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Metro Calgary
$1M will buy you a bigger house than in Vancouver but not Winnipeg or Halifax
A million dollars doesn't go quite as far as it used to when buying a home, but here in Calgary, it can still get you something not too shabby.
That's according to a report released by Royal LePage, looking at million dollar homes in major cities across Canada.
The study found that while $1 million will barely get you a starter level home in certain parts of Vancouver or Toronto, it can get you 2,400 square feet on a 7,000 square foot lot in Cowtown.
John Hripko, a Royal Lepage Benchmark Realto based in Mission, said the benchmark price of a home in Calgary is hovering right around $500,000.
However around 2005, that same home would've cost on average $185,000.
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CMHC
CMHC releases updated road map to homeownership
OTTAWA, February 28, 2017 -
Buying a home can be exciting, but it can also be a challenging and confusing experience. CMHC is providing guidance to Canadians who are considering buying a home with our updated
Homebuying Step by Step
guide, released today.
The interactive guide seeks to demystify the process of buying a home in Canada. It's been revised to better reflect the realities of today's housing market by illustrating how to assess financial readiness, providing tools to help prospective homebuyers calculate how much they can afford, and incorporating information about next steps, whether these are to make a purchase or make budget changes.
Because the decision to buy a home is a personal one, it's difficult to offer advice that applies across the board. That is why the guide includes a complementary workbook to help potential homebuyers identify their specific housing needs and plan according to their budget, lifestyle, and goals.
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Below are some great links to some useful mortgage calculators.
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METRO
CANADA IS GETTING A THREE-DOLLAR COIN FOR ITS BIRTHDAY
Raise your hand if you thought you would see a Canadian three-dollar coin before seeing a five-dollar one.
To mark the country's 150
th birthday, the Royal Canadian Mint is rolling out a decorative ducat that is festooned with hockey sticks, canoes, lobster pots and other totems of Canadian life. The Queen keeps her familiar position on the coin's reverse side.
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CREB
By Andrea Cox
Twyla Hayes, founder Life House Cares and Cory Krygier, co-founder of Jig Saw Builders, are converting a former convent into a specialized seniors care facility.
Three Calgarians breathe life into former convent
A cool redesign is transforming a former convent in Calgary's inner-city into a haven dedicated to seniors experiencing Alzheimer's and dementia. Called Life House, the pilot project is the brainchild of Sano Stante, Cory Krygier, and Twyla Hayes, three Calgarians who are passionate about sustainably reshaping established Calgary communities, and reconfiguring the look of elder care.
"Our focus is on providing a high quality of life and maintaining social integration with the community," said Sano Stante, president Sano Stante Real Estate Inc. and former president of CREB®.
Life House's pilot project will provide residential housing and health and memory care for 10 residents within the newly renovated, 3,500 square foot brick clad former Sister Servants of Mary Immaculate convent in Calgary's northeast neighbourhood of Renfrew.
What separates this facility from others is its intimate setting nestled into a community structure, the level of care (based on a ratio of one medical staff to five residents), the innovative design of the home and its cutting-edge holistic behaviour therapy program.
The Life House partnership brought together Stante's real estate acumen, Krygier's home building expertise as the co-founder of Jig Saw Builders, and Hayes' cutting-edge elder care knowledge.
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Calgary Sun
By DVIRA OVADIA
Selecting the right type of countertop for your kitchen is one of the most important decisions you'll make in your design.
Whether you are looking to achieve a full reno or a small facelift, kitchen countertops are crucial to creating a stylish impact in the space.
Today, countertop choices are endless: granite, marble, engineered stone, solid surfaces and laminates. From frugal to fabulous, all options have pros and cons!
The appearance of your countertop is just as important as its performance, and you want to ensure that your selection appeals to both sides of the spectrum. If you are on a budget consider laminate options, some products on the market today mimic real stone patterns and straight-edge profiles make these look quite contemporary and sleek.
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CREB
By KATHLEEN RENNE
Tiffany Pratt loves colour.
An interior designer, stylist and host of HGTV Canada's Home to Win and Buy It, Fix It, Sell It, she's also a self-proclaimed "rainbow hunter" and "rainbow thrower." Even her vibrantly hued hair, which takes inspiration from the rainbow, attests to her passion for palettes.
"I'll be telling the real story of my connection to colours, rainbows and why I feel injecting colour into your life is so healing and transformative," said Pratt. "I will be sharing how to fearlessly bring a bright range of colours into your life and home and how easy and accessible this colourful way of life can be."
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Despite the extended cold spell that has many of us wondering if spring will ever get here, we are starting to see the pickup in activity that we normally see in the spring. Many of the people I am meeting are planning to put their homes on the market later this month or in early April. They understand that the longer they wait to put their home on the market, the more they will be competing with a larger number of listings.
And for those who are currently on the market, sellers do need to understand that although there may be a smaller inventory listed right now, they still need to be realistic with their pricing. Buyers will not buy an overpriced home and they also know that even if they are not able to find a home today, more will be coming on the market.
Well-priced homes are selling - and as I reported last month, we are even seeing some competing offers.
If you are considering selling your home, buying a new home, or both, and aren
'
t sure if this is the right time, please give me a call. I would be very happy to meet with you.
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Evaluation Request Thinking of Buying Client Testimonials
Click on the images above to go to valuable links on our website.
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Request an Evaluation?
Want to know what your home is worth? Click on the image above to link to a simple form on our website.
Thinking of Buying?
Many of the homes on the market today, possibly your dream home, are not listed on the Internet. As specialists in this area, we have access to all properties currently for sale and often others that are not officially listed, but still available for sale.
Client Testimonials
View the McKelvie Group testimonials page to see what our clients are saying. Please feel free to write a review by clicking the red ADD REVIEW link on the left side of the page.
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HOUSING MARKET SHOWS SIGNS OF REBOUND
With new home starts down, inventories are stabilizing
New home construction in the Calgary region continues to be negatively affected by a struggling economy that has slowed down the pace of activity in the past two years - and more of the same is expected this year.
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp's Richard Cho, principal market analyst for Calgary, says the pace of activity was starting to stabilize in the single-detached market as 2016 progressed.
''But on the multi-family side we saw inventory levels steadily rising throughout the year and they're pretty elevated levels for Calgary and they've had an impact on the number of new projects breaking ground last year,'' said Cho.
According to the CMHC, total housing starts in the Calgary census metropolitan area fell by 29.1 per cent in 2016. That is a drop of 9,245 units compared with 2015. The single-detached market was down by 15.7 per cent to 3,489 starts while the multi-family sector fell by 35.3 per cent to 5,756.
New home construction in January followed the same pattern as the year before with total starts dropping by 24.9 per cent to 426 units for the month compared with January 2016. That consisted of a 1.8 per cent decline in the single-detached market to 221 units and a plunge of 40.1 per cent in the multi-family market to 205 units.
In its forecast last fall, the CMHC said single-detached starts are expected to range between 3,400 and 3,600 this year and between 3,900 and 4,100 in 2018. The forecast for multi-family starts is between 5,100 and 5,500 in 2017 and between 5,600 and 6,000 in 2018.
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CALGARY DETACHED HOUSE PRICES EXPECTED TO STABILIZE IN 2017
Some Calgary homeowners may have cringed after opening their municipal property assessments this week, but real estate experts say the ongoing slide in single family home prices should end later in 2017.
In its
annual forecast, the Calgary Real Estate Board (CREB) said Wednesday the city's housing market should slowly reach stability this year in the detached and attached market, while condo prices are expected to drop by another two per cent.
Calgary's long period of economic downturn appears to have bottomed out, but little job growth is expected until later in the year.
"It's about when those rising oil prices start to influence the employment in the market," CREB chief economist Ann-Marie Lurie said.
She said employment levels have a direct impact on the housing market, adding the transition in the market would be a slow process.
City-wide sales are forecasted to total 18,335 units in 2017.
That would be a three per cent gain over 2016, but 12 per cent below long-term averages.
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WHAT $1M WILL BUY: 10 years ago in the housing market vs. today
New report looks at decline of purchasing power over the past decade
A decade ago in Canada's hottest real estate markets, it would've been possible to buy a home in good shape, in a desirable neighbourhood, for $1 million. But a new report says that simply isn't the case any longer.
Royal LePage compared two-storey detached homes between 2007 and 2017 to see how much $1 million could buy then and now. The answer - across almost all markets in the country - is much less space.
Buying power in Vancouver and Toronto has been hit the hardest.
"A million dollars 10 years ago had a connotation of some luxury to it," said Dianne Usher, who represents central Toronto realtors for Royal LePage.
"Today in those major centres, it's a little more than a startup, tear down, lot value in the central parts of both of those cities."
Usher blames a combination of a falling supply of houses and rising demand.
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COOK NOW AND EAT LATER
If you are only making enough food for one night, you are doing it wrong.
Instead of spending hours at the stove and with the dishes, or giving up on your best-laid plans and grabbing McD's on the way home, you should batch cook - or cook enough for several meals so that you can save some for later. The recipes below are designed to make 6 to 10 servings, so that you can eat tonight and later in the same week. Most are also freezer-friendly, so you can even eat them later in the season.
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CREB Now
These are exciting times for James Robertson as he watches the massive University District mixed-use development rise from the ground in northwest Calgary.
As president and chief executive officer of West Campus Development Trust, which is spearheading the impressive project, Robertson proudly points to some recent accomplishments as a clear indication that this proposal is now well on its way and not just a grandiose plan.
A roadway off of Shaganappi Trail N.W., leading directly to the site, opened at the beginning of December, providing easier access. A Discovery Centre opens March 11, which will include a 3,000-square-foot information area about the project as well as two areas that are 1,000-square-feet to serve as sales centres and show suites for builders Truman and Brookfield Residential.
The idea for this project has been around for more than 10 years.
''The Trust actually got moving on this project about halfway through 2012. We've been going at it hard, moving forward with everything from design and visioning and approvals, and now into tendering and construction,'' said Robertson.
''We're building a community here. It's a large community at the end of the day. These things don't occur overnight and take a lot of input from a lot of people. All very valuable input," added Robertson.
"As we move through these moments, we cross over the next hurdle, or make the next milestone, it's very exciting for us. And that's why we're pretty excited about this Discovery Centre because we're now moving from a vision to what is going to be here, to people can now buy in this community and live here. That's a very exciting transition for us."
It's one thing to design on paper. It's another thing to start seeing people buy houses and houses start to get built,'' said Robertson.
Officials say University District is a bold new vision for life in the city. A 200-acre community with diverse housing, office and retail space, as well as parks and public realms.
Located at 32nd Avenue N.W. and Shaganappi Trail, the project will include 40 acres of open space, 8.7 million square feet of buildable area, 200,000 square feet of ground floor retail along nine blocks, 1.5 million square feet of office space, and 15,000 residents and jobs.
Complete urban living and close to various amenities that include the University of Calgary, Market Mall, Foothills Medical Centre, the Alberta Children's Hospital, McMahon Stadium, Winsport and a great transportation network.
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CREB Now
Destination malls like Chinook Centre provide more than just shopping
CF Chinook Centre in Calgary has made it on a list of the most productive shopping malls in Canada.
According to the recent Retail Council of Canada's Canadian Shopping Centre Study, Chinook Centre was ranked seventh overall with sales per square foot of $1,057 for the 12 months ending Aug. 31, 2016.
Paige O'Neill, general manager of Chinook Centre, says the local shopping centre has some key elements that contribute to its success.
''We obviously have the retailers that people want to shop in and, at Chinook, we have over 30 unique-to-market retailers. So we have within the city of Calgary the most unique-to-market retailers. That in of itself makes you kind of a destination,'' said O'Neill.
''When you add seven full-service restaurants, one of the top three theatres in Canada, a bowling centre to the mix, you kind of have that full-service experience for guests."
She says Chinook Centre is a destination people can visit and spend hours doing a variety of things. In fact, O'Neill says people spend more than an hour and a half at Chinook Centre on average.
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CREB Now
By Miles Durie
Every time you turn around, a new tech gadget hits the market.
Understandably, it's hard to keep up. So, here's a look at four of the coolest gadgets on the market right now, from an elegantly simple power-saving plug, to a funky retro telephone with high-tech innards. Every product featured in this story is available in Canada, either online, or at retail stores.
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Sincerely,
