New Levee on New Housing

[phreezee]

Calgary City Council has passed a new Levee on new developments. This includes new houses in the suburbs and condos in the inner city.

The developers are expected to pass on the fees to buyers. Housing is getting tougher and tougher to buy, and interest rates are set to climb.

Hurry up and close your deals for all those in the market.

Good Luck!

[Shaolin]

got a source/public release?

[JordanLotoski]

its a 2500 fee i belive, rates have already gone up..they will come down again.

[SikAssR1]

signed my papers just in time:thumbsup:

[Foz]

Tue, January 17, 2006

New home showdown builds upCity permit freeze threatened if developers don't pay levy

By MICHAEL PLATT, CALGARY SUN


Bronconnier.
Developers will be forced to pay up to $3,500 per new home to cover the costs of city infrastructure or risk having their building permits frozen by city council.

The threat to stop construction was made by Mayor Dave Bronconnier, who told city council that while the city can't force builders to help pay for fire stations and new buses, it can refuse to issue development permits.

"Council will have to make a decision whether to offer any more approvals," Bronconnier told aldermen at yesterday's city council meeting.

The city wants developers to cover an infrastructure shortfall of between $2,500 and $3,500 for every new home built, which leaves existing taxpayers on the hook for garbage pick-up and other infrastructure in new communities. The building industry currently pays $88,000 per hectare to the city, and Bronconnier said any extra cost will likely be added to that existing charge.

But developers warn any additional cost will be passed on to buyers, and that could jeopardize the finances of some new home buyers, said Judy Ferguson, president of the Urban Development Institute. "Where it becomes an issue is entry level," she said.

"There are potential home buyers out there where $2,000 does make the difference to whether they get that mortgage or not."

Ald. Ric McIver said the infrastructure cash will become a levy on new homes, and that will send a negative message to people planning a move to Calgary. About 8,000 single-family homes and 5,000 multi-family dwellings are built in Calgary each year.

===============

:thumbsdow :bullshit:

[djayz]

I think in a way its good...will stop alot of people from moving in to the city so fast

but on the other hand as stated in the release itll make a difference for some people on there mortages which would really suck...specially for 2000

[Xtrema]

3500 means extra 1-2% on a average home prices.

I think Bronnco is going nuts with taxes. The property values are on the rise, they are also increasing property taxes. These 2 factors alone are bring in major windfall for the city. Now this? I think it's time for citizens to fight back. I don't think the city is running lean enough. Or at least the mayor/aldermans are not lean enough.

[Hakkola]

I think it's good, the city is growing VERY fast, if city infrastructure can't keep up we will end up with a fucked up city.

[sputnik]

The way houses are selling right now its probably not a bad idea to slow the growth a bit.

Personally I dont think that $3500 is going to do anything but give the city better funding to keep up with the rapidly growing communities. I would rather the home builder/buyer be on the hook for the levee instead of the calgary taxpayers. Especially people like the elderly people with fixed incomes that live in the innercity and have already seen their property values skyrocket along with their taxes.

At the end of the day Calgary is growing at an alarming rate and the city is just covering its ass just incase the market tanks and they are on the hook for millions in development and infrastructure costs.

[googe]

Originally posted by MIWYFSHOT
rates have already gone up..they will come down again.

not really...it was like 18% in the 80s. they arent expected to get any lower.

[Fivewayradio]

I'm all for it. It's a user-pay system and it's totally fair.

Considering the meteoric increase in house prices in the city, $2500 on top of the price of a starter home is equivalent to holding off on your house purchase for 6 months. By the time your house is built you'll have made 20k on it anyway, so levy is totally insignificant.

Also the Urban Development Institute is a lobby group for developers. It represents hundreds of millions of dollars and consists of some of the richest and most powerful people in the city. It only exists to ensure that political pressure is applied to city council so developers can continue to make enormous sums of money. Any time they issue public statements, it's to protect their own ability to generate revenue, not to protect the home-buyer.

[Billet]

Originally posted by googe


not really...it was like 18% in the 80s. they arent expected to get any lower.

hes talking on a smaller scale

they are back up to about 5%

[googe]

Originally posted by Billet


hes talking on a smaller scale

they are back up to about 5%

right, which is what makes it wrong. its back up a few points from the record lows we just had, doesnt seem likely that its going back to them...5% is still quite low. "theyve already gone up" is kind of a joke when you look at a window of more than a few years :)

[sputnik]

Originally posted by googe
right, which is what makes it wrong. its back up a few points from the record lows we just had, doesnt seem likely that its going back to them...5% is still quite low. "theyve already gone up" is kind of a joke when you look at a window of more than a few years :)

The sad fact though is that there are MANY people in Calgary that own houses they can barely afford at the current rates. Rates wont have to go to double digits to hurt the Calgary market.

A jump in lending rates to 8 or 9% could force enough people to sell their homes which will result in a huge influx of homes into the used home market, thus causing prices to drop across the board. It is a shame that people are so greedy these days that they are willing to extend themselves to the breaking point just to have a big house. Also the fact that there are mortgage brokers and realtors without morals that encourage people to take on more than they can afford just to get their commission.

[Xtrema]

FYI, a jump of 1% would mean ~$140/month more on a $150K mortgage, and I would guess most people has a bigger mortgage than that these days.

[SinisterProbeGt]

I live inner City, My property taxes are 3X the average zone.
Guess where the Avg zone is?
In new area with nothing. Just cow pasture and houses.

Inner city dwellers have held this burden of paying for new commers to calgary. we pay higher taxes inner city so new areas can have schools and cop shops and other standard facilities.

THis tax will lower inner city property tax and level out the playing feild. Its not so much a tax but a down payment on your schools and traffic lights and such.

[69cougar]

Bank Of Canada is expected to raise key intrest rate another .25% on Jan 24th Mortgage rates will increase shortly thereafter

[googe]

Originally posted by 69cougar
Bank Of Canada is expected to raise key intrest rate another .25% on Jan 24th Mortgage rates will increase shortly thereafter

you sure? they just raised it on jan 1st

if theyre raising twice within 3 weeks, thats a bad sign

[69cougar]

Yeah they are really trying to slow the economy down.

[sputnik]

Originally posted by googe
if theyre raising twice within 3 weeks, thats a bad sign

It's not necessarily a bad sign. The Bank of Canada has been increasing their rate to curb inflation (they like to keep it around 2%).

The Canadian economy is so strong that most businesses are currently running at full capacity and constantly investing into their businesses. Thus lowering unemployment and increasing business tax revenues and retail spending.

Interest rates are generally low when the country is in recession and people need incentives to invest in Canada.

[Xtrema]

Originally posted by SinisterProbeGt
I live inner City, My property taxes are 3X the average zone.
Guess where the Avg zone is?
In new area with nothing. Just cow pasture and houses.

Inner city dwellers have held this burden of paying for new commers to calgary. we pay higher taxes inner city so new areas can have schools and cop shops and other standard facilities.

THis tax will lower inner city property tax and level out the playing feild. Its not so much a tax but a down payment on your schools and traffic lights and such.

They don't tax you more rate wise. It's just that you pay more because your property worth more and less tax is spend in your area because it's already established.

This new fee won't lower tax for inner city property owners.