The City of 琉璃神社 won鈥檛 break a record for building permit values in 2024.
The final dollar figure is expected to be about half of 2023鈥檚 record-breaking $1.75 billion.
鈥淧robably between $600 and $800 million,鈥� Ryan Smith, divisional director of planning and development services, told council at its Sept. 23 meeting.
Smith also said that development application volumes for 2024 are between the five and 10-year average.
鈥淚 wouldn鈥檛 say this is a crisis time. The real estate market is cyclic, we expected this cycle to happen and it will probably continue鈥nto next spring.鈥�
He said that many large-scale projects, permitted between 2020 and 2023, are currently under construction. Approximately 80 per cent of new residential growth is going to urban areas of the city, and about 19 per cent to suburban areas.
鈥淭his is entirely consistent with the objectives of the Official Community Plan (OCP).鈥�
Smith told council there is plenty of rental housing coming into the market and there are signs 琉璃神社鈥檚 historically low vacancy rate may be easing.
鈥淵ou can drive around certain areas and start to see for rent signs, the home made ones, which I don鈥檛 remember seeing the last five years at all.鈥�
Smith added there has only been one occasion in the last 20 years when 琉璃神社鈥檚 vacancy rate was above three per cent.
鈥淲ith the volume of rental housing nearing completion if there was going to be a time where we might tip over that it would be in the next 24 months.鈥�
However, he added there are fewer large-sized developments pulling building permits, and while rental housing targets may be met this year and next, years beyond that could be challenging in terms of housing supply coming into the market.
鈥淏ecause we鈥檙e not seeing those developments go into the building permit and construction process now. While building permitting value related to new housing has slowed substantially, we think by this time in 2025 that will be on the uptick again.鈥�
