The Herald finally covered HRM's press release:
Value of development permits up
Local developer credits boost to low interest rates
The value of development permits issued by Halifax Regional Municipality so far this year is up, but that is a byproduct of living in the current low-interest environment, a local developer said.
HRM released figures on Friday that showed that permits totalling $596 million had been issued by Sept. 30, up $60 million from the same period last year.
Mayor Peter Kelly said the HRM is on pace to break the $700 million mark and perhaps eclipse last year’s amount of nearly $780 million in permits, the highest total in the last dozen years.
That period has seen "substantive" amounts of development, over $7 billion over the last 10 years, he added.
"It certainly bodes well for the confidence of the development community in the HRM. It’s one that is certainly starting to pay dividends in terms of the outcome of that confidence," he said.
Last year’s high was attained in spite of issuing the lowest amount of development permits during the same timeframe, at 2,603 permits, the lowest in the last dozen years.
That high value to low permit ratio is a result of low interest rates, said developer Danny Chedrawe, president of Westwood Developments.
"That’s the only thing that’s really giving me the sense to do what we’re doing now, because really there’s no real influx of people or economic growth in the province," he said. "I think it’s just more that these record low interest rates have spurred a major push for development and I think it’s short-lived. I don’t think it’s a long-term thing."
The rest of the story is
here.
I wouldn't be surprised if they come close or exceed last year's record year. But what I can't wait to see is if the ship building contract comes to Halifax the explosion of growth and development will be staggering. 25,000 jobs over the contract, usually creates 75,000 service jobs (using the typical 1 to 3 ratio that I've seen in most economic forcasts). Now that's just the shipbuilding contract, but that alone will spur other growth too. In terms of population growth per job, the typical ratio for every 1 job the population climbs 2.5 people (family, plus a kid). So if those numbers hold true and assuming no other sectors create any jobs, 100,000 jobs works out to 250,000 more people over 25 years. That would put HRM in around 660,000 over 25 years (or more)...
Those are staggering potential stats and my mind gets giddy thinking about other sectors becoming job generators because of this. This could be the single biggest growth potential for Halifax since it was founded and could do exactly what Peter McKay said: Take the 'no' out of Nova Scotia.