Hot coffee and fires in winter good for both gardens and gardeners

If you are not already on a plane to a tropical destination, you are likely staying put this winter with a hot cup of coffee in front of the fireplace.

My friend Brenda McIntyre was doing just that when she sent a text and asked, whether it was alright to put wood ash from her fireplace into the composter?

"Is once-in-a-while OK?" she asked. "Maybe it will balance off all the acidic coffee grounds I add every day? The Calgary soil is higher pH, so is this useful?"

Energy prices influencing choices in Calgary housing market

Jordan Meloches and his fiancée Ashley Hopkins didn't hesitate when they recently purchased a condominium in the northeast community of SkyView Ranch.

In fact, while many Calgarians were dissuaded from entering the resale housing market in January by lingering low oil prices, the couple said the current economic climate was the farthest thing from their minds.

"The market to us now really wasn't a concern. We bought in SkyView, which is still developing, so I think our value will only increase as the land out there develops," said Meloches, who cited the condo's proximity to their work and future potential as a rental property as factors when settling on a decision.

CREB's monthly stats show Calgary sales in January total 880 units, below typical activity
Low oil prices throughout January, combined with a shifting outlook in the energy sector, caused unease for consumers. As a result, monthly housing sales activity fell to levels not seen in five years.

"Economic conditions this year are expected to be weaker than original estimates provided in December 2014," said CREB® chief economist Ann-Marie Lurie.

Local competition to spur creative thinking for underutilized Calgary areas

A local non-profit association is holding a competition in the hopes the lost becomes found again with some of Calgary's less attractive spots.

The Lost Spaces competition – held by d.talks, a grassroots organization dedicated to "fostering collaborative and engaging public conversation about design and the built environment" – is a call for architects, artists, designers, engineers and students to come up with ideas to enhance "under-utilized" pieces of Calgary's urban environment.

"Lost spaces are kind of complicated spaces. They're the kind of remnants ... they're often fairly underutilized and they're complex in the fact where they're situated, how they're situated, in the urban environment," said d.talks co-founder Amery Calvelli.

Attainable Homes Calgary Corp. president David Watson talks new developments and more

Buying a home just got a lot easier for some Calgarians.

Local builder Partners Development Group has committed 10 per cent of its upcoming multi-family homes developments to Attainable Homes Calgary Corp. (AHCC). AHCC is a non-profit organization delivering entry-level homes for Calgarians caught in the affordability gap. Those who qualify can get into the market with a mortgage pre-approval and only $2,000 down.

"We work with AHCC as a way to give back to Calgary, helping more middle-income Calgarians get into home ownership through this socially responsible program," said Greg Gutek, Partners Development Group president and founder. "We're looking at our future Calgary developments to see how we can adjust the design and density to include more attainably-priced homes."

Oil prices to impact commercial, retail and industrial sectors

Declining oil prices are expected to create added challenges for Calgary's commercial market over the next 12 to 24 months, according to a new report from commercial real estate firm Avison Young.

Yet, the report also notes that because the city is home to one of the "most productive and best-paid workforces in the country" where average weekly earnings increased 5.1 per cent year-over-year to August 2014, the long-term outlook for the local business community is still positive.

Today was CREB's economic outlook for 2015 taking a look at all things housing and economy for the year to come. Here's some quotes from keynote speaker Kevin O'Leary, CREB chief economist Ann-Marie Lurie and more.

Read more about the outlook on CREBnow on Friday.

After record setting few years, migrants to Calgary expected to decrease in 2015

After consecutive years of record setting net migration, the number of Canadians making their way to Calgary is expected to ease over the next while.

CREB® chief economist Ann-Marie Lurie said a pullback in in-migration is expected in part due to record setting numbers set in the past few years.

"[2012 and 2013] were extremely strong; we had over 40,000 migrants into the Calgary CMA, so not just the city of Calgary, but surrounding areas. That's a very strong number, that is more than double typical levels," she said.

Tight market should create more buyers in 2015

The city's tight rental market is expected to spur even more Calgarians into becoming homebuyers in 2015.

Impacted by the same market forces that resulted in record home sales and rising prices in 2014, Calgary's rental housing market saw its own banner of sorts last year. With the vacancy rate amongst the lowest in Canada - between one and 1.4 per cent throughout the year – Calgary rents conversely ranked as the highest in all of Canada. According to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. (CMHC), monthly rents for a two-bedroom unit increased by 5.9 per cent over the $1,224 seen in October of 2013 to $1,322 in 2014.

With Calgary's Cycling Strategy Annual Report on the table, some council members expressed concern over a new bike lane on Northland Drive.

Ward 4 Coun. Sean Chu said he's recieved phone calls and emails - though hasn't seen for himself - that because of the layout of the new bike lanes, buses sometimes have to reverse in order to make a turn.

"If we have a specific bicycle engineer, I think this shouldn't happen," he said.