The value of building permits for multi-family homes approved by the city for the first four months of this year is more than triple that of the same period last year, says the City of Calgary.
To the end of April, more than $110 million worth of permits for duplexes, apartments and townhouses was given the nod by the development and building approvals department.
For the same period a year ago, the value was slightly more than $36 million.
Of the 329 multifamily permits approved from January to April this year, 284 were for duplexes.
The value of multi-family permits reached nearly $33 million in April, alone, compared with less than $18 million for the same month last year.
The priciest approval was for $4.2 million by Trico Homes for an apartment block in its Milano development in Panorama Hills.
In terms of single-detached housing, 454 permits were approved in April for a value of $121 million. From January to April, 1,666 permits totalling nearly $445 million were approved.
During the same period last year, there were 902 single-detached approvals valued at $227.5 million.
"Residential permit values for April show a 19-per-cent increase compared to April 2009," says David Watson, city general manager of planning, development and assessment.
The estimated value in April for total building permit applications for single-and multifamily homes was $275 million, up three per cent compared to $267 million for the same month last year -- but down 16 per cent compared to a five-year annual average of $328 million from 2006 to 2010.
This year's total for April represents a decline of eight per cent compared to a 10-year annual average of $298 million from 2001 to 2010.
"The strongest increases are in the new townhouse and new single-family sectors -- up $14 million and $7 million, respectively," says Watson.
For non-residential construction, permits from January to April declined 16 per cent compared to the same period last year -- $124 million compared to $104 million.
Total construction permit values for the four-month period are up 36 per cent to slightly more than $1 billion.
Residential values are nearly double compared to the same period as last year. Nonresidential values are slightly down.
The total number of residential units was 2,464 compared to 1,174 units last year.
"The amount of activity remains strong in both residential and non-residential and we are well above values of the same period last year," says Watson. "If this pattern continues, we'll be on track to have a stronger year than 2009"
