What do you think of this project?

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I wonder why there are not more new condos here, especially with rents increasing quite a bit recently and prices for new homes going up too.

Also, existing condos seem more affordable here than almost any other city in Canada.

You would think at some point demand would cause prices to increase and/or more supply to be built.
 
David A said:
I wonder why there are not more new condos here, especially with rents increasing quite a bit recently and prices for new homes going up too.

Also, existing condos seem more affordable here than almost any other city in Canada.

You would think at some point demand would cause prices to increase and/or more supply to be built.
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Like you said, condos are more affordable here. So if a developer can't start their pricing at $500k and up for small 1 bedroom condos like in the other major Canadian cities they aren't going to build to the same extent.
It's not about building homes it's about making money.
 
You can buy quality existing high-rise condos in this market in the $200 psf range. It's pretty tough to compete with that if need to start your pricing at $500.

Having said that, I don't think you need to start pricing at $500 to make a reasonable margin but you certainly can't compete with $200 (noone is going to build and sell for considerably less than their cost to develop).
 
kcantor said:
You can buy quality existing high-rise condos in this market in the $200 psf range. It's pretty tough to compete with that if need to start your pricing at $500.

Having said that, I don't think you need to start pricing at $500 to make a reasonable margin but you certainly can't compete with $200 (noone is going to build and sell for considerably less than their cost to develop).
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I agree they are related. Of course prices for new are always going to be higher than for older existing places but I agree much lower prices for existing ones can reduce the demand for new ones.

However, I suppose my question is a broader one, why are condo prices higher almost every where else, I think even in places like Winnipeg which is not know for its high housing prices? Edmonton seems to be quite an anomaly.
 
I think the oil crash, and then the pandemic, really crushed a lot of downtown Edmonton development momentum. Add in unknown reasons to increased homeless and we got an exodus out of downtown. I know all this was not specific to only Edmonton, but the soup just seemed to mix really well here.

I think majority of people in Edmonton just really love their truck accessible wide roads and are generally car-dependent. When I lived downtown Edmonton in the mid 2010s one of my biggest observations was how dead the streets were during the day especially weekday, and I'm talking foot traffic on 104 street. To me that proved that even though we had all these new towers on 103/104, majority people living there always hopped in their car when they left the house.

I would also assume that with Edmonton's downtown workforce not being all that big, a lot of people living downtown don't actually work downtown (or at least a larger ratio than compared to other cities). But then add in all the negative impacts I had mentioned above, and a looooot of people probably said f*ck this I'm moving back out to the burbs where my truck can fit any road and I don't have to deal with bums. Causing a huge price drop in condos because simply, nobody wants to live there.
 
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No, it's not a matter of personal perception! Either the far left successfully pushed policy changes that reduced police presence downtown and increased disorder or they didn't. And if they did, you should be able to say what those policy changes were.

The reason I'm pushing on this is because for the last five years all across North America, people have breathlessly repeated the claim that crime or disorder has gone up because we defunded the police, a thing that literally did not happen. So forgive me for being skeptical!
 
crisp said:
Add in the far left movement throughout the same timeframe
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Can we not politicize everything? In particular in this case, other cities in Canada (and North America in general) as for more left leaning and it hasn't been a determining factor in the housing markets (if anything, the far right keeps bitching that the housing crisis and low affordability are issues created by the "far left").
 
Left wing Edmonton council votes to reduce police budget in 2022 despite several types of crime increasing - https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/edmonton-city-council-police-budget-1.6287629

  • Violent Crime: While the overall rate is down, the number of violent incidents has increased, with a slight rise in 2024 compared to 2023.

  • Violent Crime Incidents: In 2024, there were more violent crime incidents than in 2019, which has caused public concern, especially regarding safety in the downtown core and on public transit.

  • Specific Violent Crimes: Incidents involving knives have increased, while incidents involving firearms have decreased. Domestic violence incidents have decreased by 3.1%.

  • Crime Severity: The overall crime severity in Edmonton decreased by 3.5% in 2024.

  • Property Crime: There was a 14.6% decrease in property crime from 2022 to 2023.

  • Youth Crime: There was a 13% increase in youth crime from 2022 to 2023.
 
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