Approximately 650 members of the Canadian Home Builders’ Association – Calgary Region were out last week to put the shine on the crystal ball and find out where Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s senior market analyst from the Calgary branch sees the economy headed. And it appears Calgary is the place to be. A total of 10,300 new homes should be started this year, according to Richard Cho – the first time starts have been more than 10,000 since 2008. Multi-family starts will be up the most – 4,800 compared to 4,208 last year when the condo market gained strength in the second half. In fact, last December, multi-family starts hit 505, compared to just 153 in December of 2010 – and the majority of those were apartment starts, Cho said. “Foundations were poured for 383 apartment units in December, compared to 16 units in the previous year.” On the permit side, expect that strength to continue. The City of Calgary issued building permits for 3,412 apartments in 2011, some of which were high-rise towers, which have been absent in the marketplace as builders worked to reduce elevated inventories. However, it should be noted that permits are only a builder’s intentions to build, and not actual starts. Single-detached starts should reach 5,500, up from 5,084 in 2010, Cho said. On the resale side, CMHC predicts that total sales will only record a slight increase from an estimated 22,468 to 22,700 this year and the average price will go up to $411,000 from approximately $402,848 last year.