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Aug. 21, 2026

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City to analyze how infill impacts property values

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Edmonton's city council has requested information on how infill development affects the property values of surrounding homes in the small-scale residential (RS) zone. In a 9-4 vote, council approved a motion from Coun. Karen Principe, who said she introduced the motion after hearing from residents concerned about both decreasing property values and rising taxes due to increased property assessment.

Councillors Erin Rutherford, Ashley Salvador, Keren Tang, and Jo-Anne Wright voted against requesting the report. Some said they didn't support the motion because property values are influenced by a complex set of factors, and there's no way to tell if an adjacent infill property has had an impact. "I can't support this motion because I think we're giving administration an impossible task," Wright said. "They cannot determine property values have either increased or decreased solely as a result of infill." Principe argued that some information, however imperfect, would be better than none. "It's nuanced, but it would be nice to see for transparency and to give residents the information they're looking for because there are a lot of concerns," she said.

Some supporters of the motion said they wanted the information to help prove that infill can actually be a boon for city finances. Housing advocate Jacob Dawang of Grow Together Edmonton released a blog post earlier this month analyzing property assessment data to estimate how much money infill development is adding to the city's tax revenues. In a post that lays out his methodology in detail, Dawang said the numbers show that infill development constructed since 2024 in the RS zone will add nearly $15 million annually to the city's coffers. "Now it's up to council to decide what to do with the ever-growing infill dividend," he wrote. "Whether it goes to keeping property taxes lower or to better service levels, all Edmontonians will profit from the zoning bylaw renewal for years to come."

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Economic development

Startups and SMBs

Real estate

  • New York-based W. P. Carey has completed a $287-million sale-leaseback deal with Go Auto for 14 automotive dealership properties in Edmonton, Greater Vancouver, Calgary, and Winnipeg, totalling nearly 575,000 square feet. The properties are triple-net leased for 25 years, with annual CPI-based rent escalations. The deal frees up capital for Go Auto — Canada's second-largest automotive dealership group — to reinvest in its business.
  • Leon's has valued its Canadian real estate portfolio at $1.17 billion — more than four times its $284-million book value — as it continues working toward a publicly traded REIT. Alberta accounts for 27% of the roughly 50-property portfolio, and the retailer is acquiring the remaining 50% stake in its Edmonton distribution centre, which houses The Brick's corporate headquarters, for $45.75 million.
  • Two downtown Edmonton properties are being offered through a court-ordered receivership sale by MNP, with bids due Oct. 8. The offering includes a 48,583-square-foot mixed-use redevelopment site at 10008 109 Street NW, known as the Cascadia Lands, and a 17,675-sq.-ft. site at 10921 Jasper Avenue NW, known as the Azure Lands. Both are currently used as parking lots.
  • The City of Edmonton launched the Rental Protection Program, which will help non-profit housing providers buy and renovate existing rental buildings for long-term non-market housing. The program is funded with $1 million each from the city and the federal government's Housing Accelerator Fund. A building must include at least 30% affordable units to qualify, and rents for those units cannot exceed 80% of the average market rate. Housing researcher Steve Pomeroy told Taproot in 2025 that non-profit acquisitions can preserve inexpensive rentals by keeping future rent increases tied to operating costs.
  • Rat Creek Press took a look at the Sacred Spaces to Community Places program, which offers faith groups pre-development funding of up to $100,000 through the Edmonton Community Foundation and the federal government to explore building affordable housing on their land. "This is a really beautiful way to send a legacy forward, recognize that their role was shifting, but that they could still be contributing to their mission and to the community," said Coun. Anne Stevenson.
  • Edmonton's housing market is shifting toward buyers, with 75% of homes in July selling below asking price. Among individual neighbourhoods, Beverly Heights posted the fastest average sale time at 27.7 days — less than half the city-wide average of 61.7 days — while Ottewell led for above-asking sales at 41.7%, according to House Sigma data.

More headlines

  • Smaller energy companies are beginning to emerge after years of oilpatch consolidation, said ATB CEO Chris Turchansky as the Edmonton-headquartered financial institution reported quarterly profits of more than $160 million, up 19% from a year earlier. Turchansky cited higher commodity prices and progress on an Alberta-Ottawa pipeline proposal as reasons for growing optimism in the energy sector.
  • WestJet says its Edmonton capacity to Latin America and the Caribbean will increase by 34% this winter. The airline will offer twice as many weekly flights from Edmonton to Los Cabos, Mexico, and Montego Bay, Jamaica, as it did last year.
  • Filipino fast-food chain Jollibee has committed to 10 new restaurants in the Edmonton market, where it currently operates four locations.
  • TELUS World of Science - Edmonton will remain closed until early 2027 instead of reopening in November as flood damage from a July 10 storm has proven worse than expected. President and CEO Constance Scarlett said restoration work is now expected to finish in December. About 70% of the centre's staff remain temporarily laid off. "The extension has an incredible toll on all our staff," Scarlett said. "Now that we have a concrete date to work towards, we'll be able to work on those recall plans and hopefully be able to bring those employees back sooner rather than later."
  • The Royal Mayfair Golf Club's crew has worked to repair rain damage ahead of the CPKC Women's Open, which started on Aug. 20 at the 104-year-old course. After more than 500 millimetres of rain in June and July, flooding washed out the bunkers seven times, submerged part of the 18th hole, and toppled a poplar tree onto a green.

Happenings

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Visit the Taproot Edmonton Calendar for many more events in the Edmonton region.

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