Localism: Calgary, AB

Calgary's Top 20 Communties - December 2008

Wed, 31 Dec 2008 09:30:14 -0600

I've added a new feature to my website today, the Hottest 20 Communities in Calgary (in terms of MLS sales turnover). Here's the latest numbers as of December 2008:

Top 20 Hot Communities
as of December 1, 2008

Rank	Community	Average Absorption Rate (last 6 months)
1	Scarboro	2.14
2	Midnapore	2.20
3	Douglasglen	2.25
4	Collingwood	2.27
5	Vista Heights	2.53
6	Macewan Glen	2.60
7	Sundance	2.71
8	Lake Bonavista Downs	2.93
9	Lake Bonavista	2.95
10	Country Hills	2.96
11	Hidden Valley	2.98
12	Coventry Hills	3.08
13	Cougar Ridge	3.09
14	St Andrew's Heights	3.13
15	University Heights	3.15
16	East Mayland Heights	3.19
17	Riverbend	3.21
18	Evergreen	3.25
19	Fairview	3.27
20	Dalhousie	3.32

Garrison Woods Food Drive - Monday, Jan 26, 2009

Sun, 21 Dec 2008 14:06:25 -0600

FOOD DRIVE

The South Calgary Community Association has some exciting news regarding the 5th Annual Garrison Woods Calgary Inter-Faith Food Drive and are hoping you will join the team of elves.

Last December over 900 letters and bags were delivered to virtually every home in Garrison Woods. We then collected approximately 3,750 lbs. of food from our wonderful residents. We are anxious to continue this tradition however have made the decision to defer our Drive until January 2009. The Interfaith Food Bank has informed us that there is a large spirit of giving over Christmas however early in the New Year their food supplies start to run low. In addition to deferring to January, we have also decided to expand our Drive to include all the Communities within the South Calgary Community Association (SCCA) and will therefore be adding certain routes in Altadore and South Calgary to our Drive.

Please mark you calendars on Monday January 26^th, 2009 when we will be collecting bags of food donations throughout the SCCA. This is our fifth year and we expect it will also be our largest.

There are many ways to get involved. We require volunteers to…

· - print copies of the food drive letter (colour preferably)

· - staple food bank bags to letters

· - bag delivery on January 21, 22, 23(it's great exercise delivering the bags)

· - volunteer drivers with trucks for hauling our donations

- - volunteer runners for bag pick up

- corporate sponsorship is also available

E E-mail Victoria Morgan at membership@southcalgarycommunity.ca if you are interested in volunteering for our food drive. More information to follow in January.

Calgary real estate stats for Dec. 1 to Dec. 9, 08

Fri, 12 Dec 2008 13:33:41 -0600

December is always the slowest month of the year for home sales in Calgary, followed typically by January. This year is no exception. However, with the downturn in the economy, the collapse in the price of oil, the tightening of credit and buyers' expectations of lower prices in the coming year, sales during the first nine days of December were much lower than for the same period of 07. The stats below are for the city of Calgary and are generated on a weekly basis by the Calgary Real Estate Board.

2008 2007

SINGLE FAMILY HOMES

Sales 155 266

New listings 401 419

Inventory 4890

CONDOMINIUMS

Sales 71 122

New Listings 225 185

Inventory 2512

Activity during the coming weeks will continue to be very slow with Christmas on the way, a major winter storm expected to arrive today and last through the weekend, and my 60th birthday this weekend (this is sure to have a major impact on the amount of work being done, at least by me, for a day or so).

I'm looking out of my office window, across the park behind our home, at a snowy landscape and grey, grey skies. I enjoy feeding the birds in the winter, so filled my eight feeders this morning so that the birds will have something to much on during the storm. Calgary typically get's a cold spell before Christmas, although we often have no snow for Christmas. This weekend it is supposed to drop to -26C, so hopefully this qualifies as the cold snap, to be followed (ideally) by much warmer weather for Christmas.

Is “Recession-itis” taking its toll on you?

Fri, 12 Dec 2008 12:09:02 -0600

For the past few months we’ve all seen the headlines … “Financial Meltdown”, “Recession”, and “Hunker Down”. The word of the year for 2008 is ‘bailout’.

Looking ahead at 2009, what will you choose to fill your head with? One of hope, resilience and knowing that, “this too will pass?” or, will you bury your head in the sand along with all those other doomsday prophets?

I believe 2009 is the year that many folks will get back to reality in spending habits. Life may become simpler.

This morning as I was preparing my kids sandwiches, I used the last zip lock sandwich bag. I began to consider my school days. I wondered to myself, “Will I buy more zip lock sandwich bags”?

Growing up, I was the youngest of six kids. My parents were born in the depression, in rural Prince Edward Island. It was natural for my Mom to send us to school with our sandwiches wrapped in the recycled 1 litre milk bags. I was quite embarrassed about my sandwich wrappers for most of my school years. However, by the time I was in grade 12 – and a leader in my school – I began to think that my sandwich wrappers were cool – and I appreciated my Mom’s habits.

Last night I attended an information session put on by One Change. Their flagship project is Project Porchlight. I have volunteered to distribute free energy efficient compact fluorescent light bulb (CFL) door-to-door in our neighborhood.

Did you know that if every Canadian house hold changed one bulb in their home to a Compact Florescent light bulb, it would be similar to taking 66,000 cars of the road!

This one simple action will help to save you money, and help to save our planet. Simple action making global impact!

So as we enter into 2009 take some time and reflect over your past year. Take time to set some goals for 2009. Think about Financial goals, Time goals (how much time will you work, spend with family and friends, etc.), Strategic Goals (is time to “make the switch”, do something new, replace your role at work), Association goals (… or mentorship, who are you hanging out with).

In 2009, recycle your lunch bags, change your light bulbs – and prosper! I hope to see you on your door step – where I will be giving away light bulbs promoting simple change, joining our South Calgary Community Association, and talking to you about real estate!

Recession Hits Canada ... but Calgary?

Wed, 10 Dec 2008 00:28:35 -0600

December 2007 marked both the last month the United States had positive job growth and the first month of recession. Fast forward a year and the headlines indicate the worst is yet to come with 533,000 American jobs lost in November 2008 and unemployment continuing its climb to levels not seen since the early 1990`s. The American labour department indicated 2.7 million jobs have been cut since last December.Generally speaking, a recession is defined as two consecutive quarters of gross domestic product (GDP) contraction. While the USA uses slightly differing measures it is still apparent recession has set in south of the boarder.

How does this affect Canada?

Until recently we have remained relatively unaffected by the deteriorating US economy. Last week the Organization for Co-operation and development (OECD) predicts Canada`s economy will shrink for the next 3 consecutive quarters placing us technically into a recession. It is thought this could lead the jobless rate up almost a percentage and a half to 7.5 %. Should Canadians expect the same slow-down in the US or is this cyclical outcome a sign of an efficient market?

While keeping with a Real Estate perspective there are indicators that support the claims that commodity rich Alberta will escape unscathed from our countries slow-down. It should be noted that with $40 barrel oil the provincial tax revenues will diminish to a fraction of those paid on $140 barrel oil, but have had previous commodity driven surpluses.

Net migration to Alberta is still posed to continue both intra-country and from abroad. Primarily based in Ontario, the failing auto and other manufacturing industries have accounted for steady housing demand in Alberta and more specifically Calgary. The closing arbitrage in housing prices between Alberta and Saskatchewan has slowed this outflow as buyers are not seeing the value of a year ago. It is expected 2008 will top the 17,905 net migrants from 2007 and that 2009 will top them both. International workers are looking to stay in Calgary and this demographic will begin to purchase homes rather then rent.

In actuality Calgary is a bright point in the country with persistant job growth. A workforce participation rate of 78.3% has led to a record 715,300 Calgarian's employed in August 2008. The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate of 3.6 % is a sign of a robust labour market.

Calgary Real Estate market may not be affected to the degree of other CMA in Canada and the USA. Importantly, the above suggests that the feared Canadian recession may not materialize as many expect.

Steve Clark

p. 403-404-0866 e. steve@innercircleimaging.com w. www.innercircleimaging.com