Edmonton is Growing Up and Out

June 12, 2012

New reports on residential development in Edmonton show how much the city is growing in new neighbourhoods as well as in existing neighbourhoods in the city’s core and mature areas.

According to the reports, development in new neighbourhoods was slightly lower in 2011 than 2010, although still comparable to much of the last decade. However, development in older neighbourhoods in 2011 was the highest it’s been in 10 years.

The data is contained in four reports the City publishes every year on the status of residential land development.

“The reports are used by the City, companies and organizations interested in development and the general public to gauge how and where the city has grown,” says Peter Ohm, branch manager of Urban Planning and Environment.

Some other highlights from the reports include:

• The value of residential construction in 2011 – city wide up 4% from 2010, in mature neighbourhoods up 16% from 2010.
• Based on development rates for the past decade, Edmonton has about 17 years of land supply for low density residential development in approved developing residential areas.
• The southeast and southwest sectors of the city have the largest number of dwelling units being developed.
• 19% of all new dwelling units (single family homes as well as multi-family units) in 2011 were constructed in mature neighbourhoods. That’s an increase from 17% in 2010. The increase in development in mature areas approaches the target set in The Way We Grow/Municipal Development Plan that a minimum of 25% of dwelling units be built in mature areas and around LRT stations and transit centres.
• New dwelling construction in mature neighbourhoods continues to follow a trend of more multi-family units than single-family units – 2011 saw a net loss of 30 single family units but a net gain of 1,095 multi-family units. 

“The residential land status reports show us that Edmontonians continue to be interested in a range of housing choices in all sectors of the city,” explains Ohm. “Some want to live in the downtown and older areas of the city, others want to live in new neighbourhoods.”

“Given the public interest in how we grow as a city, and the City’s own development of a Growth Coordination Strategy,” says Ohm, “these reports will become more important as we seek to understand the implications of growth wherever it occurs and manage the future financial costs and public obligations of that growth.”

The reports can be viewed at: www.edmonton.ca/ResidentialLandStatus.

 

For more information:

Gord Jackson

Title	Director, Urban Planning & Environment
Telephone	780-496-6117