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development. Calgary has a stated goal that, when it comes to growth, half of that should come in existing neighbourhoods, while half will be in new subdivisions. Ottawa’s plan is to expand by 1,350-1,650 hectares by 2046. While that seems like a lot, it’s a finite number with not a lot of wiggle room.
“You cannot afford to buy anything in Ottawa. Here, you can afford to live. Edmonton is an experiment on how to maintain affordability and not restrict where people can build, and we should continue that success,” says Kodian.
Kalen Anderson, a former City of Edmonton director of planning who is
now the CEO of this city’s branch of the Urban Development Institute, says that policy has “constrained new suburb growth and that constraint has led to higher home prices,” adding that while Calgary is getting the bulk of new resi- dents making their way to Alberta, she says its plan to limit new development has done a lot to raise the average price- per-door there.
The numbers show the disparity between the cities. According to Calgary Real Estate Board statistics from October of 2023, the average price of a detached home in Calgary was $726,568, and $614,741 for a semi-detached residence.
AUTOGRAPH’S MERCURY BLOCK ON 123 STREET
Compare that to numbers from the Realtors Association of Edmonton: In this city, the average prices were $486,751 for a detached home, and $385,895 for semi-detached.
Ottawa’s average price for a single detached home was $810,319.
THE SOUTH
But Edmonton is moving towards limiting subdivisions. This year, the City will review its Growth Management Plan. According to the City of Edmonton’s own stats, about two thirds of our new developments are on the south side. Developers will tell you it’s a simple case of supply and demand — people vote with their dollars, and a house is the biggest financial commitment a family can make.
But the City wants to follow a plan that’s called “substantial completion” in administrative doublespeak. Think of it as a scoreboard: If one area of town expands too quickly, the City needs time to develop that area’s services and amenities before approving developments elsewhere. If the plan goes through, the City will begin lim- iting southern subdivisions, encouraging developers to go to other areas of town.
It has been widely supported by council, so far. The arguments are that the City
is paying to maintain roads, pick up the garbage and provide transit to subdivisions that are pushing outward. That adds costs.
City Councillor Erin Rutherford,
when voting on this issue, said she can’t support a continuing push for the city to expand south.
“It’s not constraining growth for all of Edmonton, it’s constraining growth for
a certain part of Edmonton. To continue down that path, to go in the direction that industry was asking us, would be like know- ing something isn’t working but continuing to do it anyway. I can’t support that.”
While developers say that messing with the supply and demand curve could force the prices-per-door upward, Mayor Amarjeet Sohi countered that the City must also look at the affordability of the services it provides to residents.
“We should not look at affordability in isolation,” he said. “We should look at affordability in a holistic way. If we are unable to provide access to quality →
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