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Happy
GIS Week! We were working recently on an assignment in the
Annapolis Valley, the land of orchards and sloping vineyards…and that got us
thinking about the impact of elevation on land area. Ultimately, the question is one of land
value: inherent in the value of agricultural land is potential crop yield. More land area equals more growing potential equals
more value. Where slopes are acceptable
or even advantageous, they may serve double duty in that sloped land is larger
than it seems. Our Valuation Division’s MO is to maximise your property
value…this is an Economic Intelligence Unit blog post, and this is GIS Week, so
we’re going to geek out on how to ensure you’re counting all your land, using a GIS, a little high school math, and a fair
bit of Pythagoras[i]. Pythagoras’ Theorem defines the relationship between the
sides of a right triangle with the equation a² + b² = c². Side “c” is the hypotenuse, and is always the
longest of the three sides.
For illustrative
purposes, we created a convenient, perfectly rectangular, parcel. It measures 500 x 1,150 m, for a total area
of 575,000 m² (57.5 hectares).
That is:
 But the land comprising
this parcel is sloped. The contour lines
added to the image below demonstrate the degree of the slope; on average, there
is an elevation differential between the highest and lowest elevations of 140
m.
Thus, the 500 m parcel dimension is effectively 519.2 m: 
and
the effective land area is 597,080 m²
(59.7 ha.), a difference of 22,080 m²
– over 2 hectares of extra space for crops!
This
is a highly simplified example of the impact of slope on land area. There are many other factors to take into
account, such as the tipping point between beneficial slopes and unusable
inclines. But in a world where “land:
they’re not making any more of it,” holds true, the most informed decisions are
the best ones. Where a precise figure is
required, you’ll need to call in a professional land surveyor. But when an area scaled from a map is fit for
purpose, using a GIS and a little high school math can yield a more useful
number than you’d get from a regular map.
P.S.
a related fun fact was shared at Wednesday night’s Geomatics on the Town event (part
of the 2018 Geomatics Atlantic Conference): tree planters space their seedlings
at a certain distance from each other.
For one tree planter, this was the equivalent of 3 steps on flat ground,
but on sloped terrain, it was 12 steps in order to leave sufficient room
between trees!
[i]
Mainly for defining the relationship between the sides of a right triangle, but
a little bit for first floating the idea that the Earth is a sphere...it comes
into play in measuring distance. There
are two methods of measurement in a GIS, Cartesian and Spherical. The Cartesian method calculates distance and
areas based on data as projected onto a flat surface (like scaling from a paper
map), while the Spherical method accounts for the curved surface of the Earth
(like scaling on a globe). The distances
in this example were measured in MapInfo using the Spherical method.
Alex Baird Allen is the Manager of Turner Drake's Economic Intelligence Unit, and has a high level of expertise and interest in GIS. If you'd like to reach Alex, call 902-429-1811 Ext.323 (HRM), 1-800-567-3033 (toll free), or email ABairdAllen@turnerdrake.com
The Halifax Regional Municipality is in the throes of moving its
long awaited Centre Plan from draft to reality. With the first package of
draft policy and regulation released in late February, it’s come a long way
from the high-level guiding document that Turner Drake assisted with in 2016.
However, there is still a ways to go. As one might imagine, when replacing
multiple planning policy and development regulation documents for the most
dynamic and complex urban environment in Atlantic Canada, the devil is truly in
the details.
One of the biggest details being grappled with is the deployment
of density bonusing, which is principally designed as an affordable housing
tool. Depending on what you read, the current framework may actually backfire by
delivering no affordable housing and even drive up market-rate housing prices
by suppressing supply, or it may be perfectly fine and a good replacement for
present ad hoc negotiations which are falling
short of the Centre Plan’s achievable outcomes. Either way it provides
an opportunity to highlight the perks and pitfalls of this increasingly common
strategy.
What is Density Bonusing?
Density bonusing is a planning policy tool whereby new development
projects can access higher regulatory limits on built area in return for
provision of some public benefit. In other words, trade height for amenities.
It is sound in concept. The value of urban land (but not the buildings on it)
is primarily driven by where it is located, and what can be done on it. Thus,
it is value created by our collective society through the infrastructure and
services provided to it, the legal framework that governs it, and the
surrounding public and private activities which would make one desire a
particular location over another. When local governments “add density” by
increasing regulatory limits over what is currently anticipated by the market
(i.e. already reflected in its price), they literally create additional land
value out of thin air. In requiring a developer to provide public benefits for
this added density, local governments are recapturing the value they created in
the first place.
There is an obvious tension here in terms of why this ‘bonus’
density was not permitted in the first place, but in the messy world of
city-building, ideological purity will always lose to practicality. Density
bonusing thus becomes something akin to racketeering: nice development
application you’ve got there… what say you give us some art and affordable
housing, and maybe that shadow ain’t so bad anymore.
How Does it Work?
While it’s a clear win-win in concept, it can be complex in
practice. There are four important factors that determine whether or not
density bonusing works on a given site:
·
the value of the property as it exists today
·
the value of the land if purchased for redevelopment
·
the value created by adding bonus density
·
the value captured through required public benefits
It is important to note that all but the last factor on this list
are determined by the real estate market. The value captured is set by the
municipality, and is typically based on an estimation of the value of the bonus
density. In HRM, the tradeoff of density for benefits is structured under a
predefined framework. Other municipalities negotiate these arrangements on a
case-specific basis, but this approach it generally used in far larger centres
due to the complexity and sophistication involved.
Roughly speaking, development projects are feasible in areas where
the market price for land exceeds the value of properties as currently
developed. Adding a density bonusing program to the mix will increase the
redevelopment value, but also add a new cost in the form of requisite public
benefits. On net, this is usually a positive value; these programs are designed
to recapture only a portion of the value they create.
It should be apparent that density bonusing is not, in principle,
a drag on development. In fact, a properly designed program should improve the
feasibility of existing projects and even increase the total pool of viable
projects where the net positive addition of value (bonus density minus benefit
cost) actually tips the balance of feasibility. For all intents and purposes,
this is indistinguishable from a basic upzoning.
Where Can It Go Wrong?
There are plenty of opportunities for density bonusing programs to
go awry, but most are the usual pitfalls of any public policy. There needs to
be a logical and efficient administration process. The program needs to be
supported by accurate data so that its function lives up to its intent.
Appropriate buffers needs to be left to account for secondary costs and added
overhead created by the program itself. There needs to be additional mechanisms
in place to deal with the outputs (this is an important topic of conversation
in the Centre Plan context, in which the majority of benefit is supposed to be
in the form of affordable housing while the municipality has no formal
jurisdiction or established programming).
However, the fundamental issue of whether a density bonusing
program works is the value relationship between what is proposed, and what
exists today. Most of the debate and discussion in HRM has been focussed on
aspects of the former: what is the best value capture rate to use, what is the
right threshold for triggering the bonus requirements, what are the correct
value assumptions? Important questions, but their answers are all derived from
the latter issue, not determined in a vacuum.
At the scale of a city, form follows finance. Whether density
bonusing is implemented or ignored by the private sector will ultimately depend
on whether the total value of entitled and bonus density, less the cost of
delivering it (development costs plus public benefit), is a sweeter deal than
exists today. If a profit incentive exists, a badly designed program will still
deliver. If a perfectly designed program equates to a downzoning, don’t count on
anything happening until prices rise, or losses are written off.
How to Get it Right?
As municipal planning increasingly makes use of economic and
market-based tools (and it should) it also needs to expand its understanding of
the principles and systems that underpin them. Weight does need to be placed on
the market conditions of the present given their influence on the future (to
say nothing of the municipality’s complicity in forming them).
The traditional approach would state planning policies cannot be
captive to past practices and existing conditions, otherwise change would never
be possible. While this is true, it is not justification for being willfully
ignorant either. Understanding the basic value relationship between today's
conditions and those proposed under new policy is the key to understanding
whether density bonusing, or any planning policy for that matter, will deliver
on its promise. [1].jpg)
Neil Lovitt, our Senior Manager of Planning
& Economic Intelligence can be reached at 429-1811 ext. 349 (HRM), 1 (800)
567-3033 (toll free), or nlovitt@turnerdrake.com.
On
February 5th, Scott Armour McCrea, CEO of The Armour Group, took to
the airwaves to ridicule Alexandra Baird Allen, the Manager of our Economic
Intelligence Unit … the cause of his angst, an earlier CBC radio interview with
Alex on the results of a Halifax Central Business District (CBD) survey which
revealed an office vacancy rate of 17.3%. Labelling her conclusions
“manufactured hysteria” Mr. McCrea disparaged the survey results, questioned
the competence of Alex, her survey team and Turner Drake … and ignited a gender
war: “Mansplainer” was perhaps the most polite invective hurled in Mr. McCrea’s
direction (we are keeping a list… it’s not pretty but quite informative… we
might publish it). So what was it all about?
Scott
Armour McCrea is a developer and a very
important man, as he so informed the CBC, the largest private office landlord
in the city. In sonorous tone and displaying gravitas befitting a man with gaze
firmly fixed on his own navel, Mr. McCrea revealed that “no other real estate
professional uses the Turner Drake data”. In fact, he confided, no actual practitioner agrees with them! He then proceeded to reveal why … the full
Monty so to speak.
Turner
Drake, Mr. McCrea intoned, is a minor player in the leasing field completing
only 2% of leasing transactions while actual
practitioners such as brokers CBRE, do 30% to 40% and publish their own survey.
CBRE pegged market absorption at “about 300,000 ft.2 a year” stated
Mr. McCrea, “not the 25,000 ft.2” calculated by Ms. Baird Allen. The
Armour Group, Mr. McCrea’s company, did their own survey as well and estimated
the vacancy rate at 13% to 14%. … and most vacancies were in buildings most
people would “never, ever want to work in”. And the problem was exacerbated by
the Province who were so concerned about saving taxpayers’ money, they insisted
on consigning their employees to space that only the private sector would
tolerate. But that, he confided, was about to change. The real reason though for
the problem: “if there is a problem in Halifax and I am not suggesting there is”,
was that the City was “under-demolished”.
So
what are the (non-hysterical) facts?
Alex
has been a valued colleague for twelve years, is a Chartered Surveyor and has a
degree from the University of New Brunswick, a Diploma in Urban Land Economics
from the University of British Columbia and an Advanced Diploma in Geographic
Information Systems from the Centre of Geographic Sciences at Lawrencetown, one
of the top three GIS institutes in Canada. She combines her work as Manager of
our research group with her role as a mother of twins. We have never known her
to engage in hysteria, manufactured or otherwise. The office surveys are, we
believe, the most comprehensive conducted in Halifax and cover all rental
buildings 5,000 ft.2 or larger. They are a structured survey using purpose
designed survey instruments and software, deployed by a team of trained
researchers. The survey to which Alex alluded in her CBC interview had a
response rate of 89% (previously we have achieved 98% but this time a large
landlord, The Armour Group, refused to participate). We do have human and
programmatic error traps in place for quality control purposes but recognise
that they are not yet infallible so seek to have as many eyes on the results as
possible and offer the full survey to any participant who would like a copy. 40%
take advantage. One such recipient, was kind enough to point out not one, but two
errors, in our December 2016 Halifax office survey. We are not perfect, but we
are transparent. We corrected the errors, reissued the survey, changed our
software to catch similar human errors and published a correction, apology and
thanks in our Spring 2017 Newsletter to the gentleman who had so diligently
scrutinised the survey, Mr. McCrea.
Our
Market Surveys are undertaken by a research team independent of our Brokerage
Division. The volume of their lease transactions is therefore unrelated to the
amount of research undertaken for the Market Survey. In any event we cannot utilise data gathered
by our Brokerage Division for the Market Surveys because that would be a breach
of confidentiality.
The
CBC interviews were focused on the Halifax CBD. Ms. Baird Allen’s data referred
to the Halifax CBD. Mr. McCrea’s interview focused on the Halifax CBD… unfortunately the CBRE data he referred to did
not. It pertained to the wider HRM
metropolitan market. CBRE’s estimate of the vacancy rate for the Halifax
CBD is very similar to our own (18.5% versus our 17.3%). A world away from the
13% to 14% cited by Mr. McCrea. CBRE’s vacancy rate for the entire HRM office market was 15.5% (we
place it at 14.97%)… probably the source of Mr. McCrea’s confusion. There will always be some differences between
the Turner Drake and CBRE survey results, an important factor being that our
survey does not just focus on larger buildings but covers some as small as
5,000 ft.2. Mr. McCrea’s comment that the “annual market demand was
300,000 ft.2 not the 25,000 ft.2
quoted by Turner Drake” was similarly erroneous. Alex’s figure of 25,000 ft.2
referred to the CBD, which, after all, was the subject of the CBC
interview to which Mr. McCrea was responding. It was based on the average
market absorption over the past five years. CBRE’s estimate of annual market
absorption of 308,944 ft.2, referenced by Mr. McCrea, referred to
the entire HRM market.
Mr.
McCrea’s comment that most of the vacancies were in buildings that most people
would “never, ever want to work in” does not accord with the facts. Class A
buildings have an average vacancy of 21.8%.
We
concur with Mr. McCrea that many office buildings will have to be demolished or
repurposed, Alex pointed this out in her CBC interview. However 625,750 ft.2
of the 879,665 ft.2 of currently vacant space would have to be
taken out of service to restore equilibrium to the downtown office market… the
aggregate of the former Bank of Montreal tower, the former Royal Bank tower,
Founders Square and … volunteers anyone? Oh but Mr. McCrea is adding another 125,000
ft.2 at Queen’s Marque… let’s see, what else for the wrecking ball…?
We
politely pointed out to Mr. McCrea his confusion with the CBRE survey
statistics and gave him the opportunity to rectify the error. He did not
respond. As for the mansplainer moniker… nothing we can do about that... we
trust he is not consigned to the couch. Probably have to make his own coffee
from now on though.
For more information on mansplainer consult
Wikipedia. For information on the office market in the Halifax CBD and lots of
other areas in Atlantic Canada, contact Alex Baird Allen the (very calm)
Manager of our Economic Intelligence Unit at 902-429-1811 Ext.323 (HRM),
1-800-567-3033 (toll free), or ABairdAllen@turnerdrake.com
Another few years passed, another resurgence of attention and debate on Nova Scotia’s Capped Assessment Program. Municipalities are once again beating their drum against it, reiterating well-worn criticisms and receiving well-worn rebuttals. The public is largely disinterested, unfortunately, and the Province is loath to make the necessary changes without a strong call to action. The issues are not intuitive, and the impacts are largely invisible, and thus the CAP has immense political inertia.
With governments thankfully enacting open data policies, making publicly funded data publicly accessible, Turner Drake & Partners has now been able to crunch the numbers for more than 140,000 taxable residential assessment accounts in the Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM) to show just how ineffective this public policy has become.
What is the Capped Assessment Program?
The mechanics of the CAP, and the basics of its problems, have been explained many times over. Sources abound, but our own Property Tax professionals have previously covered the topic in our blog, as well as our recent company newsletter.
Normally, assessments are free to track market trends, but in Nova Scotia the CAP limits annual growth in a property’s assessment to inflation. Nova Scotia’s CAP is not like other taxpayer protection measures, such as California’s famous Proposition 13 which limits growth in assessment and total revenue collected. In Nova Scotia, if the total assessment base is reduced because of the CAP, tax rates are simply increased. Based on our analysis for HRM, we see no evidence of an impact on municipal spending. Operating Budgets have grown consistently since 2000:
Therein lies the problem. It is a program that only redistributes the tax burden. Some pay less, but the taxman gets his due, and so others pay more to make up the difference.
What is the Problem?
The problem arises in how the CAP decides who is to pay more. An assessment-based property tax system is not perfect, but one of its strengths is that property values generally correlate well with a household’s ability to pay. Of course this is not always true, and in fact the original purpose of the CAP was to alleviate situations where rural families were being priced off their land because Ethan Hawke bought the island next door. This is a valid issue that deserves a policy response, and we know that the CAP has helped people in this regard. However, by taking a broad based approach to solving a very acute issue, the program has created far more inequity than it was ever able to solve.
The CAP introduces distortion to the assessment system, reallocating tax burden based on occupancy length and tenure type. Most critics frame this issue as being arbitrarily unfair and use maps like the one below to illustrate the random nature of its distortions; houses in the same neighbourhood, with the same services, but carrying different tax burdens.
(Tax Distortion in a Halifax neighbourhood: red overpays, green underpays, sized by magnitude)
The sad truth is that its unfairness is less random, and its benefit more misallocated than most assume. As our Economic Intelligence Unit knows, people tend to sort themselves into similar locations and types of housing depending on their backgrounds, economic status, and life-stage. Thus, the CAP doesn’t just discriminate against certain properties on the basis of eligibility and program mechanics; it by extension discriminates against certain locations and people. This becomes apparent as the map zooms out:
(Tax Distortion in South End Halifax: red overpays, green underpays, sized by magnitude)
Today the CAP is championed as the way to bring “stability, predictability and affordability” to the taxpayers writ-large. In reality, the CAP generally fails to deliver these supposed benefits, while systemically giving the greatest assistance to those that least need it, by taking from those who can least afford it.
Halifax Case Study
To help illustrate the outcomes of the CAP, Turner Drake’s Economic Intelligence Unit compiled data from the Property Valuation Services Corporation’s DataZone for the 2017 assessment year, budget and tax rate data from the Halifax Regional Municipality’s website and Open Data Portal, and socio-economic data from Statistics Canada. Assuming the municipality would uniformly adjust tax rates to offset the 11% increase in assessment under a CAP repeal, our analysis allows us to estimate who is currently paying more and who is paying less, by how much, and whether these outcomes have social or spatial patterns. Every municipality is different, but with HRM comprising the greatest variety of settlement types, 44% of the population, and 55% of the total provincial assessment base, we find the results instructive.
Results
Urban – Spatial patterns in the urban areas are remarkable. Whether your kitchen has a view of the Northwest Arm seems to be the strongest predictor of tax savings, though much of the Peninsula’s west side makes out well. The apartment-heavy downtown and North Dartmouth areas are hit hard, while suburbs (unless recently developed) generally overpay, but just slightly. Aside from a small number of waterfront areas, Bedford and the developing suburbs are not saving much. Sackville and Spryfield are a mixed bag, with recent development in those areas hardest hit.
(Tax Overpay [more red] and Underpay [more blue] – Halifax Peninsula, Central Dartmouth and suburbs)
Rural – Compared to urban areas, rural areas tend to be more random as new construction and sales activity is dispersed while “hot” market areas tend to be highly targeted. The Chebucto Peninsula appears to make out reasonably well overall. The Head of St. Margaret’s Bay area is most favoured, while farther flung locations like Prospect have a more even balance.
(Tax Overpay [more red] and Underpay [more blue] – Head of St. Margaret’s Bay)
Unfortunately for the Eastern Shore, it looks like the shorter the drive to the city, the better your tax relief. Porter’s Lake is a mixed bag, and most communities past Jeddore pay a little bit more. Sheet Harbour is case in point, a very small handful of savers while most overpay mildly. The hardest hit property is a nursing home which pays an additional $5,000 in property taxes under the CAP. In aggregate, the outer rural areas of the municipality pony up an extra $110,000, while the rural areas within city commute distance save nearly $750,000.
Household Median Income – A strong relationship is observed between tax savings and median household income. Thanks to the mechanics of assessments, the more expensive and fast appreciating properties tend to accrue the largest discounts under the CAP. Shockingly, these desirable, expensive areas tend to be occupied by households of higher income. What is truly surprising, however, is the detail and extent to which this relationship holds true. Even within neighbourhoods that generally trail overall median income levels, tax distortions tended to favour the (relatively) higher income areas:
(Tax Distortion and Median Household Income in Fairview: red overpays, green underpays, sized by magnitude, darker grey is higher income, lighter grey is lower)
This relationship varies in strength across the municipality, but only truly breaks down in newly developed areas as new construction starts out uncapped, and tends to attract higher income households due to the premium price of a new home. Spryfield is a case study in getting the worst of both worlds:
(Tax Distortion and Median Household Income in Spryfield: red overpays, green underpays, sized by magnitude, darker grey is higher income, lighter grey is lower)
The level of income detail in rural areas is less fine-grained, but broadly, we see this pattern repeated when comparing the Chebucto Peninsula to the Eastern Shore.
Much Ado About Nothing
Despite the prolific shifting of taxes among tens of thousands of accounts, for most residential rate-payers in HRM the whole program may as well not exist. We estimate 45% of properties have their taxes adjusted (upwards and downward) by less than $200 per year, with the average bill enjoying less than $10 in savings. If we expand our bounds to adjustments of less than $500, we capture approximately 88% of all accounts, though now on average they have to pay $30 extra. Even at the extreme end of this sample, $40 per month is not exactly a significant level of tax relief. For the vast majority of households, the existence of the CAP does little to foster stability, predictability or affordability over an unadulterated assessment system.
Winners and Losers
With the vast middle-ground essentially playing musical chairs with small dollars, the real impacts are felt in the outliers. The maximum overpayment is limited by the artificial inflation of tax rates (roughly 11%), however the maximum discount has no similar limit; it is dependent on local market trends and the length of time a property remains capped. Thus the program tends to siphon tax dollars from a broad base of chronic over-payers and deliver them in considerable amounts to a relatively small number of super-savers.
The 403,000 souls in HRM are organised into just over 173,000 households; groups that occupy a single dwelling unit (usually based on family relations). Most of these pay more under the CAP. About 30% live in apartments that are not eligible for the program, and thus pay rents inflated by higher property taxes. Another 27% occupy eligible residences, but still pay more because the higher tax rate overwhelms their modest assessment discount (or lack of discount if newly purchased). So more than half, 57%, of all households in the municipality are losers, overpaying by an average of $275 per year. The majority of this unfortunate group will always pay more because their residences do not qualify for the program, or their capped assessment will simply not build up a sufficient discount over time. In total, the CAP extracts around $27 million from this bunch – a hefty sum on top of the taxes they fairly pay.
(Capped Properties That Actually Pay More: plenty of misery to go around)
Around $10 million of this is used to benefit land that is likely vacant but classified as residential, while the remainder is redistributed to the winner households, mostly in small amounts. Yet there are some very lucky recipients of this involuntary largess. Tax discounts in excess of 60% are not uncommon, and there is more than one tony street address that receives a larger tax break than the combined saving of entire mobile home parks.
The top 1% of households are afforded an average tax break of $1,500 per year. In total, this group enjoys more than $2.5 million of tax savings. In other words, it’s likely that the top 1% of beneficiaries are receiving around 15% of the total benefit collected by households, and much of this flows to high-income areas.
(Top 1% of Tax Savers: not quite so widely spread)
The System We Want?
Ultimately, tax policy is public policy, and the most fundamental test of public policy is whether it achieves its ends. It is a good and worthy goal that families not be forced from their homes by sudden tax spikes. It is also good that funding for local government be raised in a way that gives households stability, predictability, and affordability. Does the CAP achieve any of this, and to the extent that it does, is it worth the cost?
Property values and ability to pay are closely aligned, but not perfectly. There are always those who will have difficulty when taxes on the former unexpectedly outstrips the latter. They deserve protection, but the CAP is not a precise tool; for every property owner truly assisted, many others receive unneeded relief, or are undeservedly burdened. Beyond this, most households would experience stability and predictability in their property taxes regardless of the CAP, and the majority would actually have improved affordability without it, if only mildly.
So this is the outcome of the CAP, ten years after full implementation. Are we achieving these feeble results at an acceptable cost? Can we only provide peace of mind in taxation through a system that demands someone else’s sacrifice? Is it acceptable that we systematically target people like rural nursing home residents, low income apartment dwellers, first-time home buyers, and downsizing seniors to make those sacrifices? And is it acceptable that we provide only meagre relief to the residents of mobile home parks and housing co-ops, while systematically directing the greatest savings to neighbourhoods with lowest need? Surely we can do better than this.
©2017 Turner Drake & Partners Ltd. all rights reserved. Contains information licensed under the Open Data & Information Government Licence – PVSC & Participating Municipalities, and the Open Government Licence—Halifax. Analysis and conclusions are the product of Turner Drake & Partners Ltd., and do not necessarily reflect the views or endorsement of Property Valuation Services Corporation, the Halifax Regional Municipality, or any other entity. Whilst every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy and completeness of this document, no liability is assumed by Turner Drake & Partners Ltd. for errors or omissions. This is distributed without charge on the understanding that the contents do not render legal, accounting, appraisal or other professional services.
For more information on this analysis, contact Neil Lovitt, our Senior Manager of Planning & Economic Intelligence at 429-1811 ext. 349 (HRM), 1 (800) 567-3033 (toll free), or nlovitt@turnerdrake.com.
Of Heaven and Sea and Earth 
Please be suitably impressed by
this photo: it has all three of a church, a lighthouse and a commercial
heritage building
Five years ago, the Chronicle
Herald reported that some of Nova Scotia’s churches were exploring the option
of deregistering their buildings’
heritage status under the provincial Heritage Property Act. Nova Scotia’s churches are often their town’s
signature property, featuring architectural details ranging from elaborate
stained glass windows to ceilings built by 19th century shipwrights
using the same techniques used on the hulls of wooden ships. But cultural and demographic shifts have
reduced demand for churches in the province. Dwindling congregations mean reduced budgets
unable to cope with the high costs of maintaining and operating historic
properties. Deregistration is required
for demolition, the only option some congregations saw in the face of financial
realities: maintenance requirements outweighed the ability to keep these
architectural gems standing. Recent
years have seen other churches amalgamate congregations, keeping and
maintaining a single building while selling the rest off for (hopefully
sympathetic) redevelopment. 
Wolfville United Church as it was A more literal beacon facing a
similar threat of extinction is the Canadian lighthouse. Changing technologies have rendered redundant
their function, if not their cultural attraction. In May 2008, Parliament passed the Heritage
Lighthouse Protection Act, a bill to designate and preserve lighthouses of
historic significance. It took effect in
May 2010, only to be followed in June by an announcement declaring almost all
Canadian lighthouses surplus, no longer to be maintained by the Coast Guard. Since then, community groups have become the
champions of select historic lighthouses, while the rest, presumably, will
suffer the same fate as many an unfortunate ship along our rocky coasts.  Peggy’s Cove lighthouse, a likely survivor
The foregoing each illustrate the
perils of functional obsolescence: when a building’s functionality no longer
meets market demands only its cultural significance can protect it – and then
only if a champion steps up, e.g. government, community group, or passionate
property owner. Urban heritage
properties are particularly susceptible to rising functional obsolescence due
to the high value of the land on which they sit: the financial rewards of
redevelopment contrast starkly with the economic pitfalls of retaining and
maintaining them. Demolition is tempting.
This year we celebrate Canada 150. With our history and heritage, for better or worse,
on prominent display, we decided to turn our attention to the uphill battle
faced by commercial heritage properties in Halifax.
Size Matters
Hemlines are the
harbinger of stock prices. Construction
of the tallest skyscraper
marks the dawn of recession. Floorplates
sound the death knell of heritage properties?
 Open concept office-in-waiting
Downtown heritage buildings in
Atlantic Canada are at an inherent disadvantage versus modern construction
because they are simply too small. Even
30-year-old buildings are feeling the strain imposed by their new, more
spacious contemporaries, whose design is able to accommodate demand for open
concept offices. In Halifax, total demand
has yet to catch up with new supply. Rental rates are restricted and tenants
can afford to move into the new buildings, leaving the last generation of Class
A office space struggling to stay relevant – and occupied. The trend is toward larger floorplates as companies
are opting for large, open concept offices with collaborative workspaces and
few individual offices. Downtown Halifax
doesn’t have a supply of unused historic warehouses with high ceilings and large
floorplates ripe for conversion well suited to modern tastes. Instead, our heritage
properties are mainly small buildings, 3-6 storeys high and with floor plates
between 1,000 and 6,000 square feet (typically at the lower end of this
range).
Halifax has a few examples of
what can be done to overcome this drawback.
Barrington Espace and the RBC Waterside Centre both maintained the façades
of a number of adjacent heritage properties while completely overhauling their
innards, joining the buildings within to allow for larger floorplates (Saint
John’s CentreBeam Place is another example of where this technique was used
successfully). If done carefully, this
can present a best of both worlds compromise.
If not, the result may be the Disneyfication of heritage: it looks about
right, but there’s no soul. Either way,
it is not an option for detached heritage properties: they are left to find
occupants happy with the original floorplates size. 
Barrington Espace, RBC Waterside Centre, CentreBeam Place…thanks, Google
Street View! Finding a Fit Heritage properties need a
certain tenant. The predominant
competitor of the heritage office building is the home office: to attract a
tenant away from this “free” space, a historic building must provide cachet and
interest, and must find a tenant who wants (or needs) both as marketing tools
for their business. Heritage tenants are
drawn from a pool of largely creative firms represented by public relations and
marketing firms, IT companies, and (interestingly) employment recruiting
agencies. Often, these firms are start-ups;
there is a symbiotic relationship between the two, with the heritage property
providing an inspiring ambiance (and maybe cheap rent: see below), and the
company providing income and life to the building. What the heritage property has more trouble
providing is a flexible workspace that can grow with the company. When they become too large for their space,
they must seek a larger floorplate in a more modern building. There is a happy medium: mid-sized companies
who could occupy an entire heritage property as a single tenant. But in Atlantic Canada, most companies are
either large or small, a by-product of provincial regulatory demands which
force companies to “get large or go under” (Atlantic Canada is made up of four
small provinces each with their own regulatory requirements for businesses:
half the population and half the land area of any other province, but four
times the regulations…but this is a topic for another day). The Champions There are three classes of
champions for heritage properties: passionate owners (hopefully with deep
pockets), community groups who recognize the social benefit of maintaining our
built heritage, and governments which either have a measure of both these
characteristics or are open to the influence of those who do.
Heritage property owners must
appreciate the unique features of old buildings. To quote one (you’ll never guess who), they
“speak to you in a way new buildings don’t.
There is a sense of calm, a personality.
They have been there for centuries, and if the economics can work, they
will be there long after you’ve turned to dust.” Ah, the economics. Heritage properties in Halifax do not attract
a rental premium as they do in some larger cities, such as Toronto’s trendy Distillery District. There may be a purchase premium, albeit not driven
solely by heritage, but location as well, due to the prime situation some
heritage properties enjoy by virtue of having gotten there first. Halifax’s downtown is distinguished by its
waterfront; heritage properties with a connection to it in particular may enjoy
a purchase premium, provided this connection is maintained (pause now to be
thankful for the public outcry that halted “Harbour Drive” before it
started…and hopeful that the redevelopment of its first phase, the Cogswell
Interchange, will be successful in repairing the fabric of the area).  Toronto’s Distillery District, as modelled by a pair of junior TDPers There is a social benefit to
heritage properties, usually external to the site itself. A 2011
study by Place Economics highlighted six areas of positive economic impact
attributed to heritage preservation: jobs, property values, heritage tourism,
environmental impact, social impact and downtown revitalization. Heritage properties differentiate cities from
one another, providing a unique draw to residents, visitors and immigrants
alike. The world’s most successful
cities have vibrant heritage architecture, often interspersed with modern
buildings. Community groups recognize
this and fight to preserve historic built environments, but it is often the building
owners who fund these broader social benefits by bearing the increased costs of
renovation and upkeep. It is here that
governments can play a vital role via heritage preservation policies, but they
must take care that they get them right.
Incentivise or incense? Halifax Regional Municipality
recently commissioned a study to investigate heritage incentives. However structured, these are a means by
which society as a whole, via taxes, can help pay for the social benefit of
heritage properties. Two of the largest
pitfalls of which governments must be wary when enacting policies to protect
heritage properties both involve the risk of (inadvertently) penalizing
property owners. The first is the more obvious
one, wherein the owner of a protected building is prevented from redeveloping a
site to a more lucrative density, diminishing the ability to make money from
the property and potentially its market value.
One avenue available to the city is to compensate the property owner for
the diminished value by purchasing the air rights, i.e. the space above the
building in which they would otherwise be allowed to build, but are prevented
by heritage preservation policy. This
could be accomplished either directly, with the municipality retaining
ownership of the air rights, or by opening the market for air rights trading, allowing
heritage property owners to sell their air rights to developers of non-heritage
sites to increase the allowable height on their sites. (Yes, this has the potential to open another
can of worms, but it’s a good theory if the policy is well thought out). The second potential pitfall lies
in supporting some, but not all heritage properties; such as with the creation
of a heritage preservation zone. While
those properties (and their owners) located within the zone stand to benefit
from financial incentives offered by the municipality, any heritage properties
outside the zone are placed at greater disadvantage. Still competing against larger modern
buildings, they are now on an uneven field against their direct (heritage)
competition. The supported properties
have the money to modernize without deficit to their owners’ bottom line, while
unsupported properties are further penalized physically and financially. For more on heritage rights and
wrongs, don’t miss our Summer 2017 newsletter, coming soon to a mailbox near
you. If you are not already subscribed
to this informative and gutsy publication, please get in touch with us at
902-429-1811 or tdp@turnerdrake.com.
Alexandra Baird Allen is the Manager of our Economic Intelligence Unit,
a position which makes surprisingly good use of her liberal arts degree in
history & cultural studies, as well as her expertise in GIS. For more information on our Economic
Intelligence Products, visit our website or contact Alex at 902-429-1811 ext. 323 or abairdallen@turnerdrake.com.
(Image via Global News)
Symptoms of an Election
In the run up to the now transpiring Nova Scotia provincial election, our governing party engaged in the time-honoured tradition of the spending announcement roadshow. A few million for a community centre here, a few million more for an overpass there, culminating finally in the double whammy of a new outpatient facility in suburban Halifax, and toll-free twinning of several sections of highway.
Unlike most spending announcements, the outpatient facility drew immediate criticism. While the highway twinning has started to attract some rightful critique, the patently foolish choice of locating a medical facility in the retail backlands of a dysfunctional industrial park was apparent to many; not the least of which being senior municipal staff who’d advised the Province of these issues months prior. Embarrassingly, the location is a miserable failure when measured against the Province’s own aging population action plan, Shift, which it had announced along with nearly $14 million in funding mere weeks before.
As an aside: of the opportunities for criticism of the outpatient location, and there are many, the purchase price of the land is not a fruitful one. Without the benefit of knowing the particular details of the deal, the $12.00/ft² paid by the Province for the raw land includes the cost to bring the site to a state of development-readiness. Land in this condition elsewhere in Bayers Lake has sold in the neighbourhood of $11.50/ft², so this is hardly the 12,000% markup insinuated by some reporters and rival politicians. (For future reference, comparing purchase price to assessed values for development land – or any real estate for that matter – can be extremely misleading. Media Types: if you’re looking for a real estate angle on a story, give me a call… I know some people.)
A Bad Prognosis if Left Untreated
So here’s the rub. Atlantic Canada, as we’ve described many times, is facing a serious demographic crunch that will constrain income tax revenue to the provinces, and property tax revenue to municipalities (in Nova Scotia, see Canso, Springhill, Hantsport, and Parrsboro for a preview). Given the scale of these trends, immigration is not likely to alleviate this difficulty. This means public investment utilises increasingly precious dollars; long gone is the time where we could rely on growth to overcome poor decisions.
Yet, public capital spending is and will remain one of the most significant factors in the trajectory of our communities. The provision and location of these facilities influences development trends for decades. A new medical facility is not just a site for convenient patient care. It is also a major employer, and consumer of both public and private services. It generates broader impacts; spinoffs that if harnessed properly can enhance the benefits of other facilities, strengthen neighbourhoods and local business, and mitigate future infrastructure costs. A newly twinned highway is not just a safety improvement for the travelling public, it is a half-billion dollars no longer available to be spent on other priorities. We’ve got to get serious, we’ve got to be scrappy, and we have to be careful to maximise the benefits our public spending generates. Opportunities of an equivalent scale from private-sector activity are few and far between.
By narrowly constraining their site selection study (I presume, as this information is also not publicly available), the government has perhaps saved money on the land for the outpatient facility, only to create far greater costs in the form of municipal servicing expenses, diminished economic spinoff, and foregone social benefits. This short-sightedness is not resigned only to our provincial overlords, municipalities large and small consistently miss opportunities to strengthen and improve neighbourhoods or commercial main streets. At best, we have a habit of placing community facilities in a location that only performs well on measures of land price and vehicular accessibility. At worst, it is directed by decades of parochial bickering and ends up in a location agreed to be equally terrible for everyone.
Nice wellness centre you have there, shame about the sidewalk.
(Image via Pictometry ©2015)
Prescription
As the highway twinning issue has shown, no “overwhelming public consensus” is going to emerge on any policy or funding choice other than those promising a free lunch. It is going to take political guts to lead the way: the decisions we need to make are pound-wise at the risk of appearing penny-foolish. Better analysis can help identify the optimal site selection and communicate the wisdom of that choice. A paltry million saved in cheap land will pale in comparison to full lifecycle costs of poorly located public infrastructure. The property taxes generated by that good natured economic development project might never recoup its initial cost. And increasingly, methods are available to help quantify and communicate the broad community and economy strengthening effects that government undertakings can create. A complete approach to site selection and capital project analysis in a time where each dollar counts is the difference between spending decisions that achieve lasting public value instead of fleeting public relations.
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Remember, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and we have the skills required to evaluate your options in the context they deserve. Neil Lovitt, our Senior Manager of Planning & Economic Intelligence can be reached at 429-1811 ext. 349 (HRM), 1 (800) 567-3033 (toll free), or nlovitt@turnerdrake.com.
Property tax is by far the most important source of revenue for municipalities in Canada, accounting for 49.5% of revenue in 2008 with an annual average growth rate of 1.6% (1988-2008). As reliance on property tax increases, so does the complexity of administering this regressive but necessary evil. Increased computing power in the mid-1960s prompted a shift towards automation of property tax systems, beginning with simple tasks and culminating in today’s fully automated assessment, notification, and payment systems. Modern Automated Valuation Models (AVMs) allow for rapid processing of data with minimised human-bias… but (and this is a large but) real estate appraisal is a nuanced trade: reducing the role of Appraiser to AVM Technician can have significant negative repercussions.
Service New Brunswick’s ongoing cleanup of their attempt at an AVM is a prospective case study in the dangers of a “hands-off” approach to the valuation process. Massive value errors were created by a computer-driven system with insufficient checks in place to alert users to suspicious results. When reviewed by human appraisers many of the shockingly incorrect valuations were easily overturned based on traditional market comparison valuation. Autopilot replaced the flight crew and actual appraisers are left cleaning up the crash, while their political and bureaucratic colleagues deal with the rightful public outcry.
While seemingly seductive, potential time and cost savings offered by an AVM should never mask the fact that, in order to operate successfully, an AVM must integrate human expertise throughout the valuation process. At Turner Drake the “A” in our in-house AVM stands for Accelerated to reflect the role that expert opinion plays in our two-stage computer-assisted mass appraisal model. Stage One combs through real property sales to select comparable properties based on locally relevant, value-defining attributes such as size, location, and design. Stage Two adjusts and weighs a unique set of comparable sales to create a market-based value estimate for each subject property in an assessment area. Throughout each stage of the model, a professional appraiser defines the selection criteria and adjustment values for comparable properties based on market evidence and local expertise. The model does the heavy lifting but certified appraisers evaluate and refine the results.
Outliers - which no system can avoid - can wreak havoc on the results of an AVM unequipped to handle the inherently diverse nature of real estate. It is critically important to flag potential outliers for review so the model can be adjusted for future assessments. During the initial rollout of an AVM model, refinement is time consuming but absolutely necessary for creating reliable, equitable assessments in successive years. In developing our Accelerated Valuation Model, we put the time in up front so the system flags out of the ordinary results, and the professional appraiser, made aware of the potential issue, is able to quickly and easily account for them.
In a Case Study of condominiums on the Halifax Peninsula, the Turner Drake AVM out-performed PVSC assessment values by a margin of up to 45%. That is, 86% of TDP value estimates were within 5% of an actual time-adjusted sale price versus PVSC’s 41% and 98% of TDP values were within 15% of actual sale price versus PVSC’s 84% in the same pool of properties. Our combination of custom programs and a traditional direct-comparison valuation can produce a list of unique comparables with adjustments for 1,000 properties in about two seconds.
Property tax administration systems are as diverse as the municipalities they serve and every region relies to a degree on the convenience of computers and automation. However, no matter the size or complexity of a property tax system it is important to follow best practices, and learn from the success - or failure - of others. When the pursuit of speed comes at the expense of quality there is a significant risk to the accuracy of valuations and the credibility of the property tax system as a whole.
For more information on how our AVM can benefit you, call James Stephens at 902-429-1811 ext. 346 or email jstephens@turnerdrake.com
Our Economic Intelligence Unit is always on the hunt for new data sources to bolster our maps and feed our spreadsheets: any good analysis begins with high quality data. The majority of our databases are populated with a wealth of information via a process of blood, sweat, and tears (though increasingly data is graciously released by provincial gatekeepers) and it could be that our next trove of valuable data is being cultivated on farms across the Maritimes. The movement of food from field to plate involves numerous stops along the agricultural supply chain and, when property tracked, that data can prove valuable for a host of analytical tasks.
The ability to track an item from Point A to B in a large-scale supply chain is known as traceability. The theory behind it is relevant in all aspects of our lives: be it an Amazon package or a donair pizza, consumers - and businesses - have discovered that real-time knowledge of where a product is, physically, at any point in time is a competitive advantage in terms of marketing and efficiency. Agriculture is no exception. Traceability is already in use as a health risk management tool: it allows for rapid response to health emergencies by identifying exactly where and when afflicted produce or livestock stopped along the supply chain. Efficiently pin-pointing sources of contamination (think E.coli outbreaks) and creating cost-effective responses, such as targeted treatments and recalls, are critical in a modern, globally connected agricultural sector.
In addition to the obvious benefits of using traceability from an epidemiology perspective, there is also major potential for economic spinoff benefits from tracking the movement of agricultural goods. At a recent gathering of Nova Scotian Agrologists, speaker Chris deWaal of Getaway Farm (of Seaport Market fame) touted the very real benefits of offering consumers the entire life history of their food as a competitive advantage over mass-produced “mystery meat.” The introduction of the “Trace My Catch” program for canned seafood provides an example of how seafood processors are embracing traceability as a marketing tool, and provides an indication of the feasibility of doing so. In a province with a growing love affair for all things local it is no surprise that demand for local meat and produce is on the rise.
Benefits beyond health and marketing can be opened with traced agricultural data. Used in conjunction with GIS, the location and density of animals, farms, stockyards, abattoirs, and processing facilities become inputs for site selection and trade area analysis and indicators of economic health in rural economies - an issue of pressing concern for many Nova Scotian communities.
Imagine opening a meat processing and distribution facility to feed growing demand for local, organic products while still maintaining capacity for foreign exports. A standard GIS-based site selection analysis would use static location data (suppliers, purchasers) with network data (highway, rail, sea) to build a short-list of potential development sites which minimize transportation costs for both inputs and outputs. Additional variables such as workforce availability, machinery and equipment suppliers, veterinary services, and property taxes can all be integrated with locational data to suit the needs of the processor. But a standard analysis does not take into account how many animals are produced by individual farms or the variability in production from year to year.
Traceability data can enhance GIS analysis by optimizing site selection so it is based on not just the density of farms within a trade area, but the capacity to bring high volumes of livestock (or produce) efficiently to market. Historic tracking data of individual animals could forecast future production including where livestock are ultimately processed and sold. A savvy processor would use this data to identify opportunities for expansion and generate reliable, defendable business projections.
The agricultural sector already collects traceability data for use in health risk management; leveraging that same wealth of data for marketing and day-to-day business operations is the logical next step. The agricultural sector is a ray of light in the gloom of rural Nova Scotia: according to Statistics Canada’s census, between 2006 and 2011, Nova Scotia was the only province in Canada to see an increase in the number of farms, total farm area, and number of farm operators. Should the 2016 census indicate continued growth, it will clearly indicate that it’s time for all players in the agricultural game to leverage their existing data infrastructure to gain a competitive advantage at home and abroad.
For more information on how spatial analysis can benefit your business, call James Stephens at 902-429-1811 ext. 346 or visit: Economic Intelligence Unit
Finding Answers in the Bottle
Recently our Brokerage Division closed a deal that will see a mid-century commercial building transition from a hair salon to Halifax’s first cidery – a business dedicated to the production and enjoyment of hard ciders. It is the city’s newest addition to the burgeoning craft beverage industry, and by my count, the fifth such business within short walking distance of our head office. Thanks to double digit year-over-year growth in the industry, such businesses have been setting up shop throughout our region, but I have good reason to believe we at Turner Drake are working in the very nexus of Beer Oriented Development.
The craft beverage industry is booming throughout the continent evidently. However, BOD is a specific variant distinguished by integrating the production element the brewery, with the social gathering element of a retail/food service business, wrapping it all in a locally authentic brand identity and plunking it in walking distance to residential neighbourhoods. The term itself was apparently coined in the weary rust-belt city of Buffalo where a pattern of revitalisation lead by the craft brewing industry has been observed in neighbourhoods otherwise dogged by the Midwest’s manufacturing decline and hard hit by the Great Financial Crisis.
Back in our corner of North America, we can certainly attest to the healthy “third place” function of Beer Oriented Development. That is to say, in addition to the production itself, many businesses serve as a nexus for community development outside of the home and workplace. They are small enough operations to revitalise defunct or underused properties without the timeline and complexity of projects requiring land assembly. The size and design of the retail operation typically creates an enjoyable atmosphere and promotes interaction between customers (who are often neighbours). Where the sale and service activities are able to spill outside onto a patio or sidewalk café, they further add to the vitality and liveliness of the entire street. With seemingly endless groups of engineering school buddies (it’s always those engineers) keen to start their own sudsy venture, why do some areas see a flourish of BOD while others simply get an increase in breweries?
The Broken Window Fallacy
There’s a classic economic parable that goes something like this: A baker’s shop window is broken and he hires a glazer to repair it. Passersby observe the glazer at work and remark on the economic activity stimulated by the broken window. Meanwhile, the baker having spent his money on the window now postpones his plan to purchase a larger oven to increase his production. In this way, the passersby are mistaken about the benefit of a broken window because they consider only what they see, and not what they can’t see. That is, they do not consider the opportunity cost; the lost benefits that would have been generated by things that were prevented, often without conscious purpose, from ever happening in the first place.
We don’t often think about opportunity cost in planning. We like to have the initiative; there are no problems that can’t be fixed through the application of more regulation or better policy. In this mindset, it is sometimes easy to lose sight of the fact that many (perhaps even most) good things tend to happen on their own if we leave the space for it. Nevertheless, Halifax, like many Atlantic Canadian cities, does benefit from not having gone too far off the deep end when it comes to land use regulation… at least compared to standard practices west of our region. Consider the present (if outgoing) land use bylaw for the Halifax Peninsula area where residential land use is governed by 6 zones. Contrast that with London Ontario, a city of comparable population and municipal budget, where no less than 17 zones are needed just to regulate single detached housing! Clearly one approach provides more “regulatory space” than the other.
Six of One Ain’t Always a Half Dozen
London, like Halifax, is a university town with no shortage of thirsty students or courageous engineering buddies. Like Halifax, it has its own litany of recently launched microbreweries. And finally, like Halifax, London did not, and does, not specifically target or promote Beer Oriented Development. What London does have is its hyper specific approach to coding land use which classifies microbreweries as “Food, Tobacco, and Beverage Processing Industries” and among the 20+ flavours of commercial zoning, relegates such uses to the “General Industrial” areas of the city. In Halifax, some microbrewers also set up shop in the industrial areas, depending on their business model. However, Beer Oriented Development is mostly occurring under the General Business zone which allows – to paraphrase – basically any business that doesn’t create problems in the area.
The shocking result? All of London’s new microbreweries are segregated into soulless industrial parks. Sure, they’ve got a quality product, backed by the same witty, self-aware marketing, and most even have attached tasting rooms and offer brewery tours, but to access any of it you’ve got to drive out past electrical suppliers and find their docking bay among the other distributers and warehousers. So while both city economies are benefiting from growth in the craft beverage industry, only Halifax is gaining the additional benefits to neighbourhood revitalisation and contributions to a lively pedestrian atmosphere. These are not just intangible perks for urban hipsters. There is a hard dollar cost to London in terms of lost economics spinoffs and unrealised gains in property value, but that cost is the new oven, hidden behind a broken window.
The Future is Delicious
Beer Oriented Development is just a microcosm of a larger dynamic. No one was anticipating an explosion of craft brewing or the potential of BOD when the zoning codes were written twenty years ago, just as the codes we write today do not address a futuristic possibilities like the rise of distributed manufacturing, or an explosion of artificial intelligence. In truth, it’d be foolish if they did. In dealing with an ultimately unknowable future, it is basic human nature to play it safe; control what is knowable, and regulate the unexpected out of existence. The costs of this approach are easy to ignore because we are never fully aware of paying them. Yet, as Beer Oriented Development clearly demonstrates, there is a benefit, indeed a competitive advantage, to the city that sets itself up to embrace the unknowable future and capitalise on the unexpected.
Our Role
What can you build on your property? The answer to this is determined by interpreting the local planning policy and regulation. However these are living documents, and project timelines are often measured in years. Thus, it is essential to not only look at the present-day context, but peer into the future for additional opportunities. This is precisely why all our Planning Policy and Regulatory Review reports contain a Long-term Outlook section.
For a recent client, this feature paid dividends. For their property, the desired outcome would have required multiple amendments and the negotiation of a Development Agreement under present requirements; an expensive and risky process overall. However, by casting a wider gaze in our investigation, we identified an opportunity to pursue the same goals through a larger policy update the municipality was preparing to make. While this didn’t save our client any time, it lowered the risk, and greatly reduced the cost.
We’re finding our Planning Division lends vital assistance to our other areas of operation, improving the detail and delivery time of Valuation, Counselling, Economic Intelligence, Property Tax and Brokerage assignments. More importantly, it creates value for our clients, aiding with development projects big and small.
Whether you’re musing about options or working towards a clear goal, ask Neil Lovitt, our Planning Division Manager, how we can help: 1 (902) 429-1811 (HRM), 1 (800) 567-3033 (toll free), or nlovitt@turnerdrake.com
When you think of the ideal office space, what are your must-haves? An environmentally friendly building? Open work spaces? Proximity to your home or city amenities? These are considered some of the most commonly desired traits in office space by HRM tenants. Office space that fit this bill is becoming more available in the downtown core. Does this mean that the recent trend of moving into office space in the suburbs will come to an end?
HRM comprises eight urban and suburban sub-markets: Central Halifax, Central Dartmouth, Downtown Peripheral Halifax, Suburban Halifax, Peripheral Dartmouth, Burnside/City of Lakes, Bedford and Sackville. Notable changes to these submarkets since 2011 include 950,000ft.2 of new office space added to the rental market in Central Halifax, Bedford, Burnside/City of Lakes and Suburban Halifax.
With the current lagging economy, it is not surprising to learn that vacancy has almost doubled in the last five years, especially considering the plethora of new office space brought on stream throughout HRM. Vacancy increased in every submarket, but the changes in vacancy rates indicate a shift in where demand for office space is flowing – to suburban business parks. For example, Burnside/City of Lakes and Suburban Halifax experienced among the lowest increases in vacancy. The chart below reflects how the distribution of total rentable area by sub-market has changed in the last five years.
It’s not all bad news for the CBD, though… vacancy in downtown Halifax saw a below average increase in vacancy. This begs the question: because suburban space was highly available, are tenants moving there because they wanted to, or because of its availability? With more space coming on stream in the downtown core consistent with commonly desirable office traits, does this mean tenants will start to shift back toward the downtown core?
In the last year, vacancy increased in the downtown core, not because of tenants vacating the area, but because there is more inventory available. Urban space is competing against new, modern office developments in suburban business parks (previously the only option for new office space in the city) and the population is concentrating in the urban core. With rental rates stagnating as vacancy rises, this is the prime opportunity for tenants to move into new space… and perhaps that space will be in the downtown area.
Click here to read more, including a map showing the spatial distribution of vacancy rate changes since 2011. This topic was covered in detail in this month’s TDP Trends, a free service provided to decision makers with property portfolios in Atlantic Canada. Each month, it provides information on demographic, psychographic, migratory, income and wealth distribution, investment, technological, space utilisation, and other trends influencing property values now or in the future. TDP Trends are archived on the public area of our website.
As a recent addition to the Turner Drake team, one of the first major jobs I worked on was collecting data for our December 2015 Market Survey of leasable office and warehouse space in St. John’s, Newfoundland. Given my experience of Newfoundland was limited to a couple trips to visit my girlfriend’s family, being tasked with getting a handle on an entire city’s office and warehouse market seemed a daunting task. However, it has proven to be one of the best learning experiences during my first year at Turner Drake. As a newcomer to the real estate industry, speaking with building owners and managers gave me insight into the issues they were facing, and a more intimate understanding of the market in Newfoundland than I expected to develop in such a short period of time. After such a positive experience, I was excited to be tasked with collecting data on the St. John’s market again for our June 2016 survey.
The June survey is smaller than the December survey: we only gather data on the office markets, with the exception of HRM, where we surveyed both the office and warehouse markets. Don’t think that this means it was an easy job: at Turner Drake, “smaller” rarely means small.
To ensure our data collection met the rigorous standards of our ISO 9001:2008 quality standard certification, our surveyors undertook a month-long data gathering process. We began by compiling an inventory of every new office or industrial space with a minimum rentable area of 5,000 ft.2 in our five target markets (St. John’s, Moncton, Fredericton, Saint John and Halifax). As the number of cranes on our cities’ skylines attest, this was no mean feat. However, this was just the beginning.
The meat and potatoes of the data gathering process is distributing and following up on more than 550 surveys for our June report (and more than 900 for the December version). We begin by sending every one of our contacts an Inventory Form for each of the buildings they are responsible for. This year, we took a bold step forward and sent the survey forms by… email! If we’re lucky, the respondents complete the form with information on the size of their buildings, the current vacancies, the rental rates they are realizing, and a few other pertinent details. Then they check the little box saying “Please send me a copy of the final report” and we’re done. However, things are rarely that easy, and Turner Drake surveyors won’t rest until the job is done! If we don’t receive a response, we send a follow-up email, and if that isn’t returned, we call, and if our calls aren’t returned, we call again… and again… and again… until we get the data we need.
After all of the data has been gathered, it is entered into our CompuVal™ system. CompuVal™ allows us to track vacancy and rental rates over time for both individual buildings and entire markets, as well as analyze the data to predict future trends. To ensure no errors are made, our surveyors review each other’s work, “cleaning up” typos or other mistakes.
All told, the data gathering process can take several hundred hours to complete. For our June surveys, our four surveyors spent more than 330 hours gathering data. This is the point where we turn things over to our Economic Intelligence Unit, who work their magic by taking the raw data and turning it into a vibrant picture of the local market.
If you’re interested in learning more about our Market Surveys or purchasing a copy, give our Economic Intelligence Unit a call at (902)-429-1811 or visit our website.
Written by Colin Walsh, Consultant in our Lasercad® and Valuation Divisions. To learn more about Colin, visit our Facebook page to see his Featured Consultant article.
Immigration into Canada is nothing new: the country admits an average of 253,875 immigrants each year. This number is responsible for almost two-thirds of the national population growth from 2005 to 2015. Based on a housing demand projection study conducted by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), a 1% increase in immigrant population causes housing demand to rise by about 0.66%. However, the Maritime housing market is facing a projected decline in the coming years due to three interdependent facors: an aging and shrinking population, a dearth of immigration and very low rates of economic growth. This is not new information: alarms were given by various sources and it’s time to halt the slide.
History has proven that an aggressive immigration policy can help smooth the impact of an aging population (e.g. Ontario and Vancouver). It is not surprising, therefore, that increasing migration into the Maritimes is an effective way of addressing the adverse effects of our aging population. New immigrants will not only help increase the production of goods and services but will also directly increase the demand for housing.
Becoming a Maritime immigrant myself, I have a special interest in exploring the relationships between immigrant and housing trends in this region. I came to Canada in late 2012 as an international student and have seen several immigrants who decided to stay and purchase a house here. Many of them are below age 40, well-educated, and economically independent. Do they represent the majority immigrant group in the Maritime Region? I decided to dig into the data to find the answer.
The Maritime Immigration Trends
Immigrants comprise less than 6% of the Maritime Provinces’ total population, but 20.6% of the national population. Immigrant inflows to the Maritimes fluctuated dramatically from 1991 to 2006, however in the last decade, trends have been rising. This can be attributed to new policy initiatives (e.g. provincial nominee program, skilled worker express entry) aimed at attracting more immigrants to the Maritime region. From 2006 to 2011, the number of immigrants to PEI rose six-fold. Not surprisingly, employment growth in PEI caught up with the national average during the same period. Although this growth is from a small base, it still means the island is attracting more than twice as many immigrants compared to its share of the total population.
Maritime Immigrants: Countries of Origin and Demographic Profile
The United States and United Kingdom were the top two source countries of the Maritime immigrants during the 1980s. The position was taken over temporarily by some Middle Eastern countries (in the aftermath of the Gulf War) and China in the 1990s. In the last decade, the US and UK again became the top two sources of immigrants, but China and other Asian countries are listed among the top five.
The map above shows the percentage of the total population formed by Maritime immigrants in in 2015, along with the most common countries of origin. Immigration to the Maritimes is heavily slanted in favour of Halifax County (NS), Queens County (PE), Westmorland County (NB) and York County (NB). However, according to the immigration demographic profile report provided by the Atlantic Metropolis Centre, more than one-fifth of immigrants who arrived in the Maritimes from 2006 to 2011 declared their intended destinations to be outside a Census Metropolitan Area (CMA), which indicates the potential for allocating new immigrants to rural areas.
The age profile of immigrants in the Maritimes is dominated by the lower age group according to the most recently released Statistics Canada data. About 75% of immigrants who arrived from 2011 to 2015 were under age 45, and 7.5% were under age 25. The corresponding numbers for resident Maritimers aged under 45 and under 25 in 2015 were 44.3% and 14.7% respectively.
The Housing Situation and Needs of Immigrants
There have been many reports and studies exploring the current economic and population trends in the Maritime region: evidence shows Maritimers are now on the brink of an extended period of decline. The unavoidable aging trend is weakening the Maritime housing market and will continue to do so unless effective action is taken. The key to slowing down the aging trend is to be open to the outsiders by targeting and attracting skilled immigrants to the region.
In last month’s TDP trends, we explored the HRM residential house market tipping point. In the Atlantic Region, most first-time buyers are aged 25 to 34, followed by a small portion in the 35 to 59 group. Second-time buyers are also primarily aged 25 to 34. Finding suitable and affordable housing is an essential step in immigrant integration. With relatively lower housing prices (compared to Ontario and Vancouver), the Maritimes have advantages in attracting potential younger aged immigrant home buyers. Such a future can have only one outcome: reversed housing declines in demand for the aging population trend, which will boost the regional economy.
Written by Chen Shi, Consultant in our Economic Intelligence Unit. To learn more about Chen, visit our Facebook page to see her Featured Consultant article.
With low fertility rates, an aging workforce, and an increasing dependency ratio, Canadian demographics are transitioning from a tailwind to a headwind on property values. In Atlantic Canada, this is doubly true. The Maritimes are the vanguard of the Canada’s aging population, but generally lack the simulative effect of immigration. This sets us on a collision course with important tipping points in real estate economics.
While much has been said about the effect of a stagnant and aging population on economic growth and social services, we find little consideration has been given to its impact on real estate. This is an enormous oversight; not only is real estate generally the largest single asset held by private citizens and often businesses, but it is by far the largest driver of both revenues and expenses for local government.
On September 17th 2015, from 7:30 am until 9 am, we will host a breakfast seminar at the Halifax World Trade and Convention Centre on the demographic changes sweeping the region, and their impact on real estate values in Atlantic Canada. Experts from our Economic Intelligence Unit and Planning Division will outline the implications of Nova Scotia’s demographics for real estate, and discuss how the way we plan and develop our communities should adapt.
This breakfast seminar will be of interest to decision makers with property portfolios in Nova Scotia as well as municipal planners and professionals active or advising clients in real estate; lawyers, commercial loans officers, accountants, developers. To reserve your hot breakfast contact Gen Lecour at glecour@turnerdrake.com or (902) 429-1811 Ext. 345. There is no charge but we will accept donations to the Salvation Army and Oxfam at registration.
For better or for worse, the real estate industry is known for using terrible euphemisms to describe space, but the truth that lies behind some clichés can be leveraged to your advantage when you are choosing a location for a new, expanding, or relocating business.
Location, Location, Location
Real estate is intrinsically linked to physical space and yes, location is key. But what makes one location great for a particular business may be the exact reason it is a terrible location for some other venture – being next to a main thoroughfare with easy access to the Trans-Canada highway is great for a shipping business, but less appropriate for a childcare centre. The ideal location for some businesses is near other businesses of a similar nature (think groupings of clothing stores along certain roads or in malls), whereas others will do better if there’s a bit of distance between themselves and the next one (think convenience stores). In terms of getting along well with your neighbours, the right location can be of more help than the proverbial good fence by avoiding the “not-in-my-backyard” scenario that incompatible land uses inevitably spur.
If You Build It, They Will Come
Businesses each have a specific target market…if you build it, they might come, but you could save yourself a lot of energy and marketing time if you just built it where they already are, or where they are headed anyway. Demographic indicators, from age groups, gender proportions, daytime population, and indicators of wealth and income, all play a huge role in the success of a business – and the relative merits of one location over another. The Greater Halifax Partnership has a great GIS tool for the properties in their database (http://halifax.zoomprospector.com/. If you need something more customised and specific, or located outside of Halifax, we can help).
Timing is Everything
If you are looking to build a large development, you want to time it so that your project comes to market when demand is high, competing supply is low, and preferably as the economy is trending upwards. Our recent Market Survey of office space in five of the major centres in Atlantic Canada highlights this: vacancy is pushing upward across Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. See the results for yourself in the News & Research section of our website (www.turnerdrake.com/newsresearch/index.asp, then explore the Media Centre and Surveys tabs).
All Over the Map
The beautiful thing about real estate is that because it has, by definition, a physical location, you can map it. Then you can map other pertinent things around and relating to it, such as competing or complimentary businesses, roads, public transit stops, parks…you get the picture (or will, once you see it all on a map). Demographic data can be plotted and aggregated for existing and potential locations. This wealth of information can be analysed and studied in great detail or with a “quick & dirty” report, depending on how in depth you need the answer to the question “where?” to be, and the level of professional advice you require. It really does pay to “look before you leap”…after all, “nothing in life is certain except death and taxes” but making an educated decision is better than “flying by the seat of your pants."
Wise words from Alexandra Baird Allen, Senior Manager of Turner Drake's Economic Intelligence Unit. If you're looking for the perfect location for your new, expanding or relocating business, give Alex a call at 1 (800) 567-3033 or email her at abairdallen@turnerdrake.com .
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