Empty homes in Alberta concerning for the home building industry

CALGARY (660 NEWS) – An organization representing Alberta’s home building industry is bringing attention to a dismal downtrend in the province.

A report from BILD Alberta says that thousands of new homes in the province are sitting empty and it’s becoming an alarming issue.

“There are more than 5,300 new homes sitting empty right now,” says Carmen Wyton, CEO of BILD Alberta. “As long as homes are sitting empty, the investment in building more is declining rapidly and companies are saying ‘it’s not the right time to build’, and people are losing their jobs.”

Dismal downtrend continues. The latest housing numbers have a lot of red indicating fewer people buying homes, fewer homes being built and fewer jobs to had. We are listening – what party will address this alarming situation? #abvote @jkenney @RachelNotley pic.twitter.com/EGmVHKfb54

— BILD Alberta (@BILDAlberta) March 29, 2019

In Calgary, the numbers for new, empty homes is just as concerning as 1,986 are vacant.

Wyton says that if these homes continue to stay empty, it could have large consequences for the home building industry.

“The environment in terms of the cost of housing, the mortgage rules, levies, fees, taxes all those kind of things that are driving up the price; something has to upset that or things are going to get worse.”

READ MORE: BILD Alberta says the homebuilding industry is in crisis

BILD Alberta has made these concerns an issue for the provincial election. They hope to raise the concerns of residential home building with all candidates and are asking for the creation of an industry-wide council for housing, construction and development.

“We need to make sure that smart decisions are made that protect the communities, the homeowner, that works with municipalities to create predictable funding for them and ensure business certainty.”