British Columbia

Commercial real estate construction in Metro Vancouver rose 2.3 per cent in the first quarter (compared with the previous quarter) to $586 million.

Lower Mainland commercial real estate sales in the first quarter (Q1) of this year fell to the lowest level for sales volume in a first quarter since 2009, reports the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver.

With nearly half of the smallest condos in Canada selling out during a one-day sales event in Surrey, the time of the micro-condo appears to have arrived in Metro Vancouver.

The City of New Westminster is about to start charging highrise condo developers a bonus formula of $25 per square foot for the extra space achieved through higher-density zoning.

Commercial real estate construction in Metro Vancouver rose 2.3 per cent in the first quarter, compared to the previous quarter, to $586 million.

The price of a typical detached house on the toney West Side of Vancouver dropped the hardest of 20 communities surveyed in March by the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver. The "benchmark" price of a detached house on the West Side fell 9.

Simple Retirement Plan • Buy house for $700,000 • Pay down mortgage over 10 years to $350,000 • Sell for $1.4 million • Retire.

Judging from leading market reports and analysts focused on Metro Vancouver industrial real estate, it would appear that rabid demand and a looming shortage threaten the entire industrial market.

The BC Environmental Assessment Office has rejected the proposed Raven underground coal mine on Vancouver Island following a review of a 12,000-page application by Compliance Coal Corp.

Three Alberta cities - including the Edmonton bedroom community of St. Albert - are better places to live than Vancouver, according to MoneySense magazine.