Confidence in Lethbridge’s commercial real estate market is strong, with the city recently ranked by Avison Young as Alberta’s strongest municipal economy for 2017. The Canadian Federation of Independent Business’ latest Top Entrepreneurial Cities Report placed Lethbridge 18th out of 121 centres. Nearly 120,000 residents call the metro Lethbridge area home as of 2016, experiencing a population growth of 10.8 per cent since 2011. The City of Lethbridge has invested in the development of the Crossings, 60 acres of mixed-use land in West Lethbridge hosting large retail footprints. The city recently spent more than $41 million on construction of Phase 1 of the Crossings Leisure Complex. Phase 2 is expected to complete by 2019 and has a budget of nearly $110 million. Commercial building permits in 2016 ballooned to over $102 million. Housing starts grew nearly 11 per cent from 677 units in 2016 to 769 in 2017. The average detached home price in January 2018 was $324,627 – more than $150,000 less than Calgary.
