Building houses and the road to economic recovery
Published May 20, 2011
During the course of our duties, we attend a lot of meetings and presentations covering a myriad of topics. Some are really good, some are good and some well, you can take them or leave them.
A short while ago, Council had the occasion to meet with the Canadian Home Builders’ Association – Edmonton Region. During their presentation, they provided to us some information that I found most interesting. I do concede that it is presented by a specific group, but I was not completely aware of all the facts and figures they presented. The figures they cited relate to the Edmonton Capital Region and are quite remarkable. When one sees homes being built, I think perhaps many just see it simply as a house being built for someone to occupy without thinking of the economic spin-off of such construction.
In the Edmonton Capital Region in 2010 the following is cited by the Home Builders’ Association as a direct impact of home construction:
- 9,959 new housing starts
- 27,200 jobs in home construction and renovation
- $1.6B in wages which directly affect the local economy
- $3.6B in construction value
- $417M in estimated annual municipal revenues from fees, levies and property taxes
- $318M in one time Federal and Provincial income tax revenues
- $114M in one time Canada Pension Plan premiums
- $207M in one time GST revenues
- $687M in total one time federal and provincial government revenues
I think it would be totally fair to conclude that a vibrant economy, coupled with new home construction certainly shows the economic value to the region. Having said that though, I do realize that home building can contribute to urban sprawl and other issues but that is another discussion. My intent here is to simply provide what I think is interesting information.
Home building as we all know is directly tied to the economy and if the economy is in the tank a natural conclusion that one could draw is that so would be home building. Nevertheless, the figures presented do show the value of home building not only to the economy but also to job creation and public spending in the region. In Alberta, in addition to the above, the Home Builders’ Association provided figures that show residential construction as third, in contributing to the gross domestic product of Alberta.
If one could extrapolate those numbers to include all of either Alberta or Canada, I think it safe to say that the numbers would be quite large. Whether one agrees with the size and scope of new home construction and its attendant issues, clearly, there is significant economic contribution to not only the Capital Region, but also our community.
I trust you found these figures as interesting as I did.
As summer approaches, I hope that you will all be able to get away for a break. If you do, drive carefully, have a good rest and may you and your families have a wonderful summer.
Peter Wlodarczak
Councillor, Ward 4
780-464-8146
wlodarczak@strathcona.ab.ca
Last updated: Thursday, May 19, 2011
Page ID: 7715