Right now, there's no way to describe Canmore's housing market other than "hot."

"I'm always hesitant to use that word because you can't paint everything with the same brush, but the statistics don't lie," said Rob Stevens of RE/MAX Alpine Realty.

Enticing discount mortgage rates have helped put Calgary's detached home market in rare form.

When it comes to crowning Calgary's most eclectic park, it would be tough to top the assortment of activities and opportunities offered at Prairie Winds Park.

Now and then, Calgarians going for a morning walk in their community are stunned to discover that a house on their street has disappeared overnight.

No, the house wasn't whisked away by a tornado like in The Wizard of Oz – it's all part of a a way to "recycle" homes that ends up benefiting landowners in two locations.

When it came time to purchase his first home, finding a neighbourhood with a pulse was at the top of the list for 31-year-old entrepreneur Tyrell Dasilva. Dasilva, who owns several businesses, leads a busy life and wanted to find a home in a walkable community with access to great music venues and quaint mom-and-pop stores. He found it at i.D. Inglewood, a 19-unit, four-storey condominium project located on Ninth Avenue S.E.

Two southeast communities conceptualized in the late '80s and early '90s are still turning heads 20 years later. McKenzie Lake and McKenzie Towne share a lineage and a location: they are both named after one of the first homesteaders in the area, James McKenzie, and they sit side by side on the east and west boundaries of Deerfoot Trail. But that is where the similarities end.

By the end of this year, Calgary's full secondary suite policies will put into play a "gentle density" housing market.
After consulting with community associations and collecting online public feedback, city administrators will send design guidelines for backyard suites to committee and city council for approval.

Lisa Kahn, the City of Calgary's legislation and land-use bylaws co-ordinator, says the new rules will govern how backyard suites look and interact with their communities.

Fifteen years ago, Kari Strutt and her husband, Ken Bagan, came across the southeast community of Willow Park while on a weekend shopping excursion to Southcentre Mall.

"We headed home by way of Willingdon Boulevard and there was a rather homely house for sale," said Strutt. "It was a stucco affair with a partial flat roof, but at 1,300 square feet it felt palatial and affordable. So we bought it."

Perched at the junction of Highways 8 and 22X with a beautiful mountain backdrop, the townsite of Redwood Meadows is attracting young families who want to get away from it all, while staying close enough to the city for a quick commute.