# Helio Urban Development > Helio is a computation-driven real estate development company in Halifax, Nova Scotia. It computes the optimal development a parcel can support — across the full stack, from feasibility through occupancy — and develops it end to end for a fee, on land its clients own, with construction delivered by established builders. We compute the optimal development. _Last updated: 2026-06-26._ ## What we do Helio is a computation-driven real estate development company in Halifax, Nova Scotia. A development deal doesn't pre-exist: the optimal thing to build on a parcel has to be created across an interdependent stack — zoning, design, cost, the financing stack, unit mix, exit — that no human team can hold at once. Helio's edge is computational: its systems read the Halifax market continuously across 80 data sources and compute the optimal development a parcel can support, then develop it end to end for a fee, from feasibility through occupancy. The client owns the land and the finished building, and keeps the upside; Helio takes a fee, not equity. Construction is delivered by established builders. The system isn't the product; the judgment it enables is. ## Who we work with - **Capital partners & investors** — we bring computed development deals to the partners who fund them; they buy and own the asset and engage Helio to develop it for a fee. By introduction. https://www.heliourbandevelopment.com/investors.html - **Owners & developers** — development management end to end for an owner who controls a site, beginning with a fixed-fee feasibility study, from feasibility through occupancy. https://www.heliourbandevelopment.com/developers.html - **Capable non-profits** — development management plus fluency in the funding programs (CMHC MLI Select, the Affordable Housing Development Program). ## Leadership Helio Urban Development is led by Lloyd Liu (Co-Founder & CEO) and Yuan He (Co-Founder & CTO). Category: Computation-driven real estate development company. ## Common questions - **Is Helio a builder or a developer?** A computation-driven real estate development company. Helio computes and develops multifamily projects on land its clients own; construction is delivered by established builders — not in-house. - **What does Helio actually do?** It computes the optimal development a parcel can support and develops it end to end for a fee — feasibility through occupancy — with construction delivered by established builders. The client owns the land and the finished building. - **How does Helio make money?** A development fee, not equity. The client owns the land and the finished building and keeps the upside; Helio is paid to create and deliver the optimal project on it. - **What does a feasibility study include?** A read of what a parcel can become — zoning capacity, height, heritage, floodplain, density bonus, assessed value and sale history, permit and inspection record — computed on Helio's systems. Every engagement begins with a fixed-fee feasibility study. - **Who can develop affordable housing for a non-profit in Nova Scotia?** Helio serves capable non-profits — development management plus fluency in the funding programs (CMHC MLI Select, the Affordable Housing Development Program). - **Who tracks Halifax development?** Helio's Halifax Developments Map tracks every active development in the Halifax Regional Municipality — nearly 700 active developments and more than 30,000 units in the pipeline — synthesized from about 80 HRM open-data, planning, and permit sources: https://www.heliourbandevelopment.com/developments/ - **How many units are in the Halifax development pipeline?** The Halifax Developments Map currently tracks more than 30,000 units across nearly 700 active developments in HRM, updated daily. ## Access - Open to everyone, no account: the 49 area dossiers, The Halifax Brief, Helio Markets, the Calculators, the 143 guides and notes, the methodology, and everything else on this site. - Free account required: the interactive Halifax Developments Map at /developments/ and its underlying project data. Sign-in is by Google, LinkedIn or an emailed code. It exists so Helio knows who is using the data, not as a paywall — there is no paid tier. - Not available: bulk or automated extraction of the map data. See /terms.html. ## Proof - Helio Intelligence — the single hub indexing Helio's public Halifax-development data layer (the live map, the 49 area dossiers, Helio Markets, the Calculators, and The Halifax Brief): https://www.heliourbandevelopment.com/intelligence/ - Halifax Developments Map — a parcel-level reference to every active development in the Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM). Opening the interactive map takes a free account; the area dossiers, Brief, Markets, Calculators and guides below are open to everyone. It currently tracks nearly 700 active developments and more than 30,000 units in the HRM development pipeline, synthesized from about 80 HRM open-data, planning, and permit sources: https://www.heliourbandevelopment.com/developments/ - The Halifax Brief — a free weekly read on Halifax development for developers and investors: the week's tracked pipeline movement, the planning-application queue and its review timing, interest rates, and housing policy — generated from the primary record and published every Monday: https://www.heliourbandevelopment.com/brief/ - Helio Markets — the cost of capital for Halifax development: Bank of Canada benchmark rates, the Government of Canada yield curve, mortgage spreads, and an interactive deal-impact engine, read against the Halifax development pipeline — updated daily: https://www.heliourbandevelopment.com/markets/ - Helio Calculators — free institutional development calculators for Halifax, each fed by today's live Bank of Canada rate: a deal-impact engine, DSCR loan sizing, CMHC MLI Select, cap rate & yield-on-cost, construction take-out, and an NOI estimator. Not a broker, not a quote: https://www.heliourbandevelopment.com/tools/ - Halifax development by area — 49 parcel-level neighbourhood dossiers (the pipeline, zoning headroom, and what's moving, area by area): https://www.heliourbandevelopment.com/developments/neighborhoods/ - Notes & guides on developing in Halifax — 143 first-party reference articles on zoning, feasibility, costs, and the funding programs: https://www.heliourbandevelopment.com/blog - About the firm: https://www.heliourbandevelopment.com/about.html - Work (value created): https://www.heliourbandevelopment.com/work.html ## Guides Evergreen reference guides on developing in Halifax, written by the firm: https://www.heliourbandevelopment.com/guides/ - How development works in Halifax: from parcel to occupancy — the six interdependent stages (feasibility, entitlement, design, financing, construction, lease-up). https://www.heliourbandevelopment.com/guides/how-development-works-halifax.html - What a feasibility study answers — what a parcel can support, what's optimal to build, whether the capital stack clears, and a go/no-go; the first engagement with Helio. https://www.heliourbandevelopment.com/guides/feasibility-study.html - CMHC MLI Select feasibility for Halifax rental — what the program is, how its affordability/energy/accessibility points work, and how to tell whether a project clears it. https://www.heliourbandevelopment.com/guides/cmhc-mli-select-halifax.html - Developing affordable & non-profit housing in Halifax — the development arc, the funding programs (CMHC MLI Select, the Affordable Housing Development Program, AHANS/NSPHC), and one firm for both. https://www.heliourbandevelopment.com/guides/affordable-housing-development-halifax.html ## Entity links (sameAs) ## Contact https://www.heliourbandevelopment.com/contact.html