http://leaderpost.com/opinion/columnists/johnstone-no-boom-but-no-doom-and-gloom-either
While not an oil town like Calgary, Regina is feeling the impact of the slowdown in the oilpatch nonetheless. The number of jobs in resource extraction sector in the city dropped by 1,200 in 2015 , a 50 per cent decrease from the previous year. Building permits were up strongly at $675.7 million in 2015, well above the five and 10-year averages, largely due to the stadium project, waste water treatment plant and more than $300 million in commercial construction projects, like hotels, restaurants and retail stores.
But residential construction was down nearly $100 million, thanks to a sharp 28 per cent drop in housing starts from 2,223 in 2014 to 1,597 in 2015, the lowest number of housing starts since 2010. In fact, Regina saw the largest year-over-year decrease in new home prices in November at 1.6 per cent, bucking the national trend, which saw new housing prices increase 1.6 per cent year.
Similarly, Regina’s resale housing market was down seven per cent to 3,392 in 2015, the lowest number of sales since 2008, the Association of Regina Realtors reported last week. Home prices (as measured by the home price index) are down four per cent in 2015 and 7.7 per cent from three years ago.
You might think from all this bad news that business groups, like the Regina & District Chamber of Commerce, Economic Development Regina (formerly Regina Regional Economic Opportunities Commission), and the Association of Regina Realtors, would be pushing the panic button. But you’d be wrong.
As the new president of the Association of Regina Realtors, Rick Miron, said the other day: “People are concerned sales are dropping. They have somewhat but nowhere near what’s happening in Calgary,” Miron said, noting that prices have dropped a modest seven per cent in Regina in 2015 versus 26 per cent in Calgary.
“We’ve had a blistering, robust last six or seven years. So we’re just going back to more of a normal market,” Miron said.
In a similar vein, the incoming chair of the Regina chamber, Bob Kasian, said the city is returning to more normal levels of growth after the recent economic boom. “Regina has always had that fairly slow, but steady, growth…. Maybe we’re just returning to something that’s a bit closer to normal.”
Finally, John Lee, CEO of Economic Development Regina, said recently that Regina is simply returning to its slow and steady growth path after a number of years in the fast lane. “Our economy is transitioning from boom times to stable times,” Lee said.
So there you have it. Regina is “transitioning from boom times to stable times” and “returning to normal levels of growth.”
“Slow and steady wins the race” may not be a sexy marketing slogan, but it’s a lot more than some cities can say.
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