A fairly substantial growth in new residential developments in 2017 contributed to more than doubling the value of development permits over the previous year.
The total value of all development permits issued in 2016 was a little more than $1 million, said Jon Allan, Sundre’s economic development officer, calling that a "slow year.”
Last year, the figure jumped more than twofold up to about $2.3 million, he said.
"It’s not as high as other years, but it’s a better year all the same.”
However, even though residential developments experienced a significant surge, commercial growth unfortunately remained stagnant, he said.
In 2016, residential development permits added up to a value of approximately $500,000, which last year increased to roughly $2 million. But commercial development permits went from shy of $470,000 in 2016 to none at all last year. Industrial developments in both 2016 and 2017 also remained nil, while institutional developments increased to about $310,000 last year, up from $65,000 in 2016, he said.
"Although our commercial development was lacking, we did see an overall increase in development permits of 124 per cent over 2016.”
The entirety of the approximately $310,000 generated by institutional developments was attributed to additions and renovations at the Sundre Hospital and Care Centre, he said.
The new residential developments occurred mainly on Fourth Avenue SW in Prairie Creek. Of the roughly $2 million attributed to residential growth in 2017, shy of $1.3 million occurred in that neighbourhood, he said, adding the construction of seven new dwelling units started there last year.
Additionally, there was a brand new single detached home constructed in roughly the same part of town along Fifth Street SW, while two new mobile homes were added to Noblefern, located behind the municipal office off of Sixth Street SW. Future growth will largely depend on whether developers decide to pursue new projects in the municipality, he said.
Also noteworthy was an average increase in the value of home sales to about $283,000 last year from $280,000 in 2016, which were at their highest since 2014, along with reduced waiting times on the market, he said, citing statistics provided courtesy of Century 21 Westcountry through the Calgary Real Estate Board.
"Homes in 2017 sold 69 per cent more quickly than 2015.”
Additionally, the downtown commercial vacancy rate ended 2017 below the running average for that year, but higher than the previous year. The vacancy rate, which is calculated based on the number of units vacant rather than the total available square footage, for the downtown corridor from just beyond the bridges was 8.1 per cent last year, up from 6.8 per cent in 2016, he said.
The commercial vacancy rates for the greater downtown area are calculated taking into account businesses west of Prairie Creek to east of the Red Deer River, or roughly from the municipal office to the Best Western, as well as all the north and south side streets, he said.
"Through business retention and development programs like the Visitor Friendly customer service training program starting next month, we can only hope that we will see increased occupancy downtown in 2018.”
