As Calgary considers a bid for the 2026 Olympics, it will likely find no stronger booster than the city's real estate industry

The prospect of hosting another Olympics is undoubtedly creating a lot of a buzz in Calgary and the city has no bigger booster of the cause than its real estate industry.

The City officially announced last month that an exploratory committee (www.shouldcalgarybid.com) is investigating whether Calgary should bid to host the 2026 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games.

While there's no guarantee the City will actually go through with it, hosting the Winter Games for a second time could be a boon for Calgary's real estate market.

Vancouver-based developer encouraged by uptick in luxury home sales

Vancouver-based developer Concord Pacific says it is encouraged by the Calgary market. Sales of its Eau Claire luxury condo tower, The Concord, have hit 67 per cent.

"It's coming out of the ground. We're pouring the P1 (parking) level and you have to understand that this parkade has never been done in North America by anybody. Nobody has ever done nine-to-13-foot ceilings on four levels of parkade. This is a unique situation," said Grant Murray, senior vice-president of sales for Concord Pacific.

Murray says that coupled with the flood mitigation work that took an extra year to design into the base of the building, it was pivotal to do it right. By Easter, he says, they should be at podium level and the completion is expected to be December 2018.

Edmonton's Rohit Communities see opportunity for growth in Calgary's northeast

 An Edmonton-based housing and land development company making its initial foray into Calgary sees opportunity for growth as the city's struggling economy continues to strengthen.

This summer, Rohit Communities will begin construction of 110 townhouses, named Essential Savanna, on 3.6 acres in the master-planned northeast community of Savanna by Genstar Development Company.

Possessions are expected to begin early next year, said David Allen, regional manager for the Calgary division of Rohit Communities.

Major condo developer is making big investments in the Calgary and Edmonton markets

This year, Brad Lamb will finish one condo project and start construction on another, while purchasing two other substantial parcels of land in Calgary's downtown core.

To say the Toronto developer, president of Lamb Development Corp., is confident in the city – and Alberta's real estate future – may be an understatement.

Lamb has been a fixture in the real estate industry for 30 years. His company has more than 20 projects, worth an estimated $2 billion, in various stages of development in five cities – Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto, Ottawa and Hamilton.

New homes in West Calgary are expected to have strong consumer appeal

Aleem Dhanani knows the land development industry, particularly on the west side of Calgary, where Bri-mor Developments has been working for the past decade.

But he also knows the value of forming strategic partnerships. As managing director of the family-owned 25-year-old Bri-mor Developments, Dhanani wasted little time in recruiting Albi Luxury by Brookfield Residential, Cedarglen Homes, and Streetside Developments as builder partners in Bri-mor's latest residential development, which is reshaping the west-side community of West Springs.

New mobile-friendly Home Buyer's Guide helps educate and protect Alberta consumers

A new resource from the Real Estate Council of Alberta provides a step-by-step guide to anyone thinking of buying a home in Alberta.

The Home Buyer's Guide, located online at www.homebuyersguidealberta.ca, gives Albertans a perspective unique to the province. Featuring a wealth of information and advice, it provides helpful tips on everything from determining if you can afford to buy, to finding a real estate professional, to what to expect on possession day.

January market improves over last year

At 4,112 total units, January's inventory was 18 per cent below last year's levels, according to CREB®, which released its monthly housing summary today.

"While housing conditions continue to favour buyers, a slow transition toward more balanced conditions is helping to ease downward pressure on home prices," said CREB® chief economist Ann-Marie Lurie. "Conditions have improved over last year, but people need to remember that last year's market was one of the weakest on record. Despite the appearance of a major shift in activity, the transition in the housing market is going to be a slow process."

Front verandas bring the elegance of the southern lifestyle to Calgary

Hughues Lefebvre and Rachel Malone enjoy the easy grace and relaxed living that southern architecture inspires.

Rachel grew up in Alabama, sipping lemonade in a rocking chair on the veranda of her family's southern home.

"That's my thing and it's hard to find here in Calgary," said Malone.

How to freshen up houseplants in the shower

Do you have a layer of dust on your indoor plants from the pre-Obama era?

As the sun shines on my plants, I can see it's been too long. If I can write my name on the leaves in dust, I know it's time to send my greenery to the shower.

Light levels are so low in February in Calgary that any extra interference, like dust, slows houseplants down and blocks the already limited light. If leaf tips are browning or whole leaves yellowing, the plant is probably cutting its losses by getting rid of the lazy leaves that are too shaded to give back.

In nature, regular rains wash leaves clean, but in your apartment or house, plants need a helping hand.

With new home starts down, inventories are stabilizing

New home construction in the Calgary region continues to be negatively affected by a struggling economy that has slowed down the pace of activity in the past two years – and more of the same is expected this year.

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp's Richard Cho, principal market analyst for Calgary, says the pace of activity was starting to stabilize in the single-detached market as 2016 progressed.

''But on the multi-family side we saw inventory levels steadily rising throughout the year and they're pretty elevated levels for Calgary and they've had an impact on the number of new projects breaking ground last year,'' said Cho.