It's no surprise that homeownership can create significant financial benefits over time. What's often overlooked is the value of the non-financial advantages – to the individual, their community and society as a whole. In fact, the value of homeownership spans the realms of health, education, and civic and socio-cultural spheres.

Year of Construction: 1912

Address: 802 Prospect Ave. S.W.

Community: Upper Mount Royal

Architectural Style: Georgian Revival

Oddly enough, the most famous owner of this stately brick home in Calgary's upscale Mount Royal neighbourhood never actually lived there. As the house's modern moniker suggests, that owner was R. B. Bennett, Canada's 11^th prime minister and a man who, despite growing up in New Brunswick and spending his final years in England, is indelibly linked with Calgary's history.

Historically low interest rates are helping boost the residential real estate market in Calgary and across the country, with the trend expected to continue throughout 2021.

The Bank of Canada has maintained its overnight rate target at 0.25 per cent, the effective lower bound, and released its updated outlook for the economy and inflation.

After the Duke and Duchess of Sussex announced they planned to call Canada home, Okotoks town council passed a resolution inviting the royal couple to settle in their town.

Since then, however, a viral pandemic and a change of heart on the part of the couple – they are reportedly quarantining in California and have shifted their sights to finding a new home in Malibu – seem to have scuttled the possibility of the royals settling in the Great White North any time soon.

Yet, with all the attractive properties in the Calgary area, the possibilities for Harry and Meghan would have been endless.

Nov. 22 is National Housing Day, a valuable reminder of the urgent need for more affordable housing in and around Calgary.

According to Habitat for Humanity, one in five Canadians is currently living in housing that is unsafe or unaffordable, with Calgary ranking as one of the most difficult cities for low-income earners to live in.

A rising number of homebuyers in Canada are turning to alternative lenders for a mortgage, says the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC).

Mortgage investment corporations (MICs) held between $13 and $14 billion of outstanding mortgages in Canada in 2018, capturing one per cent of the market share, according to a CMHC report.

During the 1990s and early 2000s, a wave of new golf course development swept across Canada, with many of these courses serving as centrepieces for residential communities. Since then, that growth has slowed as golf's popularity has waned. Some of those courses are now closing, opening prime real estate that, in many cases, is being redeveloped into new subdivisions.

The result has been a boon for builders and homebuyers, as land becomes available for new residential development within desirable, well-established communities. However, it has also created resentment among long-time residents of these neighbourhoods, who originally purchased their homes with the golf course as a major selling point.