Investors see opportunities within local housing market

Within the next six months, 26-year-old Calgarian Chad Kanovsky intends to take the plunge and buy as many as four multi-family units as income-producing investment properties.

The commercial real estate associate already has a stock portfolio, and is looking to diversify by adding local real estate.

Yet Kanovsky, who started working in land development as a teenager for his father's company, is adamant he will not be jumping into any "get-rich-quick" investment.

"I'm not looking to make a million dollars in the next year and then go to Mexico," he said.

Mattamy Homes opens first Calgary net-zero home

Even though it's nearly winter, Calgary just got a little greener.

Mattamy Homes, North America's largest privately owned homebuilder, has opened its first net- zero home in the city.

The first of five such homes set to be added to the northeast community of Cityscape are part of a national project that will double the number of net-zero homes – energy-efficient residences that generate as much energy as they consume on an annual basis – in Canada.

Residential development to continue in northwest

Developers in several northwest communities will finally be able to move forward with construction with news the City of Calgary has begun installing a new sewage pipeline through Bowness.

The two-kilometre Bowness Sanitary Trunk will largely be dug with the help of a German machine which will work "around the clock" to drill a one-metre wide tunnel from 13th Avenue N.W. to Bow Crescent N.W.

Addition of the new line, which is expected to be completed in fall 2016, will allow development that had been on hold due to sewer capacity concerns to move forward in the communities of Bowness, Canada Olympic Park, Crestmont, Greenwood/Greenbriar, Rockyridge, Scenic Acres, Silver Springs, Tuscany, Valley Ridge and Varsity.

City rolls out revised waste diversion targets

The City of Calgary is rolling out revised waste diversion targets after a report labelled the previous targets as "ambitious."

The new goal, which calls for 80 per cent of Calgary's garbage to be diverted from city landfills by the year 2025, replaces the previous goal of 80 per cent by the year 2020.

According to the report's author, City of Calgary waste services planner Dick Ebersohn, the revised goal takes into account information gathered since the initial rollout, thus making it more achievable.

Designed to promote sustainable community

The Town of Cochrane has launched a new campaign that encourages residents to shop local and support the community as a place to live, work and play.

Dubbed Proudly Cochrane, the initiative is designed to highlight the shopping opportunities that exist within the town of more than 20,000 residents, said economic development manager Mike Korman.

"It's really about being proud to come home from wherever we work and to shop at the local stores – (to) just sort of create a little buzz," he said, noting the campaign is supported through the hashtag #shopcochrane on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, as well as via testimonials at www.cochrane.ca/ShopCochrane.

Weak sales activity relative to inventory places downward pressure on prices

Persistently high inventory levels within Calgary's residential resale housing market, combined with weak sales activity, contributed to buyers' conditions in November, according to CREB®'s monthly housing summary, released Tuesday.

Monthly sales totaled 1,263 units, a 28 per cent decline from last year and nearly 20 per cent below the 10-year average.

Meanwhile, the amount of new listings in the market increased by five per cent over last November, and moved five per cent above 10-year average.

Tradition continues thanks to civic and volunteer support

Skating in the great outdoors is as Canadian as hockey sticks and double-doubles – a tradition that is now thriving in Calgary thanks to renewed civic support and the ongoing dedication of community volunteers.

The City of Calgary reports that outdoor skating rinks are experiencing a resurgence in the city, supported by a number of initiatives that encourage communities to take ownership of their facilities.

More than 35 communities have signed up for the Adopt A Rink program this year, where the City provides boards to allow flooding on an ice surface, which is then maintained by community volunteers.

Lanark to house nearly 3,300 residents

Airdrie has approved the first phase of a neighbourhood structure plan in the city's southeast that will be the future home for nearly 3,300 residents.

Dubbed Lanark, the lake community will be located on a 66-hectare parcel of land south of Ravenswood and east of King's Heights and feature more than 1,200 units.

Developer Melcor Development envisions Lanark becoming Airdrie's first fresh-water lake community.

Zoey Duncan is what you might call an engaged citizen. Having showcased her unique commentary on Calgary life through social media and blog zoeywrites.com, it didn't come as a major surprise when she was chosen as the East Village's first resident ambassador.

Having now added the ability to survey city life from high above, CREB®Now caught up with Duncan to find out what's going on in and around Calgary's "oldest newest neighbourhood."

CREB®Now: ?How exactly did you come to have a rent-free condo in the East Village for a year?

Duncan: The Calgary Municipal Land Corp. (the brains behind East Village) began a competition earlier this year in search of an East Village resident ambassador – someone who could see the revitalized neighbourhood through the eyes of a resident and share it with the rest of the world.

From Chaparral to Sage Hill, off-leash areas are becoming more common in Calgary neighbourhoods

A few years ago, Amy Malke bought her first place: a condo downtown, just two blocks from River Park. Although she didn't have a dog at the time, she'd often wander through the off-leash area and dream of having a pup of her own.

That dream was realized much sooner than she'd expected. Six months after moving in, she adopted her beloved Schnauzer, Maximus, from a colleague whose child was allergic. After that, she frequented the park daily — and not just for Max's enjoyment.

"One of my friends calls [the dog park] his third space. There's work, there's home and there's a third space — a place you go to every day or even a few times a week, that's not work or home," she said. "Some people have a coffee shop. Others have church. But for dog people, it's the dog park."