If approved, scheduled for 2018 completion

The City of Calgary has confirmed it has received a building permit application for the proposed 330,000-square-foot recreation centre in the southeast community of Seton.

To be located at 19340 45th St. S.E., the new centre will house a future high school, regional park and the S.E. LRT.

Proposed amenities for the centre include a 50-metre, 10-lane competition pool, water park, leisure pool, hot tubs and steam room, two multi-purpose ice rinks, three gymnasiums with multi-purpose flooring, a running/walking track, fitness centre and 25,000-square-foot library.

Affordable housing advocates bullish on possible changes

By the end of this year, at least 200 middle-income Calgarians will have bought what may have seemed financially impossible in the city's now waning hot economy: their own home.

Another two dozen families will, in 2015, aided by many hours of sweat equity instead of a down payment, have entered home ownership.

Yet these Calgarians, who became homebuyers this year through Attainable Homes Calgary Corporation (AHCC) and Habitat for Humanity, might not be the only ones stepping into a more affordable housing market in the near future.

By December, significant changes are expected to the City of Calgary's administrative policies to make growth in the overall housing market both more efficient and less costly.

Calgary's satellites rank as best places to do business

For the fourth consecutive year, Calgary's satellite communities have been ranked as the top places to do business in Canada.

In its eighth annual Canada's Entrepreneurial Cities report, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) ranked areas around the grouping of municipalities that surround Calgary – including Airdrie, Chestermere and Cochrane – as the best at fostering "entrepreneurial spirit."

Calgary periphery scored 73 out of a possible 100 in the major cities category (population over 150,000), followed by Kelowna (71.4), Edmonton periphery (69.5), Saskatoon (67.7) and Toronto periphery (67.3).

CREB® report singles out changing conditions in apartment sector

Buyer's conditions in the apartment sector are contributing to a continued shift in Calgary's resale residential housing market, which experienced a second consecutive month of price declines in October, according to CREB®.

The local housing agency noted that while overall, new listings in the city did not decline enough to prevent inventory gains and, ultimately, price contractions, the biggest shift continued to occur in the apartment sector.

CREB® chief economist Ann-Marie Lurie noted months of supply in that sector have gone from a low of three months in June to nearly six months in October.

Calgary vacancy rates quadruple from last year: CMHC

Calgary's once-cramped rental market has space to spare, and it could have implications for the city's new and resale home sectors.

In its recent fall rental survey, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation's (CMHC) reported vacancy rates in Calgary's rental sector has nearly quadrupled over the previous year, jumping to 5.3 per cent in October from 1.4 per cent at the same time last year.

"The call volume has dropped off considerably in the last 12 months," said Mainstreet Equity Corp. CEO Bob Dhillon, whose Calgary-based real estate company owns and operates rental properties in the Calgary area, as well as in British Columbia and Saskatchewan.

New feature to join Walk Score on REALTOR.ca

Transit Score will now be made available on select listings on REALTOR.ca, the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) announced recently.

The national real estate agency said the addition is in response to a "demographic and socioeconomic shift toward sustainable transportation." It also noted that in a 2013 Nanos survey, 59 per cent of respondents indicated that the Transit Score would be valuable when assessing listings on REALTOR.ca.

The addition of the Transit Score coincides with the change in the implementation of the already popular Walk Score. Both scores will now be positioned in the new "Walk Score + Directions" tab, rather than at the bottom of the listing details page.

Sales activity remains well below long-term averages  

Elevated inventory levels in October contributed to a second consecutive month of price declines in Calgary's resale residential housing market.

Benchmark prices declined 0.7 per cent from the previous month, and 1.2 per cent from the same time last year, to $453,100.

"Persistent weakness in the overall economy continued to impact housing demand in Calgary as October sales were nearly 16 per cent below long-term averages," said CREB® chief economist Ann-Marie Lurie. "In addition, new listings did not decline enough to prevent inventory gains and, ultimately, price contractions."

City seeks regulatory direction on ride-sharing service

The City of Calgary has been conducting a covert operation to catch local drivers subscribing to the controversial Uber ride-sharing app.

The news, reported by several new agencies Friday, came shortly after City staff presented a report to the Taxi and Limousine Advisory Committee that asked for input on how to regulate private for-hire transportation companies.

City administration will present those options to council in mid November on ways to regulate private for-hire transportation companies.

New initiative highlights growing housing concern

The City of Calgary has embarked on a three-year strategy to develop a more "age-friendly" city in light of some estimates that have the local senior population nearly doubling within the next decade.

Dubbed the Seniors Age-Friendly Strategy, the plan calls for the creation of community networks focused on issues such as housing, transportation and mobility.

Proposed actions include increasing the provincial standard for provincially funded affordable housing from 10 to 15 per cent, advocating for sustainable provincial funding for the development of new affordable housing and introducing a Land Use Bylaw Amendment to allow for more secondary suites.

Developer hands keys over to community 

Nearly two decades after it was first constructed, Panorama Hills' e-Community Centre is officially being handed over to the community in which it resides.

Genstar Development Co., the developer behind the northeast Calgary community, will turn over ownership of the two-and-a-half hectare private park to the Northstar Residents' Association, by way of a volunteer board of directors, on April 1, 2016.

The ownership change was part of a long-term plan after Genstar built the facility in the late 1990s. The developer agreed to maintain and operate the facility before handing over control to the Northstar Residents Association, which encompasses residents in Panorama Hills and neighbouring Hanson Ranch.

The original agreement had the cutover occurring on or before April 1, 2026.