A recent survey asked 502 Canadian construction decision-makers about their confidence in market conditions, finding seven in 10 construction businesses expect an increase in the number or value of projects over the next 12 months.
A closer look at Alberta, however, revealed lower confidence among builders.
The survey found 55 per cent of residential-sector respondents from Alberta expect to build fewer housing units in 2023 compared to 2022 — lower confidence compared to provinces such as Ontario, where 60 per cent of respondents expect to build and deliver more housing units by the end of 2023.
The survey was conducted by research company Censuswide for Procore, a global construction-management software company.
The data come on the heels of the City of Calgary’s Housing Needs Assessment Report, released in September, which estimated the number of households in need of affordable housing will reach nearly 100,000 by 2026. It also said the median cost of a detached home in Calgary has increased 37 per cent over the past three years.
Meanwhile, the median household income required to purchase a median home in Calgary is $156,000, the report found — much greater than the city’s median income of $98,000.
Persisting affordability issues making labour shortages difficult to fix, experts say
Despite the number of potential employees coming from record migration to Alberta, rising rent and housing prices are making it difficult for homebuilders to attract much-needed workers, said Bill Black, president and COO of the Calgary Construction Association.
“There’s the potential of more employees, but they can’t find housing . . . and then we’re not going to get our share of these new Calgarians,” he said.
Earlier this year, the CCA said there were 3,000 to 4,000 job vacancies in Calgary across the total industry.
Black’s “big fear” is those employees will flock to the U.S., which he said has between four and seven million vacancies in the construction industry, and where housing is less expensive on average. The average home value is currently C$474,000, according to Zillow, an online real-estate marketplace. The average home price in Canada for September was C$655,507, according to the Canadian Real Estate Association.
