It seems fitting that over the last year Airdrie has grown by roughly one sizeable family every day. Home to just over 17,500 people in 1998, the city has welcomed plenty of new additions over the last 25 years, nearly tripling in size according to the most recent census.

Growing by such leaps and bounds, Airdire has had to adapt from being a small town on the outskirts of Calgary to a full-fledged city with more than enough attractions and amenities to keep the 45,711 residents happy. Over the last year, Airdrie's population grew by 2,556, or seven new residents per day.

With all the amenities of a large city and the small town charm of days gone by; Okotoks has become one of Canada's fastest growing communities.

With a core comprised of Old Towne Okotoks with its kitschy shops and tasty cafés, surrounded by new communities in construction and every amenity imaginable Okotoks is — according to town demographics — the tenth fastest growing community in Canada between 2006 and 2011 with acurrent population of about 24,962.

Home buyers and sellers will enjoy new confidence that the home they buy is sound, if the Government of Alberta follows through on its promise to introduce legislation to augment home warranties this fall.

The new rules, to be tabled at the fall sitting of the legislature, which begins Oct. 23, would make warranties mandatory for all new homes, and also toughen fines for negligent builders. The changes come in the wake of an increase in complaints around the province of condo owners facing hefty repair bills on leaky units.

A 10-year-old Calgary girl has more independence in her home after four local companies banded together in support of the Easter Seals Give a Kid a Lift initiative.

Each year the initiative selects one recipient of a home elevator or lift. This year's recipient was Juliana Alexson who, at eight months old, was diagnosed with cerebral palsy and is wheelchair bound.

Already the focus of plenty of attention, Calgary's thriving real estate market will once again find itself under the spotlight at the 14th annual Calgary Real Estate Forum.

Taking place Oct. 14 at the TELUS Convention Centre, the forum provides insights into one of the hottest markets in Canada.

All REALTORS® are real estate agents. But did you know that not all licensed or registered real estate brokers and salespeople are REALTORS®?

Although many people use the two terms as if they're synonymous, REALTOR® and real estate agent are not interchangeable.

A poll released by BMO Bank of Montreal shows 67 per cent of respondents consider buying property near a post-secondary campus to be a good investment.

Nearly one in 10 Canadians have purchased a property near a college or university because they intend to rent it to students or have their children there during their studies. BMO suggests the willingness to invest in those properties capitalize on post-secondary enrollment that's increased three per cent annually in the last decade.

While they may trail their metropolitan neighbor in stature, Calgary's surrounding communities are no slouch when it comes to sales. Buoyed by affordability, Airdrie, Cochrane and Okotoks all recorded double-digit sales growth in the third quarter and represent nearly half of the sales activity surrounding Calgary.

"We chose Airdrie over Calgary because our money went a lot further when buying a house as far as size and yard," said Jody Paterson, who recently purchased a single-family home in Airdrie with her fiance after living in an apartment in Calgary.

It is already – at least according to its mayor – the biggest town in Alberta, but the stage has been set for the town of Okotoks to grow even larger.

Following much debate and growing pressure, Okotoks town council voted 5-2 in favour of eliminating the town's population cap of 30,000.