Jacob Loo Dawang
@jacobdawang
your local data scientist and housing advocate @growtogetheryeg.bsky.social 📍 Edmonton, AB
Imagine being the homeowner of one of 5 lots in this cul-de-sac and claiming you didn't see the redevelopment signs on the lot marked in red which is right next to your house. And then imagine CBC taking them at their word without questioning it. www.cbc.ca/listen/cbc-p...
$14.9M/year is can fund a ton of stuff, fittingly including the infill liaison team. Without needing to raise the property tax rate at all. The list of services infill can fund without any tax increase will continue to grow as more permits roll in.
At steady state, once every 2024–2026 permit is built and assessed, small-scale infill will contribute $14.9M a year in perpetuity in additional municipal property tax revenue. Or, if Council held revenue flat instead: a 0.7% decrease to the property tax rate.
We can estimate the eventual incremental property assessment uplift from all small-scale infill post-ZBR reforms based on this 2024 cohort. Rowhomes do most of the heavy lifting. They add the most units per lot and have been the most common redevelopment path since ZBR.
When a new rowhome replaces a single-detached home, the lot's value increases by a lot. Looking at the 2024 cohort that has been completed and occupied, we're talking over $1M in uplift. Approaching $2M for 7+ unit rowhomes.
If you haven't read my previous posts, you should know that the zoning bylaw renewal in 2024 is likely Canada's most effective zoning reform. We are seeing our mature neighbourhoods finally bring on desperately needed supply, mostly thanks to the 8-unit rowhome. www.jacobdawang.com/blog/2026/q2...
Surely they made Alberta agree to the conditions of the program right? Right? www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
I have to say, from when I left Toronto, the east waterfront has developed really nicely! Density and mixed use really does do wonders, even when transit is good but not great.
Hey look they did the thing at Bathurst and Eg where they built a tower over a subway entrance, at one corner.
Edmonton continues to show it's possible to have newly built, ground-oriented housing for families in existing neighbourhoods at a reasonable price. You only have to make it legal and feasible. Here's a 3bed for $1,895 with a $500 lease signing bonus.
Even if the current network doesn't support those features, because of this purchase, Toronto will not have level hoardings on any future streetcar lines, not any retrofitted stops! Imagine not having to construct one-way loops for additional cost, land and operation time!
The TTC's initial and subsequent Fleixty streetcar orders were a huge missed opportunity to introduce modern tram capabilities to the streetcar network A forward-looking administration would have ordered double-ended cars with level boarding capabilities.
Views from Edmonton's greenfield communities. If only we had a finger plan and these weren't going to be 100% car dependent.
Every municipal public consultation for new housing or transit priority ever.
And ZBR continues to be the most effective land use policy ever in Edmonton when it comes to building near transit. Add in the frequent bus network and 44% of homes permitted were within 800m of LRT or 400m of a frequent bus stop.
It's also worth noting that permits for 5-8 unit rowhomes continues to increase in 2026 despite downturns or flatlining of other categories of permits across neighbourhoods.
The zoning bylaw renewal continues to deliver its promise of saving mature neighbourhoods from managed decline. The 5-8 unit rowhome enabled by ZBR continues to be THE driver of housing supply in our mature neighbourhoods.
Edmonton permitted 6,536 homes in H1 2026, down 29.4% from H1 2025's 9,252. Annualized, that's ~13,726 homes for 2026, below 2025's record, but still on track for a strong year. The slowdown is almost entirely apartments. A handful of large buildings getting permitted or not swings the total.
New city administration report and proposal on multi-tenant homes aka lodging homes, including some stuff on short-term rentals. "There's no evidence to suggest there's an issue, but because some people made up some shit, it's regulation time" What are we even doing here? #yegcc
I see Danielle Smith now favours a carbon tax and rebate scheme. www.alberta.ca/release.cfm?...
I also have this animation of how sunrise times will change depending on location in Alberta.
For Edmonton, with daylight time, sunrise will be after 9:00 from Nov, all the way until mid-Feb. For most of the winter, it will be pitch black from the time people wake up all the way until they arrive at work or school. School dropoff will be done completely in the dark for most of the winter.
Both permission and easier financing helped make Edmonton's small scale building boom possible. Over 2024-2025, roughly 36% of new small rowhome projects were backed by MLI Select financing. This is comparable to the 39% for Calgary that @marklocki.bsky.social found.
We're continuing to build a record proportion of homes near transit. 38% of homes permitted in Q1 2026 were within 800m of an LRT stop, up from 30% for all of 2025, which was already a record. This will pay dividends for years to come, especially as transit expansion enables more trips car-free.