Varsity is an established community with a lot to offer, which explains why nobody wants to leave.

Residents of this northwest neighbourhood generally stay put until the kids leave the nest and it's time to downsize.

"It is time to SHIFT or get off the pot!" That's the call to action Pathways 2 Sustainability – Alberta's Sustainable Communities Initiative – has issued in advance of its upcoming conference, SHIFT, which takes place June 15-17 at the St. Louis Hotel in Calgary's East Village.

SHIFT promises attendees an opportunity to "Experience the Future of Calgary – the SHIFT to a resilient society and new economy and what it means for our city."

"We have a changing political landscape in Alberta and Canada that's moving to adopt climate resilience in the ways in which we build, design and manage communities and community systems, including food systems, energy systems and transportation systems," said SHIFT co-ordinator and Pathways 2 Sustainability executive director, Lisa Fox.

Selling a home can be a complicated process and if you've never worked with a real estate expert before, you may wonder about benefits of doing so. Andrew Peck, president of the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) shares his thoughts on five benefits a REALTOR® provides to home sellers. Their number one goal is to make real estate transactions as simple and easy as possible for their clients.

Launched in 2007, the Waterfront development has been ten years in the making with plenty more to come

The Waterfront development, an 11-building project, has become a landmark in downtown Calgary for Vancouver-based developer Anthem.

Elva Kim, vice-president of sales and marketing for Anthem, says five buildings have been completed now with close to 630 units just east of Eau Claire Market and along the Bow River.

"It's great. It's absolutely a landmark development for Anthem, both in terms of product, timing and location," said Kim.

New energy savings programs set to save Albertans money

Saving money and energy in your home has just gotten a whole lot easier.

The province has announced details of energy savings programs aimed directly at all Alberta residents, whether they are homeowners, renters, or businesses.

Major infrastructure and landscaping changes pave the way for Currie development

A new, major interchange is in full operation, with infrastructure built and the next stage of the massive Currie mixed-use development ready for launch.

"Last year we were focused on infrastructure. We started and completed the Flanders Avenue interchange," said Chris Elkey, senior director, real estate, Canada Lands Company (CLC), which is overseeing the project. "So that opened last fall. We had a big community event and it was a big success. It's operating. We're going to do the landscaping on it this year but for all intents and purposes it's opening and operating as it was designed to do."

Local company eyes future shipping container developments in Calgary

They travel across the ocean from Asia all the way to Canada and, until recently, these steel shipping containers were considered surplus.

If a local company gets its way, however, these re-purposed shipping containers could provide part of the solution to affordable and special needs housing demands in Calgary.

"We are currently looking at a couple of different projects in Calgary," said Rhys Kane, director of business development for Ladacor Advanced Modular Systems. "They would be multi-family apartments and seniors' independent-living projects of six- to eight-storeys."

Beyond beautification, trees provide a bevy of benefits for urban dwellers

Even before the turn of the century, early civic leaders envisioned Calgary as an urban oasis, with broad tree-lined streets connecting numerous parks. In 1894, the City of Calgary started planting trees along major boulevards in the city, beginning the effort to create an urban forest that continues today.

But aside from beautification, what's the point of an urban forest?

Market conditions and low dollar could entice foreign buyers to Calgary

While those in the real-estate industry agree that Calgary is not yet a top destination for international buyers, others feel optimistic that foreign buyers will want to call Calgary home.

"There is a steadily growing minority who are very interested in Calgary," said Charles Pittar, CEO of Juwai, China's largest international-property website.

"Because Calgary is a relatively small city, even if it wins just a tiny share of the buyers that have been going to other parts of North America, it would reap huge benefits."

The emphasis is on the "if."

Record vacancy rates predicted to trend upwards

Commercial real estate felt the pinch of a slumping economy in 2016 and Calgary's suburban office market was no exception.

From headleases – between a landlord and a tenant – to subleases – where a tenant puts some of their excess space on the market – commercial real estate outside the core had its challenges.

"A significant amount of very, very large blocks of vacancies are available on the sublease market and the headlease market, for that matter, and we have not seen a great number of tenants going in to take those spaces,'' said John Savard, principal, office leasing specialist with Bedrock Realty Advisors Inc.