Alberta

Cold Lake is being referred to as the “new Fort McMurray” as rising real estate prices, tight rentals and huge energy project make it characteristic of Alberta’s best known oil town.

Hundreds of investors who are believed to have have lost life savings, retirement funds and investments will be meeting in Calgary on Monday, September 10th, to discuss a class action suit launched against Platinum Equities Inc.

Canadian Apartment Properties Real Estate Investment Trust ("CAPREIT") (TSX:CAR.UN) has bought two apartment properties in Calgary totalling 405 residential suites. The purchase price for the two properties was approximately $68.

Edmonton's new office towers are leasing fast The redeveloped First&Jasper office tower in Edmonton doesn't complete until December, but all 220,000 square feet of its sleek new space has already been leased.

What that will produce in the long-term for the local economy remains to be seen.

JEDI is aiming to attract business with a clear-cut marketing campaign and low-cost land. In the last two years the initiative has completed a growth strategy, a new investment guide and a cheeky guarantee for potential investors.

Calgary's downtown Class A office space now has only a 1.4 per cent vacancy rate, according to a report from Altus Insite, which believes lease rates and property prices are poised to increase.

The average household income last year in Fort McMurray, Alberta was $177,634, according to Statistics Canada. This is 95 per cent higher than the national average and is expected to be even higher in 2012.

A plan for big-box retail development at the base of Canada Olympic Park (COP) slopes has been nixed by the City of Calgary. The proposal, which would have included approximately 22 hectares of land, was voted down by city council in mid-June.

It should be no surprise the last 12 months have brought a bit of a boom back to communities in rural Alberta – at least when one considers the stats in the Energy Resources Conservation Board’s 2011 annual report.