Experts optimistic in 2024 Lethbridge housing outlook
Global News
"So, should you buy now? If you wait six months or a year, sure, rates might be better,” mortgage broker Rob Bain said. “But what are the prices going to be at that time?"
There’s no crystal ball to tell the future for housing markets or development, but there is a sense of optimism for the coming year.
One expert in real estate construction and market is Bridget Mearns, the executive officer of BILD Lethbridge.
“We’re seeing migration into the city we’ve certainly heard of people coming in from Ontario,” Mearns said. “But we’ve heard of other people coming in from other parts of Alberta recognizing what we have here in our city and so that brings some optimism as well.”
Even with growing demand, the new housing numbers all look to be in a normal range other than an unusual blip in December last year, with 20 single detached home starts.
Mearns said numbers don’t tell the whole story.
“It’s weather related,” she explained. “We had pretty mild weather with the exception of a few really awful cold deep freeze weeks. It’s been a pretty good market for builders to build in, so they’re out there putting in foundations as late as they possibly can.”
With 213 permits issued so far this year, compared to the 124 issued in the same time frame from the year prior, there are many projects to be built. One hundred eighty-nine of them were residential.
The largest difference this year over last is in the 141 renovation permits issued over the 64 last year. In a dollar amount, there have been $34,591,350-worth of permits issued this year, only $3,397,739 of that is those renovations, leaving $31,193,611-worth of building projects of residential buildings being done.
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