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Real Estate (Central)
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FREE jun 21 to jun 27 2013 issue 03-24
real estate news from industry experts
secondary suites debate continues Excess red tape adding to lack of rental availability
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Cody Stuart
managing editor
T
he path to legal secondary suites in Calgary may get a little easier, in some neighbourhoods. A report released by the City’s planning department is recommending changes to the way the suites are handled. City bureaucrats have suggested easing permit requirements in certain districts, such as areas within walking distance of major transit stops and postsecondary schools. “What the recommendation in the report was suggesting is that we do an overall review of the rules and regulations,” said Cliff De Jong, senior special projects manager for the City of Calgary. Among the changes recommended by De Jong is a reinstatement of the secondary suite grant program, which reimbursed homeowners for safety upgrades made to their suites. The program provides up to $25,000 to cover 70 per cent of the costs of developing or upgrading an existing secondary suite. Funding for the program was fully allocated in 2012 and there are no plans in place to introduce more, although homeowners are able to put their names on a waitlist in case someone drops out of the program. The other recommendation made by De Jong is to ease the restrictions allowing suites to meet building codes, although he stresses the need to ensure safety. “Right now, there’s a number of different relatively daunting processes when you’re talking about a homeowner and trying to get them to come into compliance,” he said. Fire and building inspectors checked 50 basement or backyard units in 2012 as part of the City’s Suite Safety Approach pilot, and nearly half of the homeowners opted to shut down their suites rather than try to wade through Calgary’s complicated and expensive rules around bringing units up to code. Under the project, the City selected 50 sample suites at random across all land use districts. Homeowners were then asked to schedule an assessment with the City, at which point they would be informed of any changes required to make the suite compliant. “To be honest, if you dig into them the numbers are worse, because we had 18 of the suite owners essentially either drop out immediately or declare that it’s a vacant suite that they weren’t going to bother renting,” he said, adding that of the 32 remaining suites instpected, 25 had significant safety issues.
SINGLE FAMILY
1611 1480
1609
1582
1209 1006
1174
1132
745
773
MAY11 JUN11 JUL11 AUG11 SEP11 OCT11 NOV11 DEC11 JAN12 FEB12 MAR12 APR12 MAY12 JUN12 JUL12 AUG12 SEP12 OCT12 NOV12 DEC12 JAN13 FEB13 MAR13 APR13 MAY13
722
879
962
988
1036
1106
1284
1386
1398 1153
1217
1313
1576
1710
MLS® NUMBER OF UNITS SOLD* MAY ‘11 – MAY ‘13
1766
secondary suites A3
*All statistics based on monthly data compiled by CREB® via MLS® activity.
CREA contents updates news briefs resale Housing construction forecast Cochrane’s Riversong
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CREB® STAFF
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mortgage rates
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he Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) updated its forecast for home sales activity for Canadian real estate boards in 2013 and 2014. Although sales in the first quarter of 2013 remained virtually the same as those in the last quarter of 2012, the monthly sales trend improved within the first quarter of this year and has accelerated in the second.
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