Alberta insiders get another pay off!

RBK in Alberta wrote:
Posted 2008/10/02at 2:19 PM ET
cyberclark wrote:
Posted 2008/10/02 at 1:50 PM ET

The Alberta Government owned crown land in and around McMurray that was worth a fortune. Rather than put it up on public open auction they turned it over to an insider construction contractor to build apartments and houses on.

A year or so has passed. Has there been apartment and houses built? Do the prices of those units reflect the fact the property was free? How would you compare this new property to property in Edmonton and Calgary price wise?

RBK in McMurray:
No, things have not changed for the better up here. Housing costs are out to lunch and I blame that on the Government. The land, as you stated, is mostly crown land. The Alberta Government put a stop to speculators buying up land years ago. However when they parcel that land out to developers they are squeezing as many houses into each block that they can, creating zero lot line, 2 and 3 storey houses, so they can build up and get more in. Land costs for a developed lot are absolutely ridiculous when you take into account that the developers were given the land for next to nothing.

A lot for a MOBILE home currently costs 100K and upwards so a mobile home on a lot currently lists at 250K to 400K. So someone is making a ridiculous amount of money out of land up here and I highly doubt if it will ever change. With the recent two large areas released by the crown for development what I have seen to date does not give me any hope whatsoever those things will change.

However, newcomers are helped out in buying a home by the company they work for but it still takes 2 incomes to afford those mortgages. Those working service industry jobs in town are hard pressed to keep up and many businesses just close their doors due to lack of people to work. My home is long paid off but I really feel for those just moving into town and signing 750K mortgages for a house.

If things do go bad they will go really bad and then it will get ugly up here. That is why Layton scares most people up here with his plans to slow or curtail development. Developement of the oil sands has to moderate to allow other sectors to catch up but if not handled properly it will be ugly.