British Columbia

Metro Vancouver's office market is posting an 8.4 per cent vacancy rate, up from 6.9 per cent a year ago, as rising subleases and new suburban construction adds to the inventory of vacant space.

Canadian investors are finding super low house prices in Phoenix, Arizona, and experts say rising foreclosures will keep prices low for some time.

Experts and industry watchers come at the question from every possible angle, but the underlying theme, the common thread uniting them all, is the belief the market of 2010 remains solid for the long-term investor.

Vancouver developer Howard Meakin hopes to "kick-start" waterfront development in Mission with a restaurant, marina and floatplane dock.

The new U.S.-based owners of the Dawson Mall in Dawson Creek are giving the run-down facility a $10 million facelift. "The centre has been in disregard for years," Milestone Communications Leonard Forkas Jr. CEO said.

Canada's leading shopping-centre developer is making big moves in the Lower Mainland with eyes on what will be a first for the company: mixed-use projects. On June 30, Toronto-based First Capital Realty Inc.

The first six-storey residential wood-frame building in B.C. has broken ground in Richmond. Work on Remy, a 188-unit affordable housing project designed by Patrick Cotter Architect Ltd., started in June.

The overall Metro Vancouver office vacancy rate is among the lowest in North America and the second lowest in Western Canada, behind smaller Regina and tied with Winnipeg.

In developments that could shake and shape northwestern Canada ports from Prince Rupert. B.C. to Churchill, Manitoba the first tankers and bulk carriers have begun crossing the fabled Northwest Passage between Asia and Europe.

Responsible for 2,000 direct and indirect jobs, the school is an important economic engine in the community and is proving a catalyst for new development both on surrounding properties and throughout the city.