With reports predicting doom and gloom for much of the Canadian housing market, Calgary continues to chug along, and should continue to be one of the country's top performers in 2013.

According to BMO's first housing panel of the year, the word is Calgary will continue to buck national trends while the rest of Canada will experience a "soft landing" after a decade long boom.

Originally individual town sites, the Calgary communities of Bowness and Montgomery today have become two of the city's most established neighbourhoods.

In 1911, when entrepreneur John Hextall registered subdivision plans for the framework of a village along the banks of the Bow River, little did he know that village would become one of Calgary's most beloved communities.

Renters who are caught between escalating rates and declining inventory are turning to home ownership as a better alternative.

Amy Gregson found the rental market too tight, and decided when she graduated from university in 2009 to buy a home along with her boyfriend Brian Ball.

"We would rather put our money towards something we own than towards something someone else owns," said Gregson, who lived at home after graduating to save money to put towards a home. The couple recently purchased a newly built home in New Brighton.

In a report of Canada's top 100 neighbourhoods by RE/MAX, the Calgary community of Bowness took the number one spot for Alberta.

The community was cited for its mix of multi-family and singlefamily homes costing an average of $449,260. With a population of just over 100,000 people and a vacancy rate of 1.9 per cent Bowness includes elementary and secondary schools as well as shopping amenities and Bowness Park.

According to a Calgary Housing Company poll, 84 per cent of Calgarians supported the development of new secondary suites.

After falling short of his goal of legalized secondary suites across the city last year, Mayor Naheed Nenshi is making another attempt at pushing the issue forward.

In a year-end interview on CTV, Mayor Nenshi said that finding a more tenable resolution to the issue is still an important goal.

There is probably a marijuana grow-op in your Calgary neighbourhood, no matter where you live, according to police statistics. Pam Lavers, a resident of Edgemont, has faced this issue not once but three times.

Lavers discovered a house in her neighbourhood had been a meth lab and then became a marijuana grow-op on two separate occasions. It was owned by someone who lives outside of Canada, making it difficult to hold the owner accountable for the illegal activity going on inside.