Thanks to Rae Steil of Mortgage Architects for her heads up that RBC is discontinuing their 4 yr “special” mortgage rate of 2.99%. Still lots of cheap money out there for mortgages, but the deals won’t last forever.
CREB has reported this years January sales are down slightly from last year. I have to say, it sure doesn’t feel like it is slow – in fact I can report an unusually high number of out of town buyers for this time of year. I suspect that many sales that occured late in the month are still PENDING and so not counted into the sales numbers. This might mean February sales will be higher.
Below find the link to the Calgary Real Estate Boards Statistic report for January 2012.
http://www.creb.com/public/documents/statistics/2012/package/res-stats-2012_January.pdf
Below is the link to the “ Housing Statistics” from the Calgary Real Estate Board for December 2011.
http://www.creb.com/public/documents/statistics/2011/package/res-stats-2011_December.pdf
This is a great article on the pathway system that many people use through-out the city. Newcomers to Calgary are often surprized at how extensive it is.
Georgina
PATHWAY COMMUNITIES ATTRACT BIKE COMMUNTERS
Experts say city needs to better integrate cycling infrastructure in increase riders.
Article by Tom Babin – Calgary Herald Dec 11, 2011
Margeaux Myers says there are a number of reasons she rides her bike to work downtown every day. It’s fun, it’s inexpensive and it keeps her in shape. And for her, it’s easy. Two blocks from her Parkdale house is the Bow River path that takes her straight downtown in minutes. Sure beats the daily traffic battles, she says.
“Parking and driving is not an option for most people who work in the core,” Myers says. “(By cycling), I can take my own schedule. I come and go when I need to. It’s not expensive, and it’s pretty quick and easy.”
Myers isn’t alone. According to data from the 2011 civic census, compiled for Project Calgary, Parkdale is home to one of the highest percentages of bicycle commuters in the city, at 5.3 per cent. It may come as no surprise because the Bow River pathway that abuts Parkdale is one of the few pieces of infrastructure in the city exclusively for cyclists – it’s segregated from cars on the road and from the parallel pedestrian pathway. Point Mckay, West Hillhurst, Hillhurst and Wildwood are all in the top 10 for proportion of bicycle commuters in Calgary, and all are in the vicinity of the river pathways.
In fact, the communities with the most bicycle commuters all tend to be those with strong downtown-oriented bicycle infrastructure, such as multi-use pathways and on-street bike lanes.
For Richard Zach of advocacy group Bike Calgary, which was a proponent of the city’s newly adopted cycling strategy, which will add cycling infrastructure for commuters in the coming years, the data is a sign that bike infrastructure works.
“It’s when and where infrastructure exists that more people will consider biking,” Zach says. “I don’t know how big the effect (of the strategy) will be, but we hope for more.”
As the popularity of cycling as a form of transportation, rather than recreation, has increased across North America over the past few years, the city has been under pressure to add cycling infrastructure. While measures that add space on roads for bikes by taking it away from cars remain controversial, the documents guiding the city’s growth all encourage cycling as a more affordable, sustainable and safe alternative to driving. City Hall’s transportation plan calls for spending 48 per cent of its budget on transit, 35 per cent for goods and auto movement, 14 per cent for maintenance, and three per cent for cycling and walking.
The census data in Calgary seems to reinforce a notion put forth by Mikael Colville-Andersen, the former Canadian behind the blog Copenhagenize, which encourages cycling as an everyday transportation option. He recently told the Herald that his fellow Europeans don’t bike for environmental or social reasons. “If you make cycling the quickest and easiest way to get somewhere, people will do it,” he said.
As the momentum behind the cycling movement increases, however, there are many questions about how to do that.
Ahmed El-Geneidy, an assistant professor in urban planning at McGill University, who co-wrote a paper earlier this year encouraging municipalities to take a more scientific approach to locating cycling infrastructure, says if cities want to improve access for cyclists, it’s important to build connections. Pathways and onstreet roads often exist in isolation. Simply connecting them will make the infrastructure more functional.
“Nobody has been thinking of bicycle (infrastructure) as a network. They are usually just responding to a problem, or putting something where the cyclists are asking for it,” he says.
El-Geneidy wasn’t surprised that the largest number of Calgary cyclists live in areas where there is strong infrastructure for them. He agrees with the if-you-buildit-they-will-come mantra of many cycling advocates, but says the impact of new bike lanes is a more long-term proposition. His work has shown that people interested in cycling tend to move over time to areas where they can access bike lanes and paths.
“Many people have been exaggerating the impact of the built environment,” he says. “When a bike lane is built, in the short term, you won’t see a huge increase (in use). In the long term, when you have the infrastructure, people will self-select those communities to live in.”
The city is already addressing some of the issues around cycling infrastructure. The new cycling strategy calls for the creation of a new pathway and bikeway implementation plan beginning in 2012. The city has plans in place to improve connectivity, and add cycling infrastructure over the coming years, which may create more communities where cycling is an easy commuter option.
That may enable more people to made decisions like Myers – she moved to Parkdale from Silver Springs partly because commuting by bicycle is easier. She thinks better infrastructure in other communities would encourage more people to ride, something she sees as a positive for the city.
“It’s not going to happen until the pathways are better,” she says.
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald
Have you ever wondered what it would cost to give the gifts from “The 12 Days of Christmas” song? If you have, be sure to check out this very entertaining interactive presentation for the current years cost of the 12 days of Christmas presented by PNC Financial Services. They have been calculating the cost for the past 28 years!!
http://content.pncmc.com/live/pnc/microsite/CPI/2011/index.html
Below is the link to the latest statistics for the month of November from the Calgary Real Estate Board.
http://www.creb.com/public/documents/statistics/2011/package/res-stats-2011_November.pdf
Interesting to see this article in the Herald about some major condo developers from Toronto planning to build 3 condo towers in Calgary. This follows an announcement by Vancouver based Bucci Developments planning 2 new projects in our city. Not surprising considering how fast some of the pre-sale have sold out new projects already under way.
Herald Article:
CALGARY — A Toronto residential tower condominium developer is proposing three projects for Calgary, attracted by the city’s wealth and style.
Brad Lamb, head of Lamb Development Corp., said Wednesday his company will partner with Fortress Real Capital on the first project, a 30-storey, 230-unit condo at 10th Street and 6th Avenue S.W.
The project is expected to cost about $62 million to build and its residential units and ground level retail to sell for around $80 million, he said.
“I’ve been looking at Calgary for five years trying to find the right opportunity,” he said.
“And I believe now is right for Calgary.”
Lamb said he believes Calgary is the most affluent city in Canada and, furthermore, that the downtown region between the Beltline and the river is ripe for high-density development.
“You can feel the wealth in Calgary,” he said as he prepared for a meeting with potential investors on Wednesday evening.
Lamb said his second project will be a hotel and condo combination and the third will be a highrise but its details can’t be revealed as yet.
The downtown Calgary market for residential towers has come back from 2008 when the shrivelling economy dealt a death blow to the four-tower Arriva project by Torode Residential Ltd.
In August, Vancouver-based Mike Bucci of Bucci Developments Ltd. said his company was shifting focus to Calgary, with two new projects, because the economy is more promising than in the company’s home town.
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. reported Tuesday that multi-family starts in the city are up 70 per cent for October and five per for the first 10 months compared with last year.
The numbers are being driven by the highest number of apartment unit starts since May 2008, it noted.
dhealing@calgaryherald.com
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald
Check out this link for a new page on Calgary and area just installed on my website. Not only is the information helpful to newcomers to Calgary, but locals will also find lots of great facts and access to helpful resources. Hope you enjoy it!
I have noticed that more buyers bring up a walk-able community as part of their wish list when buying a home. It is interesting to see that cities like Calgary are doing traffic studies for communities with the goal of implementing traffic calming measures designed to slow traffic, reduce collisions, and improve walk-ability.
Georgina
By Eva Ferguson, Calgary Herald October 16, 2011
Motorists are frustrated but so are residents of communities experiencing speeders and drivers taking shortcuts
It was a quiet summer evening in Crescent Heights when John McDermid and some friends were sitting, chatting in a shaded yard.
Suddenly the calm was broken and a speeding van darted through a stop sign, rolling onto its side, ending up in the front yard of a walk-up apartment.
“It was scary, that unmistakable sound, the impact, the broken glass.
“We rushed over with blankets and a fire extinguisher. It was a young couple. They were injured, but luckily not seriously.”
Dating back more than 15 years, that bright blue van lying on its side remains an awful memory for McDermid, now the president of the Crescent Heights Community Association.
But high-speed, cutthrough traffic continues to be a daily reality for residents in the historic innercity community, straddling Centre Street North just minutes from downtown.
According to police traffic counts for 2010, Crescent Heights recorded one of the highest numbers of traffic collisions at 406 incidents.
Numbers include cars versus cars, pedestrians, light standards and anything else they can run into.
Other communities such as Albert Park/Radisson Heights, Acadia and Shawnessy also scored in a similar range.
They are among several communities that face higher collision rates than others for a variety of reasons – congestion, careless speeding, and being surrounded by busy thoroughfares that get clogged up forcing cut-through traffic along residential streets.
McDermid says much of the problem for older, innercity communities is that they’re built on a grid. While grids are great for the walkability of a neighbourhood, streets that run straight, intersecting each other, offering several ways in and out of the community can enable cut-through traffic. And for Crescent Heights, the problem is magnified with several major collectors surrounding it, including Centre Street, 16th Avenue and Edmonton Trail.
“Almost all of our streets are on a grid. When traffic stacks up on the major surrounding streets, we get the cut-through traffic. Some days we can’t even believe the speeds in here.”
McDermid says it seems those who cut through who aren’t Crescent Heights residents are the worst offenders because they don’t respect the community.
Crescent Heights underwent a traffic study in 2000, which resulted in several traffic-calming measures including four-way stops, posted speed reductions, curb bulbs and even some full street closures to reduce cut-through traffic and slow the speeders.
But McDermid says much of the calming that occurred is now a decade old, and new shortcutting issues have come to light. Yet Crescent Heights now seems to be a lower priority.
“Because we had the study, we’re deemed to have had our issues resolved. But nothing is ever perfect. We need further measures and we’re not getting buy-in from the city. We’re at the bottom of the list.”
Area Ald. Druh Farrell says more communities than ever before are coming forward with requests for traffic studies.
It’s not just communities that are on a grid that are experiencing high traffic collision counts, she says.
Many newer communities such as Shawnessy, with only two exits onto Macleod Trail northbound, are also facing congestion problems, particularly during the morning rush.
Community leaders there say that in an effort to create a district without cutthrough traffic, congestion has become the alternative.
“I’ve heard a lot of comments from people saying it can take a really long time to get out in the morning,” says community president Paula Kendrick. Shawnessy tallied 445 traffic collisions in 2010.
Still, other communities such as Albert Park/Radisson Heights, which offer a mix of grids, winding roads and cul-de-sacs, are also dealing with high-speed, cut-through traffic.
Les Burton, association past president, says Albert Park/Radisson Heights has a host of challenges, surrounded by major roadways – 17th Avenue to the south, Memorial Drive to the north, 36th Street to the east and Barlow Trail to the west.
The community had 632 collisions last year. City police were unable to provide the locations of collisions so it’s not clear how many occurred within the community or on the periphery along major routes. But Burton says cutthrough traffic continues to be a problem, particularly along Radcliffe Drive/28th Street S.E. which has several schools and soccer fields inviting high volumes of intermittent traffic and illegal parking.
“People are coming into the community for soccer or whatever, and they’re parking all over the street.
“You can’t see as well driving along those streets with all the cars. It’s bad at the LRT station, too. And more and more people are just cutting through.”
In Acadia, which saw 586 traffic collisions last year, cut-through traffic continues to be a major headache as rush hour traffic along Macleod Trail and Southland Drive gets worse.
“I don’t even go near them. Macleod and Southland are horrible, horrible,” says Lindsay Sangster, president of the Acadia Community Association.
“You can either sit on Macleod Trail for hours, listen to your radio and smoke a whole pack of cigarettes, or you can just get onto Acadia Drive and get home.”
Sangster adds that several schools in the community, as well as other cut-through arteries such as Bonaventure and Fairview Drive, add to volume, driver frustration and collisions.
Acting Inspector Michael Watterston of the Calgary Police Service says traffic problems exist in a variety of communities, no matter what their design is. The challenge is driver attitude.
But police advise that if there are repeat offenders, they should be reported.
Police will lay a charge if the complainant is willing to stand up in court.
“People aren’t usually willing to go that far. But they need to know, if there is a legitimate concern, and they get a licence plate and a description, we will make a call.
“People need to know if they’re worried about traffic safety in their neighbourhood, they do have the power as a community, to do something about it.”
But some experts say community design can sometimes play a role in increasing safety.
Noel Keough, an assistant professor of sustainable design in the University of Calgary’s Faculty of Environmental Design, says drivers will continue to cut through and speed along any road if it’s easy, whether it’s a grid, a curve, along a soccerfield, even a school.
“We tend to design streets exclusively for cars. Drivers think they are separate from bikes and pedestrians, so they think the road is only for them, and they use it that way.”
Keough says European trends are seeing communities build narrow roads with no sidewalks, with front lawns abutting right up against narrow cobblestone streets.
“When there’s no separation, it’s more multiple-use, and you can expect anyone could be on the road at any one time. You just get more cautious drivers. You’re forced to slow down.”
Some communities are even abandoning the vehicle altogether. In the West German towns of Freiburg and Vauban, some neighbourhoods have become virtually car-free.
Residents park cars in a communal garage and walk to their homes, leaving community streets for bikes and pedestrians only.
In Calgary, Keough argues, we continue to put the automobile first, often spending more on road infrastructure, overpasses and lane additions instead of improving transit.
“We need to devote less space to vehicles and make more room for pedestrians and cyclists.”
Keough has been commuting by bike around Calgary for over 25 years and says it continues to be dangerous on most days.
“Cars drive too fast, because there’s really no infrastructure for bikes. That’s just the way the city is built.”
eferguson@calgaryherald.com
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald
Read more: http://www.calgaryherald.com/Living+city+where+king/5557627/story.html#ixzz1b4Qc4nRz
Below is a link to the latest stats from the Calgary Real Estate Board
http://www.creb.com/public/documents/statistics/2011/package/res-stats-2011_September.pdf
| The data included on this website is deemed to be reliable, but is not guaranteed to be accurate by the Calgary Real Estate Board |
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