levels high and placing continued downward pressure on prices. This area of the housing market will likely continue to face challenges well into next year, as it will take time to absorb additional inventory in the resale, new and rental markets. 

"Improvements in the labour market are supporting the shift in the housing market this year. However, activity over the past two years was amongst the weakest we have seen since the financial crisis," said Lurie.

"While the shift is welcome news for many, we continue to expect that process of recovery will be slow and dependent on the property type and location within the market." 

For more information, please refer to the CREB^®'s 2017 Economic Outlook & Regional Housing Market Mid-Year Update found here .

Canmore & Banff严厉打击非法 Airbnb出租

一直知道Banff 短租有限制，也知道Canmore太火了，不好找便宜的地方住，或者短租。极致的时候Canmore 的空置率为零！ 但是并没有意识到除非有商业执照，普通家庭限制对外出租，同时政府还有罚金！具体，请看下面新闻截图。

Tuscany NW market update - July

免费 RE/MAX 卖方卖房准备指南

现有部分DVD + 小册子存货，感兴趣的卡尔加里卖方，如果想接收这个免费DVD，请在下面的链接登记，我们可以送到您家，或者您可以来我们公司领取。祝好！金辉

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/S53KX8N

新房源上市 西北区infill West Hillhurst 三层楼，步行去学校，$998,000

本周六8月12日下午3:30-6:30 对外开放

面积：2500多平方尺

建成年代： 2012年

卧室 ： 3+ 1

卫生间： 3 + 2

MLS #: C4132333

地址： 2416 1 AVE NW

独特三层楼，一楼有书房、厅、厨房；二楼有三间卧室；三楼可以用作独立的厅/读书房/书画室，还独立带有2件套卫生间；地下室有卧室、4件套卫生间、影视大厅。整栋房子4间卧室、3个全卫、2个半卫。后院双车库。

步行到Louise Dean School、Madeleine D'Houet School学校，Bow River河边，开车去市中心5-10分钟。

July Monthly Report

Housing recovery remains a work-in-progress

Market sees modest inventory gains, but overall prices inch up

Sales exhibited stable growth through the first half of the year in the Calgary housing market, but the number of transactions slowed slightly in July compared to last year. 

City-wide sales totaled 1,637 units, six per cent below July 2016 levels. Year-to-date sales activity totaled 11,957 units, nine per cent above last year.

"Sales growth exceeded expectations so far this year. Clients were re-entering the market after delaying decisions until there were some signs of economic improvement," said CREB^®president David P. Brown.  

"However, this recovery will require patience. There continues to be many new and resale ownership options available. This reduces the sense of the urgency for many consumers." 

Easing sales were met with higher new listings, causing further gains in inventory levels. City-wide months of supply rose to four months, as inventory levels reached 6,675 units this month. This is 17 per cent higher than last year, but still below July highs recorded in 2008. 

"Modest improvements in the labour market and net migration were necessary to support the turnaround in the housing market," said CREB^® chief economist Ann-Marie Lurie.

"However, current inventory levels and changes in the lending market continue to weigh on housing demand.  Easing demand growth combined with elevated levels of supply will slow the pace of price recovery in our market." 

Driven by detached and attached housing sales, city-wide prices in July improved over the previous month and the previous year. However, it is nearly four per cent below previous monthly highs. Year-to-date benchmark averages remain 0.44 per cent below last year's levels. 

Despite the current month activity, the detached sector continues to demonstrate conditions that are more balanced compared to last year.  

Apartment condominium product continues to face oversupply in the resale and new home sector, causing further price declines. In July, the apartment benchmark price was $266,200. This is a three per cent decline over last year and nearly 12 per cent below peak prices. 

For a full analysis of the Calgary housing market in 2017, please refer to CREB^®'s 2017 mid-year update to be released in mid-August.

Click here to view the full City of Calgary monthly stats package. 

Click here to view the full Calgary region monthly stats package. 

2017年7月份房地产市场统计

二手房市场还是在逐步改善回复中

库存可售房源略微增加，但是总体价格还是慢慢上扬

卡尔加里二手房市场2017年上半年成交量还是稳步增长的，但是7月份成交量和去年同期相比还是少一些。 

整个城市7月份共售出1,637 单元，比2016年同月份降了6%。（去年7月份我们的牛仔节是20年来最差的一年，阴雨连绵的。竟然卖掉的比今年多？！我最近新挂牌的房子，问了一下老外摄像师，7月份忙不忙，人家说：“6月份还挺忙的，7月份就一下子淡了不少“。我猜也许因为孩子们都放假了，家长们忙着camping、度假等等，又加上大热天的牛仔节，没人把房子当回事了，又再加上涨利息的。）从年初至今，共卖掉11,957单元，比去年同期多9%。

"成交量到今天为止，应当说还是比预期的要高。买家们因为经济不景气暂缓行动，现在经济又有所复苏，买家们又再次回到市场上。" 房地产局主席David P. Brown 说。"然而，市场的逐步回复，大家还是要有耐心。因为，毕竟还有那么多的开发商供应的新房子，二手房又有很多选择。所以，买家们还是没有那么急切"。 

新挂牌价格有所上扬，销售行为就有些迟疑不前，导致库存房源开始增加。目前，整个城市供给月份增加到4个月份，因为现在库存总房源达到6,675单元。比2016年增加了17%，好在仍然比上次2008年7月份库存房源最高峰要低一些。 

"劳动力就业市场稍微好转一点儿，新增移民人口也尽力支撑整个城市的房地产需求。" 房地产局首席经济学家Ann-Marie Lurie说到。"但是，目前库存水平、加上银行贷款政策的调整，有左右了消费者的购买需求。现阶段消费者对房地产的需求不涨不跌的，而库存可售房源却有所增加，所以价格复苏还是挺缓慢的。" 

在独立屋、连体房屋成交的带动下，整个城市市场基准价7月份比去年同期、上个月都好一些，但是仍然比前几个月的高点低4%。从年初至今市场基准价均值比去年同期竟然低0.44%。（我们应该是不要太惊慌是吧，就那么0.44%的，还以为2017年比过去两年要强很多呢？？？哎，要有耐心！耐心！！人家上面都提了，要有耐心!） 

尽管上面提及的7月份表现平平，但是独立屋市场状况持续显示好过去年。  

公管公寓市场仍然面临二手房市场、以及开发商新楼盘的过度供给，导致价格继续下滑。截至7月低，公寓市场基准价为$266,200。比去年同期低3%，比上次峰值低了近12%。

8月中旬，卡尔加里房地产局将会有上半年统计出炉，到时候会再次汇报给大家。
( 请感兴趣的朋友，发来电子邮件 www.huijin.ca@gmail.com)