British Columbia

Mining activity in Canada's north could double in the next decade, says the Conference Board of Canada. But its forecast appears to undervalue current production and is sprinkled with "what ifs" and "maybes.

A decline in ferry traffic is partly to blame for a dismal 2012 for Victoria's hotel industry, which saw the average hotel-room occupancy rate fall to 62 per cent and both room rates and revenue decline, according to Victoria-based Chemistry Consulti

Canadians can still find deals in Phoenix but the window is quickly closing on the bargain-priced, often foreclosed, real estate that characterized Arizona's largest city over the past five years.

High housing prices in Vancouver skew all real estate values: residential properties, for instance, are worth six times that of all the commercial and industrial real estate in the city. Combined.

Intervention by the federal Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions into how federally regulated banks dole out debt has meant a much tougher environment for residential investors.

It now appears increasingly unlikely that neither the $6 billion Enbridge Inc. Northern Gateway pipeline or the expansion of the Kinder Morgan Inc.'s Trans Mountain oil pipeline will be approved in British Columbia.

Fueled by a growing economy, housing sales across B.C. will rise 5.6 per cent this year and accelerate further 6.1 per cent next year, according to the B.C.

Victoria, once the Canadian city with the lowest rental vacancy rate, has seen a sharp increase in vacancies and a flatlining of rent increases over the past year, according to Colliers International.

The closure of six Best Buy stores in B.C.

Noted Vancouver housing analyst Frank Schliewinsky is predicting a near collapse in MLS condominium sales across most of Metro Vancouver this year, with sales falling by as much as 50 per cent from a depressed 2012.