November’s relatively balmy temperatures meant more shovels in the ground for single-family homes, according to data from the City of St. Albert.
A total of 28 single-family homes started construction in November. That’s more than triple last year’s numbers, which totalled five homes, and it’s a significant bump from November 2021, which saw work begin on 13 new homes.
“This atypically warm weather will help extend the construction season for certain processes that benefit from above-freezing temperatures,” said Michael Erickson, the city’s director of economic development.
The high temperatures have certainly helped builders at the Jensen Lakes development on the city’s north end, according to Michaela Davis, development manager at Melcor, the company behind the project.
“We were able to finish stages further in the process than is typical for the winter months,” Davis said. “We were able to complete sidewalks, and builders definitely were able to get more basements and more foundations in the ground.”
Overall, single-family housing starts continued an upward trajectory this year. Work began on roughly 240 new homes between January and November. By comparison, 2022 saw work begin on roughly 210 houses, and 2021 saw roughly 200 housing starts in the same January to November time window. Data for housing starts in December 2023 isn’t currently available.
Davis said that in 2023, the Jensen Lakes project saw more sales from builders directly to homeowners. “I think we're all a little bit surprised, given that interest rates have remained quite high,” she said.
Lingering market uncertainties from COVID-19 and fluctuations in available housing inventory meant fewer shovels in the ground at Jensen Lakes. In 2022, builders slowed development on the project to work through inventory built the previous year.
Although high-interest rates are a challenge for developers, Davis doesn’t see demand disappearing.
“I think the expectation is that interest rates at least remain the same, if not go down in the new year,” she said. “When you see a little bit of stability in the market from an industry perspective, then it provides a little bit more comfort to homebuyers.”
Bylaw changes to allow for secondary suites and smaller lots have made St. Albert more attractive from a developer’s perspective, Davis said. These types of properties are popular for people who are entering the housing market and may have smaller budgets, she said.
Courtney Jensen, a partner with Strata Developments, the company building Nouveau North Ridge, said that a combination of material shortages and land title delays stalled the project, which didn’t get started on building until winter 2022.
“Our show homes opened quite a bit later than we had planned,” she said.
The development’s two main show homes opened in June, just in time for Nouvea North Ridge’s neighbourhood grand opening.
But this year Strata Developments didn’t build any new lots at Nouveau North Ridge, Jensen said.
"We needed to give our builders time to get their show homes open and have product for the market,” she said.
Nouveau North Ridge is the first neighbourhood in the city to have zero-lot line homes, according to Jensen. She expected that buyers would be familiar with the narrower lot style as it’s popular in Edmonton, but many were new to the concept.
“They needed a little bit of education on the benefits of zero lot line,” she said. “Now that we've provided that we're definitely starting to see people understand why it's a smart purchase.”
Erickson said that it’s hard to pinpoint a single reason that the city saw more housing starts this year.
“The record numbers related to interprovincial migration are probably a contributing factor,” he said. “St. Albert also has a history of scoring high among Canada’s best, safest and most livable cities.”
