Latest news with #ThisIsCalgary
CBC
09-05-2025
- Business
- CBC
Calgary's hot house-flipping market is cooling off, real estate insiders say
Social Sharing Calgary leads the country in flipping houses, as recent data from the Bank of Canada shows nearly seven per cent of homes purchased in the Calgary metropolitan area were re-sold within 12 months. That's far above cities like Toronto, Quebec, Vancouver and Edmonton, which came second to Calgary at 4.2 per cent of homes purchased and successfully flipped. But, according to Calgary-based realtor Andrew Jones, who spoke to the This is Calgary podcast, Canada's hottest house-flipping metropolis may be entering a cool-down period. Since 2020, he said, "markets [have] been running like crazy. We have seen prices just taking off. We've seen really low inventory levels and all of that has led to a lot of people getting into the flipping because, quite honestly, if you just buy a property and hold it for six months or a year and do nothing, you were probably going to make money." Now, Jones said, it's less of a guarantee. "As we get to a balanced market, we have more inventory. There's a lot more competition out there," he said. "If you're flipping, you're going to have to do a little bit more than, you know, paint everything white and throw some black fixtures on and call it a day." According to the Calgary Real Estate Board (CREB), last month's inventories rose to 5,876 units, more "consistent with what we typically see in April," while sales were down 22 per cent from last year's level, with 2,236 units sold. Economic uncertainty has played a role in the dip in home sales, but "previous gains in migration, relatively stable employment levels, lower lending rates, and better supply choice compared to last year's ultra-low levels have likely prevented a more significant pullback in sales and have kept home prices relatively stable," Ann-Marie Lurie, CREB chief economist, said in a press release. What makes Calgary Canada's house-flipping capital? According to Calgarian Shelly Visser, who flips houses with Front Door Investments and Rich Girl Renovators, Calgary is an attractive place for house flippers. "It's a beautiful city to live in. There's a lot of opportunities. It's affordable compared to some of the other provinces, there's growth, there's a younger demographic, there's a lot of different price points for everyone," she explained to This is Calgary's Jenny Howe. "So no matter what product you are flipping, you can meet a price point that is needed for that demographic." Jones said an influx of migrants helped keep Calgary's housing market afloat as interest rates went up. "We saw a lot of migration here. Everyone in Canada wanted to move here. It was an attractive place to be, and because of that, I think the flip market ... garnered a lot of action, a lot of activity." The lack of any vacancy tax or land-transfer tax adds to the appeal, especially for 25-40 year olds who use house flipping as a side hustle, Visser said. "It's doable to make anywhere from $80,000 up to $200-300,000 depending on what is going on. Depends on the market as well," Visser said. "That's a really important factor in your decision making because if you've bought at a height of a market or the market's a little bit higher and then six months later you're finishing and then now the market's in a downturn, there goes maybe your profit." House flipping and its impact on the market "Things are cooling off, but a balanced market is good," said Jones, the Calgary realtor. "It's been excellent for sellers for a long time, but it's been really challenging for buyers. So a balanced market is an opportunity for both buyers and sellers to have a little bit of benefit out there." Jones is seeing flipped homes close to the University of Calgary still selling quickly, in neighbourhoods like Charleswood and Brentwood. But what's slowing down is the full two-storey detached homes, where "someone's gone in there ... they've thrown lipstick on a pig. They've painted the house, they've thrown in some new appliances, but the home itself is still a little bit older." He said because there isn't as much of an inventory crunch anymore, buyers have the option to wait and see what other properties enter the market. Will Calgary keep its top dog status? Visser said that while the market is balancing out, it isn't declining — just cooling off. "When you don't have that big panic and rush, it feels like a cooling off, right?" she said. "So when we're talking about Calgary, we are still very healthy and it's actually good to be balanced. Jones said, moving forward, there's going to be more competition in the housing market.
CBC
04-05-2025
- Climate
- CBC
Calgary continues efforts to plant nearly a million trees, and better balance local canopy
The city intends to plant 930,000 new trees by 2029 After a major influx of federal dollars last fall, Calgary's efforts to plant more trees continues this spring. Since 2023, Calgary has planted 200,000 trees as part of an effort to introduce 930,000 in total by 2029. Looking further ahead, Calgary, a city of roughly seven million trees, aims to nearly double its urban canopy coverage from 8.25 per cent, as measured in 2022, to 16 per cent by 2060. The local effort was bolstered by nearly $61 million from the federal government last fall. The funding is part of Canada's 2 Billion Trees program, a national effort to improve urban spaces, provide cleaner air and help the country adapt to climate change. But where Calgary's new trees will go is a pressing question surrounding this project. Many of the more well-established and central Calgary neighbourhoods have more trees. But Calgary's canopy often grows more sparse in neighbourhoods further from the city's core, in areas that weren't developed with trees in mind or have poorer soil quality. The disparity creates a problem for residents who miss out on benefits like trees that offer shade to mitigate heat in the summer and disrupt winds to protect from the cold in the winter, while also more effectively managing storm water, improving biodiversity, and enhancing social and mental wellbeing. Paul Atkinson, the city's acting urban forestry lead, said Calgary tries to tackle this disparity by targeting areas with less trees per hectare of public land, but it's not always a simple fix. Some areas need soil rehabilitation, which can be expensive, while other neighbourhoods weren't developed with enough space for trees, based on street design and where utilities were installed. "If you take that bird's eye view and look at some of these sites, they might look like ideal spots to plant a tree, but they might actually have high-pressure gas lines or utilities or street light cables or all these things underground," Atkinson said in an interview with This Is Calgary. LISTEN | Where will Calgary plant nearly a million trees? Media Audio | This is Calgary : You get a tree! And you get a tree! Caption: Where will Calgary plant nearly a million trees? We put that question to the city's top tree guy, and also ask if communities with historically fewer trees will get finally get spruced up. Open Full Embed in New Tab Loading external pages may require significantly more data usage than loading CBC Lite story pages. A map of the city's urban canopy shows neighbourhoods like Eau Claire, Erlton and Garrison Green have more than 25 city-maintained trees per hectare. But other neighbourhoods like Franklin, Sunridge and Mayland have less than five. The city's efforts don't just end on public land though, as its Branching Out program offers roughly 5,000 trees per year for residents to grow on their land, with quadrants covered by less canopy given priority. Frustrations over a more sparse canopy But some parts of the city want a stronger effort to balance the scales between trees in each neighbourhood. Much of Ward 5, which is represented by Coun. Raj Dhaliwal, has an urban canopy far below the city's average. In November, Dhaliwal said he planned to call for a sizeable amount of the federal funding toward new trees to be used in his ward. What's the value of a tree? The city will tell you Saddle Ridge is one neighbourhood with less coverage, boasting just eight city-maintained trees per hectare. Asim Baig, president of the Saddle Ridge Community Association, points out parts of his neighbourhood feel barren, with no trees at all or older plants damaged by hailstorms. He said he often hears frustration from other residents, because it seems as though trees damaged by hail aren't replaced at a rate matching the damage. "Every time we push for having more trees around our boulevards and parks, the reason that we hear is that soil is not as good as the other communities. And our frustration is that there has to be some sort of remedy to mitigate this problem," Baig said. Baig added that caring for trees has also had an effect to unite residents who share a passion for it, and that the neighbourhood on the whole wants to see more trees. "[Trees] add a sense of belonging," Baig said. "It's not even [just] better for environment, but people come together." Planning planting ahead Atkinson said soil quality, depth and availability can all be improved, and the benefits of better soil health, carbon sequestration below ground and tree longevity outweigh the associated cost. But it's still an expensive process, and can lead to some resistance. "When you're dealing with trees and convincing people if we enhance the soil it'll save us money over 200 years and it will produce a canopy over 200 years, it's a pretty tough sell because I won't be here in 200 years to find out if we're all correct," Atkinson said. The city plans its canopy development roughly a year out, and it's using other methods to put more trees in the ground like new micro-forest areas. It's planting potted trees that, because they need to be carefully dug into the ground by hand, can be installed closer to some underground utilities. In some neighbourhoods, Atkinson says they've already put in the work in all of the available plantable area, the canopy just needs time to grow. In other cases, there's more work to be done. "We want people to have access to trees. We want every citizen to have these cost-effective solutions to mitigate heat and all these things around residences," Atkinson said.
CBC
17-04-2025
- Politics
- CBC
'Pretty devastating': Alberta charities cut language classes after Ottawa slashes funding
Social Sharing Newcomers settling in Calgary face massive wait times to access free English classes, ranging up to a year, according to the Centre for Newcomers. Now, due to federal funding cuts, the non-profit said those wait times could get even longer. Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has cut funding for some organizations offering Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada (LINC) as Ottawa plans to start reducing immigration levels. LINC classes are fully federally funded classes that help new arrivals learn to read, write, listen and speak in English. Because of the funding change, the Centre for Newcomers has made cuts to its popular LINC classes — even though around 900 people are on a waitlist. "I think it's pretty shocking news," said Charlie Wang, the interim CEO at the Centre for Newcomers. He spoke to CBC host Jenny Howe for this week's episode of This Is Calgary. "Since the Afghan and then Ukrainian [crises], the waiting list for language programs has been fairly long," Wang said. Bow Valley College, Maple Leaf Academy and Lethbridge Polytechnic have also announced they're scrapping their popular LINC classes. Across the city, Immigrant Services Calgary says 6,199 new Calgarians were waiting for LINC classes as of April 2. Language classes critical, say student, English teacher Marite Rojas, who grew up in Bolivia, moved to Calgary just over two years ago. She waited for about a year before she got a spot in a LINC classroom. "I [didn't] have a choice," she told Howe. "I tried to find another school where you had to pay, but if you don't work, [it's] expensive." "If you cannot communicate with people … you are [isolated] for everything," she said. "You cannot go to the doctor and understand what the doctor said, you cannot open a bank account and read the contracts." Rojas has passed some LINC classes but plans to continue studying English with the goal of eventually attending a post-secondary school. Until the start of April, Maple Leaf Academy offered the classes for free, but the loss of government funding forced the school to shut down its LINC program. "It's been pretty devastating. I'm at the school right now, but it's quite empty and there are fewer teachers, way fewer students," said Kevin Simpson, an instructor and e-learning specialist at Maple Leaf Academy in downtown Calgary. Simpson said some former students arrived in Calgary planning to attend these classes, as part of their long-term plan for building a new life in Canada. "You're teaching them, you're with them every day. You form relationships with people and then you give them this news and you can just see how much it affects them," he said. "Language proficiency is pretty necessary for success in this society. And they are faced with a huge challenge that they, a month ago, didn't face." In a statement, an IRCC spokesperson said funding to support newcomer settlement needs is up 4.2 per cent in 2024-25 from the previous fiscal year. The funding available for supports, like LINC classes, depends on how many newcomers are expected to arrive in Canada. "Since, according to the Immigration Levels Plan, fewer newcomers are expected in 2025-2027, available resources have been reduced to match this decrease, which has resulted in a reduction in service providers," the IRCC spokesperson said. Next year, the annual number of newcomers issued permanent resident status will go from 500,000 to 395,000, then to 380,000 in 2026 and 365,000 in 2027. Calgary's Immigrant Education Society received an additional $450,000 in February to expand its free English classes programming — enough to accommodate five extra classes and an additional 125 students. In an email, the non-profit said the funding is meant to bridge the gap created by the loss of other LINC programs in the city, but it "doesn't really make a dent considering the long wait times." The Immigrant Education Society has around 2,500 new Calgarians on its waitlist. It can take upward of a year to access their classes, the charity said.
CBC
02-04-2025
- Entertainment
- CBC
Cowboys Park gets fresh public consultation after first phase prompts backlash
The city is calling for public feedback on the future of Cowboys Park, but the move comes after the city has already agreed to pave over some of the park's greenspace with asphalt, with no public engagement. Beginning this week, Calgarians can offer input on improvements they'd like to see to the function and layout of Cowboys Park, formerly known as Shaw Millennium Park, in the downtown west end. The online call for consultation is open until April 21. City administration plans to release a report in May on the results of the Cowboys Park feedback, which it says will help guide the future of the space. But the engagement arrives after the uncertainty surrounding the park has already prompted one popular annual festival to find another venue. Calgary International Bluesfest founder and producer Cindy McLeod was shocked to learn about potential changes to Cowboys Park in February, she told CBC host Anis Heydari on this week's episode of This Is Calgary. McLeod said the city sent her an updated map of the venue in February that appeared to show some of the park's greenspace paved over, and its stage and amphitheatre removed. The notice about these changes arrived too late, McLeod argued, adding that she waited as long as she could for confirmation about how the venue may change, but the lack of answers eventually led her to find a new home for her festival. It will instead be hosted at The Confluence, at 750 9th Ave. S.E., this summer. "I can't even begin to tell you how stressful it's been not knowing where we were going to land this year and what that might look like," McLeod said. "I've been selling tickets since last fall. I have artists booked, suppliers booked, so to pivot all those things is really quite a hefty task." The former Shaw Millennium Park has hosted Calgary's Bluesfest for 14 years. The park underwent a name change after its agreement with Shaw expired, and last summer, the city signed a 10-year naming and sponsorship deal with Cowboys. The deal will bring the long-running annual Cowboys Music Festival, which coincides with the Calgary Stampede, to the park beginning this summer. The city's new event centre displaced Cowboys Music Festival from its old location, necessitating it find a new home. Last summer, Cowboys said it would work with the city to upgrade the west-end park's infrastructure to invite more community use and attract more festivals. After the park's initial changes were agreed to without public consultation, McLeod said Calgarians should be able to provide input on the park's future. Replacing Olympic Plaza Allison Fifield, the city's community parks initiative lead, told This Is Calgary that Cowboys Park is losing 20 to 30 per cent of its green space in phase one of the park's transformation. That work was part of the agreement the city made with Cowboys in the first place. "There was no engagement that could happen on something that was part of a negotiated agreement," Fifield said. "This part we always knew was going to happen." The first phase of changes to the park, including upgrading utilities and paving over some of the park's greenspace, was paid for by funds from the city's deal with Cowboys, Fifield added. The city had been working with Cowboys since 2022 to find a way to partner and create a more vibrant downtown park, Fifield said. This was especially important for the city because it can no longer rely on Olympic Plaza as a venue with a hardened surface, due to its redevelopment. The deal with Cowboys allows Calgary to create another event venue to use in Olympic Plaza's place. The amount of money the city is receiving from its deal with Cowboys is confidential, Fifield said, because publicizing such details would put the city in a worse negotiating position for future sponsorship agreements. While she understands the distrust Calgarians may feel about the deal's details being confidential, and how the city didn't engage the public for feedback about the first phase of the park's evolution, she said the agreement was made with Calgarians in mind. "The basic structure of the park isn't changing. We're just updating it," Fifield said, adding the park hasn't had a refresh in decades. The park's basketball court, skate park and volleyball courts will all remain, she said. Looking ahead, Fifield said the city wants to hear about what Calgarians want to see to improve the park in phase two, and how they want to use it. She suggested possible ideas could include winterized washrooms, other sports facilities, and the capability to host more food trucks or markets. Site design not part of council decision Cowboys Park falls in Ward 7, represented by Coun. Terry Wong. He told This Is Calgary that after the city's deal with Shaw expired, a request for proposal went out for a new park sponsor, with Cowboys answering the call. Wong said details about site preparation weren't part of city council's discussion when it approved the deal with Cowboys. "What we were presented with was a business case [and] the economics associated with it, as opposed to how it was going to be activated, how it was going to be designed, how it was going to be used. That part wasn't fully fleshed out at the time," Wong said. What needs to be weighed now, Wong says, is retrofitting Cowboys Park to make it a multi-purpose area that can host more events and festivals in a part of the city that he notes has few such activities, against what the community wants the park to be, as it's typically been used for recreational purposes in the past.
