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Residential sales still strong After record housing starts last year, demand expected to rise with job creation Lyndsay Herman Northern News Services Published Wednesday, December 5, 2012
The question remains, how long can Yellowknife ride this momentum? "It's a strong market, I'm just not sure how deep," said Scott Butler, president of Highstreet Ventures Inc. "It's certainly strong now. That was due to pent-up demand, but with almost 200 homes that we've put into the market, and then you've got a lot of other developers putting homes out there, Yellowknife, and the end of the day is only a market of some 20,000 people." Highstreet Ventures Inc. is the Kelowna-based developer behind the Niven Heights and Copper Sky residential developments. Once Niven Heights reaches completion in 2013, Highstreet Ventures Inc. will have introduced 199 homes into the Yellowknife market between the two developments since Copper Sky reached completion in 2011. Meanwhile, Toro Ventures Inc introduced 15 units this year with The Point. Summit Circle Development will introduce 100 units by the end of 2013 at Niven Phase V. And Guy Architects Ltd. has a 24-unit eco-housing project currently in the permitting stage. Still, developments hitting the market are still seeing presale success and, while they may not be selling as fast as those who hit the market in early 2011, they have yet to see signs of market saturation. Wayne Guy, president of Summit Circle Developments, said pre-sales at the Niven Phase V development were 50 per cent sold within the first day and currently sit at 70 per cent. A second phase will take place in the spring for the remaining units. "The first of our units will be completed in the summer of 2013," said Guy. "That's our first phase, which will be 24 units. By the end of the year we'd like to complete the remaining units which will be upwards of 76 units." Meanwhile, the city of Yellowknife felt the recent surge. "In 2012 we have witnessed very strong growth in terms of residential development," stated Jeffrey Humble, director of planning and development for the City of Yellowknife, in an e-mail to Yellowknifer. "There is significant residential construction which will occur in 2013 and indicators suggest the demand will remain stable to strong." A report issued by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation predicts the same, expecting continued job growth in Yellowknife to maintain demand at least in 2012. Even as pent-up demand is satiated, Butler said he sees some important and hopefully permanent changes to Yellowknife's residential development scene. "In a way I think ... what's happened by us building (Copper Sky and Niven Heights) is we've encouraged some locals to develop some multi-family as well and that's good," he said. "That's one of the drawbacks in the past. There was just nobody local to keep pushing ahead. There were, but you had two or three players who would do the same product over and over again. I think what you're seeing now is some response to our success and people say, "Ya, I can do this, I can .. get some presales, make a project go' and that's great to see. It's great for the community and great long-term."
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