Calgary Suffering From Its Excess Of Riches

"(An) oil boom is overwhelming Calgary, a city of one million famous for hosting the 1988 Winter Olympics. Amid an extreme labor shortage, a lack of affordable housing has increased the homeless population to about 3,500 -- a 32% jump in just two years. Companies are elbowing each other out of the way for office space. Developers, stung by higher costs, are planning few new buildings to ease the crunch."

"In the past year, 25,000 people moved here -- about 70 people a day. Demand for property, both residential and commercial, has far outstripped supply."

"Commercial office space is also tight. Calgary's office vacancy rate, at about one-half percent, is among the lowest of any city in the world, according to CB Richard Ellis, a real-estate-services firm...With a dearth of construction workers and a slow permitting process, it can take three years to put up a new building in downtown Calgary."

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