November 5, 2009
CanaData Conference 2009
Jump in existing home sales not sustainable, Canadian Real Estate Association says
Existing home sales in Canada have rebounded sharply in the past few months, but Canadian Real Estate Association chief economist Gregory Klump doesn’t see the surge lasting much longer.
“The big jump we’ve seen is housing activity in recent months is not sustainable, in fact it’s already shown signs it’s leveled out,” Klump said during a video interview with Reed Construction Data at the CanaData Construction Industry Forecasts Conference in Toronto Sept. 24.
“A leveling out and indeed a fading in the second half of 2010 is baked into CREA’s forecast.”
Klump also challenged the notion that there is a significant gap between existing home sales and new housing starts.
“It’s a little bit overplayed that there’s this big inventory overhang to be drawn down before housing starts pick back up significantly,” he said.
Check out the executive summary from the 2009 CanaData Conference.
– RCD Digital Media
VIDEO: B.C. Construction Association welcomes standardized contract forms
Standardized construction documents are long overdue, says the president of the B.C. Construction Association.
Port Mann Bridge under construction
Time-lapse footage shows the progress of construction of the new Port Mann Bridge in Metro Vancouver.
VIDEO: How effective has stimulus spending been?
If you want a good indication of how effective government stimulus spending has been in Canada, look at the “remarkable” institutional starts statistics for the first half of 2010, CanaData chief economist Alex Carrick says.
VIDEO: Owners must lead charge toward BIM adoption
The greatest challenge in getting the architecture, engineering and construction industries to embrace building information modeling is convincing individual players they’d be better off working collaboratively, says the chair of the Canada BIM Council.
VIDEO: Canada’s economy is slowing down
As fall approaches, the Canadian economy is slowing down, but this lower growth is due to factors that beyond the nation’s control, says CanaData Chief Economist Alex Carrick.
VIDEO: Canada should embrace rainscreen cladding systems
Canada has been too slow to embrace rainscreen cladding systems, despite the advantages they offer in terms of better performance, low-cost maintenance and longer-lasting structures, says a distributor of architectural building products.
VIDEO: Ontario General Contractors Association shows support for Gold Seal
All the directors on the board of the Ontario General Contractors Association have become Gold Seal Champions, part of an effort to help promote the national construction certification program.
VIDEO: Green building critical in triple bottom line accounting
Building design and construction standards will undergo significant changes as “triple bottom line” accounting becomes more commonplace in the industry, says a Saskatchewan-based economist.
VIDEO: Boom truck tips over at Vancouver condo project
A boom truck tipped over while delivering lumber to a low-rise condominium construction project in Vancouver’s trendy Kitsilano neighbourhood, near Vine Street and First Avenue.
