14:53:07 EDT Aug 17, 2006
Canadian Press: MICHAEL TUTTON

HALIFAX (CP) - Fresh figures from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. suggest Atlantic Canadians have moved more quickly than expected from rural areas into the largest cities, particularly Halifax.

That's helped Nova Scotia builders to buck a trend of falling housing construction east of Ontario, and instead go on a building spree of apartments and condominiums this year to accommodate the new arrivals to urban areas.

The figures released earlier this week forecast Nova Scotia will have 5,075 houses under construction this year, up 6.3 per cent from last year's 4,775.

In percentage terms, that's only slightly behind booming British Columbia, which is expecting a 6.7 per cent increase.

And it's well ahead of New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Quebec, which are all expected to see double-digit declines in housing starts. In Newfoundland the decline in building is particularly sharp, with forecasts of a 25 per cent plunge this year.

David McCulloch, a senior market analyst at the federal housing agency, said Thursday the largest Nova Scotia increase is in Halifax.

"The increase is almost entirely due to more rental and condominium units being built. Halifax is a big part of the market for all of the province," he said in an interview.

"Thinking economically, in places like northern New Brunswick and rural Newfoundland and Nova Scotia, traditional industries have had a hard time. The housing data we're talking about would reflect that."

There's also a phenomenon of baby boomers seeing their children leave and move into apartments, he adds.

He cautions that the agency is becoming worried that the market in Halifax may be overheating, and there's the chance of too many units being built.

Forecasts for 2007 call for a decline of 5.4 per cent in starts in Nova Scotia, and less dramatic declines in P.E.I., and Newfoundland and Labrador.

Kimberley Tran, an economist at the Atlantic Provinces Economic Council, also said there's evidence the current buildup of housing may slow.

She notes low interest rates in recent years created a seller's market in the city, as unemployment levels fell in urban areas.

"Those factors are softening, and that will take away the momentum and incentive for housing demands," she said during an interview.

McCulloch notes: "We are probably going to see a temporary period of oversupply on the high-end of the condo market and on the rental market."

Still, he said the agency's figures show that vacancy rates in rental apartments built in the last five years remain below one per cent.

Danny Chedrawe, president of Westwood Developments Ltd., one of Halifax's largest developers, said the trend is slightly lagging a national pattern.

"We hadn't caught up with the rest of the country. We'd had very few condominium developments here compared to Toronto or Vancouver," he said.

"The overwhelming change is the movement of Nova Scotians from rural areas to Halifax."

Atlantic Canada has been playing catch-up to the rest of the country in the move to cities, but recent studies by the Atlantic Provinces Economic Council suggest the trend is accelerating.

The region's two largest cities, Halifax and Moncton, N.B., are now coming close to matching the growth of similarly sized cities elsewhere in Canada over the past decade.

The council said in a recent monthly publication that the shift toward a service-based economy has been the main reason for urban growth, with services now representing over 80 per cent of the labour force in the region's top six cities.

http://www.cbc.ca/cp/Atlantic/060817/t081706.html

14:53:07 EDT Aug 17, 2006
Canadian Press: MICHAEL TUTTON

HALIFAX (CP) - Fresh figures from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. suggest Atlantic Canadians have moved more quickly than expected from rural areas into the largest cities, particularly Halifax.
http://www.cbc.ca/cp/Atlantic/060817/t081706.html


I’m glad to see them coming. The doors wide open here :wave:.
Halifax will continue to reap the benefits from other parts of Nova Scotia loosing is population for years to come. Until the Mayors of them sleepy towns wake the hell up :poke: . It’s too bad for them.
:cheers1: Think of it this way. Will always have a place to go fish.

I’m glad to see them coming. The doors wide open here :wave:.
Halifax will continue to reap the benefits from other parts of Nova Scotia loosing is population for years to come. Until the Mayors of them sleepy towns wake the hell up :poke: . It’s too bad for them.
:cheers1: Think of it this way. Will always have a place to go fish.

Basically in the pictou area we are seeing the Cape bretoners move on to halifax and alberta. Good riddings LOL They are nothing but union organizers who failed to unionize good jobs at the michelin tire plant here . LOL.

Anyone native to Pictou County moving out is heading straight to alberta as alberta is the place having job expos in our area attracting workers to that province. Halifax you basically have widowed old ladies moving to the city from Pictou county. Certainly not the young productive workers or college grad in any real numbers compared to alberta. When they start putting up factories that actually produce products involving High paying trades in halifax then we would have to be worried. For now Senoir citizens and losers that work at call centres is about the only migration from this part of the province to halifax. The Call centres are here also but the cost of a house here is lower.

jim jones

Basically in the pictou area we are seeing the Cape bretoners move on to halifax and alberta. Good riddings LOL They are nothing but union organizers who failed to unionize good jobs at the michelin tire plant here . LOL.

Anyone native to Pictou County moving out is heading straight to alberta as alberta is the place having job expos in our area attracting workers to that province. Halifax you basically have widowed old ladies moving to the city from Pictou county. Certainly not the young productive workers or college grad in any real numbers compared to alberta. When they start putting up factories that actually produce products involving High paying trades in halifax then we would have to be worried. For now Senoir citizens and losers that work at call centres is about the only migration from this part of the province to halifax. The Call centres are here also but the cost of a house here is lower.

jim jones



Ok buddy whatever....you don't a have a clue about things do ya.

Ok buddy whatever....you don't a have a clue about things do ya.

Thing is I know my community very well and the people from pictou county moving to the city are senoir citizens for the most part. There are few places in
The HRM to use trades like pipefitter, welding and millwrights. Those high paying jobs are in heavy demand in alberta not halifax.

jim jones

Thing is I know my community very well and the people from pictou county moving to the city are senoir citizens for the most part. There are few places in
The HRM to use trades like pipefitter, welding and millwrights. Those high paying jobs are in heavy demand in alberta not halifax.

jim jones

Funny how you're comparing a whole province to one city.

Funny how you're comparing a whole province to one city.

Its true your more likely to have a white colored job in Halifax, but that is true in most cities as well as Calgary.

Its true your more likely to have a white colored job in Halifax, but that is true in most cities as well as Calgary.

You see what you fail to understand is rural nova scotia for the most part is a blue colar environment and those people pass halifax by because halifax does not have smoke stack industries. Fort Mac Murray and the oil patch of alberta has tons of smoke stack industries. Many of the people I know with trades here will usually tell you as they are going to alberta "yeah I tried halifax when I worked at the shipyards and now I am going to alberta." The only industries I have seen people from rural nova scotia working trades outside of housing consatruction in the HRM are the irving shipyard and that is very small compared any one project to alberta. There is certainly a good sized core of white colar workers in rural nova scotia but they dont have to leave a new glasgow for example to have work.

Now if you are goal in life is to be a civil servant , an arts entrepreneur,a college professor or any of the other non product producing industries then Halifax is the place to be. Charlottetown, Summerside, Moncton, Frederickton and St. Johns Newfoundland would also be included in the mix for civil service jobs centres but not at the rate of the HRM.

jim jones

You see what you fail to understand is rural nova scotia for the most part is a blue colar environment and those people pass halifax by because halifax does not have smoke stack industries. Fort Mac Murray and the oil patch of alberta has tons of smoke stack industries. Many of the people I know with trades here will usually tell you as they are going to alberta "yeah I tried halifax when I worked at the shipyards and now I am going to alberta." The only industries I have seen people from rural nova scotia working trades outside of housing consatruction in the HRM are the irving shipyard and that is very small compared any one project to alberta. There is certainly a good sized core of white colar workers in rural nova scotia but they dont have to leave a new glasgow for example to have work.

Now if you are goal in life is to be a civil servant , an arts entrepreneur,a college professor or any of the other non product producing industries then Halifax is the place to be. Charlottetown, Summerside, Moncton, Frederickton and St. Johns Newfoundland would also be included in the mix for civil service jobs centres but not at the rate of the HRM.

jim jones


Like I said you don't see big smoke stacks in Calgary or Edmonton and thats what you should be comparing it to ,not Alberta as a whole. You really don't seem to understand cities to much. You don't understand that its the cities without alot of smoke stacks that are the ones that are growing. Cities like Saint John, Sudbury, etc are seeing a there population dwindling. Manufacturing jobs are drying up in a lot of respects and those cities are not attracting people because the smoke stack polluted image does not attract people and investment so they are losing jobs and at the same time not attracting new investment. However Fort McMurrey is an exception for obvoius reasons, but you don't see a lot of people settling there. They go there do there job and get out. Like an urban planner from Vncouver said recently its the cties that can provide a good quality of life that are the ones that are going to see growth and this is very ture for Vancouver I mean what big blue colored industry is there in Vancouver yet its one of the fastest growing cities in Canada.

Many people who say they are going to Alberta go there for Fort McMurray, and then move elsewhere from there. I know people who have moved to Alberta and have come back here or are coming back after just a short time out there. I know someone who moved to Calgary about 5 months ago, and he came back to Halifax this week. Besides Fort McMurray, I actually cant really think of many industrial towns that are doing too well these days. They may have been attractive many decades ago, but today it is a reason for detraction to most people.

Now I know you used to live in Halifax Jim, but theres just one question I want to ask you. What attracted you to move to New Glasgow/Pictou anyway?

Labour force characteristics: http://www40.statcan.ca/l01/cst01/labor36a.htm

Here's another good one: http://www40.statcan.ca/l01/cst01/famil107a.htm

Many people do go to Alberta but the fact is that thousands of Atlantic Canadians migrate to Halifax every year. That is something that has been happening for centuries.

It is also pretty misleading to say that Halifax only has "civil service" type jobs. The provincial bureaucracy in Halifax is really not that large and most federal employment is for the navy. There are also some manufacturing jobs, port facilities, and many jobs in the trades related to construction, NSP, etc.

Many people who say they are going to Alberta go there for Fort McMurray, and then move elsewhere from there. I know people who have moved to Alberta and have come back here or are coming back after just a short time out there. I know someone who moved to Calgary about 5 months ago, and he came back to Halifax this week. Besides Fort McMurray, I actually cant really think of many industrial towns that are doing too well these days. They may have been attractive many decades ago, but today it is a reason for detraction to most people.

Now I know you used to live in Halifax Jim, but theres just one question I want to ask you. What attracted you to move to New Glasgow/Pictou anyway?

Pretty simple really family ties and I was born in new glasgow.I can visit halifax easily to work as it is not a huge deal to come to the city and rent a hotel room , stay with a friends for a short term or rent an apartment which is what i did in the 80's . You will find that with many trades and businesses in pictou county they do have some sales from the HRM and some more then others. Sagadore Cranes is an example as it is owned by pictou county based Leil Cranes.

with the double lane highway one and a half hour trip tops is not a big deal.
considering that on the road with bands we would do 24 hour drives and I would be driving a cube van much of the way , a trip to halifax from new glasgow is nothing.
The other thing for me is having a business without the massive competition or expense you would have in metro. the local market has enough opportunity but not the ammount of competitors that halifax has. The Graphics business I can do here and all over the province with not as much expense. I have gone down to do movie work for a couple of weeks and the smaller expense helps cut corners for the movie people at the same time providing me with a good haul for a contract.

Halifax even though I do have some good friends there I could not see living there no offence. It is in between what i would like to live in . Las VEgas , New York , LA , knoxville tennessee or nashville or a quite rural nova scotia with my extneded family here. I would love to work and live in the states for stage lighting. Halifax has it charm but it has very little to interest me .

funny thing is I was in the city the other day and I just cant see the traffic problems everyone complains about. I think it was much worse pre-mac donald bridge improvements. Perhaps it is that I have driven in LA and NYC since I lived in halifax. I could also be my age where I am much more patient then I was in my 20's and lived in halifax on the long term. Gridlock is something I did not find in Halifax on my trips recently and i was thru the area in peak hours. I just know to not go down the bedford highway in the peak hours and to take the bi cent highway.

Thing is Halifax is attractive for IT/ artsy type people but the trades for industry not really . My brother worked for a metals company there and how works in a plastics plant in amherst. He likes it much better in amherst then halifax.
In halifax he could easily walk to work as he lived in highfield park and working in burnside.

jim jones

Like I said you don't see big smoke stacks in Calgary or Edmonton and thats what you should be comparing it to ,not Alberta as a whole. You really don't seem to understand cities to much. You don't understand that its the cities without alot of smoke stacks that are the ones that are growing. Cities like Saint John, Sudbury, etc are seeing a there population dwindling. Manufacturing jobs are drying up in a lot of respects and those cities are not attracting people because the smoke stack polluted image does not attract people and investment so they are losing jobs and at the same time not attracting new investment. However Fort McMurrey is an exception for obvoius reasons, but you don't see a lot of people settling there. They go there do there job and get out. Like an urban planner from Vncouver said recently its the cties that can provide a good quality of life that are the ones that are going to see growth and this is very ture for Vancouver I mean what big blue colored industry is there in Vancouver yet its one of the fastest growing cities in Canada.


Well i think edmonton certainly has smoke stacks at the largest refinery complex in canadaLOL just kinding . Thing is I dont think quality of live is the prime factor although it would be something that might want people to stay.
The reason Halifax or cities like that would have the attraction is Health for a senoir citizen.
As to the able bodied working person without a pension or sometype of retirement fund they are going to go where the jobs are most plentiful and the wages are highest. Pretty simple economics. Now real estate
prices will also be an encouragement or discouragment to people as well.

If you want to live in the cleaness place on earth you would live in the country monaco in the south of france. But Who could afford to live there LOL. The only workingmans trade there would be taking care of someone yatch and that is barely a trade except when you get into boat repair.
Slinging beer, casino chips a salesperson in a shop all cant afford to live in monaco even without income tax LOL.

Most cities are based on geographic advantages for settlement. Halifax's is an ice free deep water port. A similair city to halifax in size in the states that I love ,but does have the harbour, is Knoxville Tennessee. Their geogrpahic advantage is the tennessee river and the hydro dams installed by the tennessee valley authority which made for larger amounts of cheap electric power. This provided energy for aluminum manufacturing which an outlining community was named ALCOA.
jim jones