Alberta

Nowadays, a renter's market has moved to a bit of a landlord's market in the Highway 2 corridor's middle point. New industrial shell space leases for $12 to $13 per square foot, and landlords aren't exactly struggling to find tenants.

Vacancy rates for two-bedroom apartments in Fort McMurray have soared to 13.2 per cent – highest in Alberta - according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.(CMHC).

Canadian Apartment Properties REIT (CAPREIT) has bought a portfolio of12 manufactured home parks from Toronto-based Killam Properties Inc. – with a total of 2,032 pads – for $72.3 million, or an average of $35,000 per mobile home pad.

Calgary's redeveloping East Village neighbourhood landed another major score in early May with the announcement by the Calgary Municipal Land Corporation (CMLC) that a deal had been struck to build a 315-room Hilton hotel in the redeveloping area.

Calgarians may think of neighbouring Okotoks as sprawling suburbia, but they shouldn't. That much is clear when you consider the city's status in the eyes of Statistics Canada.

Red Deer continues to enjoy a rebound year in building activity. Building-permit values in the hub of central Alberta hit $72.8 million for the first four months of the year, up about $27.4 million over 2011, or about 60 per cent so far in 2012.

The City of Edmonton is on a mission to find out from residents what they want to see in their new buildings.

Vacancy continues to shrink in Calgary's downtown office-space market. According to the latest downtown report from Colliers International, available space in the city's office core shrunk to 4.

"It was partially to satisfy local demand here, but also part of the strategy to retain people here in the city and attract people to the city." The latest building and development data suggest it might be doing that.

Calgary represents the best commercial real estate market in Western Canada and will set new standards for leases rates this decade, a panel of experts told a NAOIP meeting in Vancouver this month.