Alberta Home Renovation Spending is High

More Albertans are Choosing to Renovate... Instead of Buy

Alberta’s residential housing markets are for the most part on a downward slide when it comes to benchmark prices and new housing starts.

But where there is a lack of interest to buy real estate from many Albertans, an enthusiasm for home renovations have taken stead, as showed by numbers in the latest release from ATB Financials’ The Owl. The report suggests that spending on residential renovations are almost at record-breaking levels!

In the Billions...

In the second quarter of 2016, Albertan home owners spent a whopping $1.56 billion on improvements or expansions to their residences.

Incorporated into this data is money spent on both primary secondary residences – such as a lake cabin or other similar kind of property used mainly for recreational purposes.

And what’s incredible about that figure is that it only incorporates major renovations (those that require a municipal building permit), giving strong reason to believe that minor improvements done without permit such as a new paint job, flooring or kitchen back splash would make that number much higher!

• Also see Home Renovations & Building Permits.

To put things into perspective, spending on home renovations would in fact be a new record high if it weren’t for the destruction caused by the 2013 flood that happened in southern Alberta.

At this time millions of dollars were spent to renovate homes that were destroyed by the flash floods that displaced tens of thousands of people. This spending carried on throughout the remainder of 2013 and into 2014.

A Positive Sign

It’s most definitely a good thing that home owners are still choosing to invest into their residences.

It may also be a smart investment for when the home market in Alberta bounces back and its time to sell as smart renovations could add substantial value to a property and make it that much more appealing to prospective buyers.

• Also see these 15 Ways to Increase Your Homes Value.

More Canadian Economics

See the rest of our economic articles relating to Calgary, Alberta and Western Canada today.