Bad weather in October and a change in housing trends could explain a dip in single family housing permits issued in St. Albert in the first six months of the year, said a local homebuilder.
Gary Acheson, owner of Sarasota Homes, said an early cold surge last year kept many homebuilders from putting roads in the ground. This stopped a significant amount of land from entering the market.
“That I think is really a significant cause for a significant decrease in the single family starts because there are three or four developers that were close to getting the roads in … and then freeze-up came,” he said.
“As a result there was a significant reduction of available lots to draw building permits on.”
Over the past six months building permits for single family homes in St. Albert decreased by 33 per cent compared to a year previous. The city of St. Albert issued 80 permits for singles from January to June 2012, compared to 120 permits issued in the first six months of 2012.
Permits for semi-detached homes, townhouses and condominiums saw an increase. While no permits were issued in the first six months of 2012, the city gave out eight permits for semi-detached homes and 12 for townhouses and condos from January to June 2013. Seven permits were issued for the construction of apartments, compared to two a year earlier.
Jonathan Lay, development manager with Genstar Development Company, said 2012 was an anomaly for building permits in St. Albert. More broadly speaking, he said the Alberta housing market is moving toward attached products and away from single-family homes.
That was not to say that singles would vanish from the market. But especially first-time buyers and retirees were growing more interested in townhouses and duplexes now, he said.
“And the trend (with the baby boomers) is to downsize. A lot of them raised families in a normal single-family house. Their families have now grown up or moved out so they are looking for a smaller residence.”
Cities such as St. Albert, Sherwood Park and Fort McMurray may also see fewer permits issued as they are dealing with land constraints, being surrounded by other communities such as Edmonton or Sturgeon County.
That provides an incentive for builders to build condominiums and townhouses over single-family houses, which take up more space.
Lay added the rise in building permits for attached housing in St. Albert could reflect a need for more attached homes in the community. Older buyers had moved to Edmonton in past years to purchase duplexes and townhomes there, he said.
“That might be because they have a second place in Phoenix or what have you or want a smaller place here or want cash out of their house to go travelling,” he said.
St. Albert is now allocating more land to allow for a variety of housing developments, such as townhouses, condominiums or smaller lot sizes.
While attached homes are more affordable than singles and may grow in popularity, Acheson said he is not concerned about a decrease in overall housing permits in the coming years.
“I think St. Albert is a desirable place to live in and if we have place to live in people will come to buy,” he said.
