It's the end of an era. Within the next five years Canada Post is planning on phasing out home delivery, which means an end to the friendly neighbourhood mailman, making door-todoor delivery of mail to urban residents a thing of the past.

Moving away from home delivery, Canada Post will be eliminating 6,000 to 8,000 positions in the next five years, but they are expecting that 15,000 workers will retire or leave the company in that time frame.

The price of a new home in Calgary continues to climb.

The latest numbers from Statistics Canada show the price of a new home in the city increased by 6.1 per cent over the last year.

It is going to prove difficult for city council to move away from the annual five per cent property tax increases in its next multi-year budget.

Mayor Naheed Nenshi and councillors will be setting tax rates and service level increases for the next four years in summer and fall 2014. The city's projections show that the fiveper cent tax increases will be needed in 2015 and 2016 to keep up with their costs.

For a year that began with cautious optimism, 2013 is going to end as year of confidence.

Following a year that saw sales in Calgary increase by nearly 15 per cent, the forecast for 2013 called for a slight increase in sales, with MLS®c transactions expected to top 21,650. With just a few days left in the year, this year's sales in Calgary exceeded expectations.

A survey, commissioned by Oxford Properties and conducted by Environics Research Group showed that Canadians value a reasonable commute to work.

The average national time it takes to drive to work is 29 minutes, in Calgary the average commuting time is 27 minutes.

An undercover investigation conducted by Service Alberta has resulted in charges to seven Alberta contractors.

The investigation, which occurred between Aug. 19 and Sept. 5, saw 13 contractors in Edmonton and 11 in Calgary which resulted in seven contractors being charged with 11 counts under the Fair Trading Act. Some contractors may see administrative monetary penalties as well.

Calgary has taken the title of the strongest major housing market in the country. BMO Economics released a report Canadian Housing Update: Tale of Four Cities which examined the state of housing markets in four Canadian cities.

Calgary's housing market was strong and now has shown the fastest growth in 15 years out of Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal.

Calgary's condo market continues to chug along.

In November, combined condominium (townhome and apartment) sales numbers topped those seen the previous year. The trend is one that has continued throughout 2013, with 11 straight months of year-over-year sales growth.

Looking to 2014, Calgary's housing market is expected to continue growing, with sales and prices going up.

CREB®'s chief economist, Ann-Marie Lurie said that sales growth in the city is expected to be 3.6 per cent and prices are expected to increase 4.3 per cent.