The construction crane, which once seemed like an endangered species, has returned to downtown Victoria, giving the city hope at a time when the economic outlook is uncertain.
Mayor Dean Fortin says the cranes are a sign that the local economy is in an upturn. While some other indicators are less positive, there is cause for optimism as 2014 begins.
Fortin points in particular to two projects on significant sites in Victoria. Just across Douglas Street from city hall, Jawl Properties plans to redevelop the former Royal Bank and the Roth Site. Behind the legislature buildings, the ugly block of 60-year-old 鈥渢emporary鈥� buildings is finally up for sale, to be filled with new office and residential space.
Anyone who builds on that block can count on the provincial government leasing 180,000 square feet of office space for 20 years. New development on those two sites will bring added life to James Bay and the heart of downtown.
Developers who are considering those locations and others will find encouragement in assessment figures released Thursday, which show that commercial properties in Greater Victoria have increased in value by two to six per cent annually.
The rosy outlook is dimmed to some degree by building-permit figures, which show the number of permits increased by one per cent in the first 11 months of 2013 compared to 2012, but the dollar value of those permits dropped by 48 per cent, according to Capital Regional District figures.
However, the numbers vary from year to year. The value of permits in 2012 rose 177 per cent from 2011, so many of those cranes were at work in 2013.
For the entire CRD, permit values were down seven per cent in the first 11 months of 2013. In 2012, they rose two per cent from 2011.
The residential assessment figures released Thursday show the average value of homes in every Greater Victoria municipality dropped by as much as 10 per cent. The Victoria Real Estate Board鈥檚 numbers, also out on Thursday, showed that the benchmark selling price of a typical house was $479,599, 3.2 per cent lower than last year and well below the $515,500 figure of three years ago.
While those numbers make home-sellers wince, they could be good news for homebuyers, especially people trying to get into the market.
John Smith, real estate agent with DFH Real Estate Ltd., said: 鈥淚t鈥檚 a buyers鈥� market and it is going to be a buyers鈥� market for some time.鈥�
On the employment front, there is good news, with the city鈥檚 unemployment rate dropping to 4.3 per cent in November, from five per cent the month before. That puts us in a better situation than the province at 6.7 per cent and the country at 6.9 per cent.
Tourism is another area where Victorians see cause for optimism, as 2013 saw a rebound.
In August, several city hotels hit record occupancy rates, and the average occupancy was 88 per cent, up from 84 per cent a year earlier. Room rates also rose to $159 from $147.
Final numbers for the Victoria International Airport are not out yet, but could exceed the 1.5 million passengers in 2012 because the total for the first 11 months of the year was up three per cent.
Tourism matters here because it provides 21,500 job and pumps $1.9 billion into the area鈥檚 economy.
It has been a long trek since the collapse of 2008, and we are not out of the woods yet, but we seem to be headed in the right direction.
