My Last news and Updates
Construction, design, business development and international projects. Here I share ideas, experiences and insights from my work between Europe, the Canary Islands and beyond.
Calgary Suburbs Growth: Where the Region Is Really Expanding
Calgary just posted the fastest population growth of any major metro area in Canada — but the most important part of that story isn’t happening inside the city. Calgary suburbs growth is quietly redrawing the map of the region, pulling tens of thousands of new residents into the collar towns of Airdrie, Cochrane, Okotoks and..
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Calgary vs Edmonton Property Tax 2026: Lower Rate, Bigger Bill
0.63% vs 0.76%. Those are the 2026 residential property tax rates in Alberta’s two biggest cities — and they hide a trap. When you compare Calgary vs Edmonton property tax, Calgary has the lower rate, yet the typical Calgary homeowner writes a bigger cheque to the city than their Edmonton counterpart. Same province. Lower rate. Higher bill. All three..
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Alberta Construction Market 2026: Why Growth Is Shifting, Not Slowing
If you only read the residential headlines, you might conclude that the Alberta construction market in 2026 is cooling. Housing starts are down from the record set in 2025, and both Calgary and Edmonton are building fewer homes than a year ago. But the data behind those headlines tells a more useful story. Construction activity..
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Alberta Industrial Heartland: The $80B Construction Opportunity
Alberta’s Industrial Heartland, northeast of Edmonton, is one of the largest concentrations of industrial capital in North America. Around $50 billion is already invested there, about $30 billion more is under construction, and the region is expected to reach roughly $80 billion in total investment by the early 2030s. Most of the coverage frames this..
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Edmonton vs Calgary Real Estate: The $195K Gap in 2026
In June 2026 the average home price in Calgary was about $659,400; in Edmonton it was about $464,900, according to Sagen’s Alberta housing market update. That is a gap of nearly $195,000 inside the same province. With Edmonton now attracting more interprovincial migrants than Calgary, the obvious question is what these different price levels mean..
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Edmonton Overtakes Calgary in Interprovincial Migration: What It Means for Construction
For years, Calgary was the default answer to the question of where Canadians were moving within Alberta. That changed in the most recent annual data. According to Statistics Canada figures summarised by StrategyCorp, Edmonton recorded 11,742 net interprovincial migrants between July 1, 2024 and July 1, 2025, overtaking Calgary’s 11,195 to become the leading destination..
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Alberta Construction Market: Why -5% Hides CA$13B
Alberta Construction Market: Why -5% Hides CA$13 Billion The Alberta construction market is sending two signals at the same time, and most people are only reading one of them. In March 2026, CMHC reported 46,064 annualized housing starts across the province — down 5% year over year. In July, Meta broke ground northeast of Edmonton..
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Alberta Population Growth 2026: Canada Shrank, Alberta Didn’t
In the first quarter of 2026, Canada’s population shrank. Statistics Canada estimated a decline of 55,025 people, about 0.1%, to 41,417,056 on April 1, 2026. Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia each fell by about 0.2%. Alberta grew by about 0.2%, reaching 5,057,077 residents, and was the only one of Canada’s four largest provinces to grow..
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Calgary Office Vacancy: Why It Won’t Fix Itself
Calgary’s downtown office vacancy has been falling. But a large part of the improvement is not coming from tenants returning. It is coming from removing office buildings from the market. Through the city’s Downtown Office Conversion Program, 21 incentivised projects are converting about 2.68 million square feet of office space into roughly 2,667 homes, according..
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Why Canada Risks Losing Entrepreneurs in 2026: The Start-Up Visa Pause Explained
Trade tensions with the United States have pushed many founders and companies to rethink where they build their businesses. For Canada, that could be an opportunity to attract entrepreneurs looking for stability and access to North American markets. Yet in 2026, Canada’s main dedicated pathway for immigrant founders is closed while a replacement is designed…
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Calgary Office Conversion: Why 13 of 21 Funded Projects Are Not Yet Delivered
Calgary’s downtown has been one of Canada’s most closely watched office markets for a decade. With a large share of its downtown office space vacant after the oil price collapse of 2014, the city launched the Downtown Office Conversion Program to turn obsolete office buildings into homes, hotels and other uses. Five years into a..
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Alberta Construction Labour Shortage: Who Will Build the Pipeline?
When Meta confirmed its $13 billion data centre near Edmonton in July 2026, the headlines focused on investment. Few asked who is going to build it. That one project needs more than 3,000 construction workers at peak. It will compete for the same electricians, pipefitters, ironworkers and equipment operators as hospitals, schools, energy projects and..
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Meta’s $13 Billion Data Centre in Alberta: What It Signals for Construction
In July 2026 Meta confirmed its first Canadian data centre, in Sturgeon County north of Edmonton, with an investment of more than $13 billion, excluding computing equipment and the power plant. It is a major project by any standard: over 3,000 construction jobs at peak, about 300 permanent jobs and a campus that will draw..
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Alberta Construction Is Rotating: Where Demand Is Moving in 2026
If you only track Alberta’s residential slowdown, you are watching the wrong market. Housing starts in the province are falling from their 2025 record, but construction demand has not disappeared. It is moving. Capital, crews and civil capacity are shifting from housing toward power, industrial and institutional work: hospitals and schools, energy infrastructure, data centres..
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Construction Rework Costs: Why Coordination, Not Labour, Is the Real Bottleneck
On a $50 million project, a conservative rework rate of 5% means $2.5 million spent doing work twice. That is why I do not think labour is the only bottleneck in construction. Labour shortages are real, but even when crews are available, projects lose time and money when the information that guides them is incomplete,..
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Calgary Condo vs Detached: Why Families Keep Choosing the House
A $300,000 condo or a $740,000 detached house: many families in the Calgary region keep choosing the more expensive option. Most people read Calgary’s falling condo prices as a sign of a weak market. It is better understood as a product problem. The condominium supply being built is often not the product that families, who..
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Alberta Construction Procurement Is Shifting: Here’s What Wins
Procurement is changing how construction projects in Alberta and across Canada are delivered, and many developers and contractors are still organised for the old system. Traditional lowest-bid, fixed-scope procurement remains common, but on complex projects it keeps producing the same results: delays, change orders and disputes that consume the margin everyone fought to win. Owners..
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Seattle Construction Restart After the World Cup Pause: Why Remobilisation Is the Risk
During the 2026 FIFA World Cup, the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) paused most construction in the public right-of-way from June 8 to July 7, 2026. Projects with Street Use permits in the downtown core, near the stadiums and on transit routes citywide had to stop work that restricted mobility and clear the right-of-way by..
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National Housing Starts Fall 5.2% in May 2026: What the Regional Data Means for Alberta
On June 15, 2026, CMHC reported that actual housing starts in Canadian centres with populations of 10,000 or more fell 5.2% year over year in May, to 22,633 units. Many readers will take that headline to mean residential construction is slowing everywhere at the same pace. It is not. The disaggregated data show sharp regional..
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Texas Housing Market 2026: Austin vs Dallas, Decoded
Many people describe the 2026 Texas housing market as a slowdown. The data tell a more nuanced story. Sales are rising, but prices are soft, and the two biggest metros are sending different signals. According to the Texas A&M Real Estate Research Center, statewide home sales in June 2026 were up 8.6% year over year,..
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Fort Worth Real Estate: Reading the Texas A&M Campus Demand Wave
On August 5, 2026, Texas A&M University-Fort Worth opened its first academic building in downtown Fort Worth and broke ground on the next phase of the campus. When fully built, the Texas A&M-Fort Worth district is projected to support more than 25,000 direct and indirect jobs and generate more than $3 billion in annual economic..
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King County Condo Market 2026: Why Weak Pro Formas Break
Many condominium and townhouse pro formas in King County, Washington, were built for a market that no longer exists. In spring 2026 the Seattle area recorded some of the sharpest price softening among major US markets, with inventory rising quickly. But the county-wide headlines hide what matters most for builders and infill developers: the difference..
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Construction Budget Overruns Start Before the Site: The Estimate Accuracy Problem
A construction budget does not break in the field. It breaks in the weeks before the field, when the estimate is prepared, the scope is written and the assumptions are locked. When the overrun appears on site, everyone points at the crew or the contractor. But the overrun was only reported on site. It was..
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Alberta P3 Infrastructure Financing: What European Developers Need to Know
Alberta is planning record levels of public infrastructure spending while looking for new ways to pay for it. Budget 2026 includes a $28.3 billion capital plan for 2026 to 2029. In January 2026, the Canadian Council for Public-Private Partnerships (CCPPP) urged the province to expand the use of P3s, and on June 23, 2026, Municipal..
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Construction Feasibility Checklist: Are Your Numbers Built for Today’s Alberta Market?
The question is not whether Alberta is growing. It is whether your project’s numbers were built for the market that exists now, not the one from 18 months ago. Since 2024, construction costs have risen, tariffs have affected metals, interest rates have moved, population growth has slowed and absorption has changed by segment. A feasibility..
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Trade Coordination in Alberta Construction: Why It Is the Real Risk in 2026
Alberta’s construction industry is busy. ICBA reports about 248,400 people working in construction in the province and a major projects inventory of roughly $166 billion. BuildForce Canada’s latest outlook expects the workforce to keep growing, with record apprenticeship registrations and more women and newcomers entering the trades. Yet on many job sites the biggest risk..
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Alberta Construction 2026: ICI Growth vs Residential Moderation
Alberta’s construction market is not slowing down. It is rotating. After a residential boom that set a provincial record of 54,858 housing starts in 2025, new housing construction is moderating while industrial, commercial and institutional (ICI) building is accelerating. For developers, contractors and investors, the key question in 2026 is no longer whether Alberta is..
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Alberta’s 2026 Capital Plan: Execution Is the Real Competitive Advantage
Alberta’s Budget 2026 includes a $28.3 billion capital plan for 2026 to 2029, $2.2 billion more than the previous budget. It allocates $4.9 billion to health care capacity, $3.3 billion to schools, $2.7 billion to provincial highways and bridges, $7.1 billion to municipal infrastructure and $4.2 billion to maintenance and renewal of existing assets. For..
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Construction Project Managers in Alberta: The Execution Gap Behind Open Jobs
Job boards in Alberta regularly list hundreds of openings for construction project managers, site superintendents and project coordinators. Federal labour market data rate prospects for construction managers in Alberta as good for 2025 to 2027, with about 22,400 people working in the occupation and new openings coming from both employment growth and retirements. That is..
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Alberta’s Construction Pipeline: Are You Positioned to Capture It?
Alberta’s construction pipeline is large by any measure. ICBA’s Winter 2026 Construction Monitor estimates the value of major projects in the province at about $166 billion, with roughly $71 billion under construction. Industry estimates of capital projects across all stages run even higher. The province is pursuing a $100 billion data centre target, energy and..
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Feasibility Studies in Alberta: Why One Cost Scenario Is Not Enough
Most feasibility studies I review for Alberta projects share a hidden weakness: they are built on a single cost assumption. One construction budget, one sales price, one absorption rate, one outcome. When costs move, and in 2026 they do, that single scenario stops being a plan and becomes a liability. This article explains why single-scenario..
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Alberta Construction 2026: Starts Fall, Crews Stay Busy. What It Means
Alberta’s construction data in spring 2026 looked contradictory at first glance. Housing starts were falling sharply: ATB Financial reported that April starts ran at an annual pace of 38,539 units, the lowest in two years, with year-to-date starts down 23% from 2025. Yet construction employment in the province was growing, crews remained busy and large..
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Alberta Real Estate 2026: Why Product Mix Beats Market Volume
Imagine two developers in the same month of 2026, one in Toronto and one in Calgary. Both see the same national slowdown signal. Their risk profiles could not be more different. In Ontario and British Columbia, presales have stalled, high-rise projects are on hold and developer margins are under heavy pressure. Alberta is having a..
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Large-Scale Project Management in Alberta: Systems Built for Multi-Phase Delivery
Alberta is no longer just building houses one lot at a time. Multi-phase master-planned communities, large purpose-built rental portfolios, institutional projects and data centres are reshaping the province’s construction pipeline. In December 2024 the provincial government set a target of attracting $100 billion in data centre investment within five years, and large technology projects have..
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Canada’s Housing Execution Gap: Why Job Sites Slow Down Delivery
Canada needs far more homes than it is building. In June 2025, CMHC estimated that the country would need up to 4.8 million additional homes over the next decade, roughly 430,000 to 480,000 starts a year, to restore affordability to pre-pandemic levels. In 2025 Canada started 259,028 homes, and CMHC’s 2026 outlook expects starts to..
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Alberta Housing Starts 2026: What the CMHC Forecast Really Means for Developers
In May 2026, CMHC reported that housing starts in Canada jumped 17% in April, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 279,317 units. Two months later, its mid-year Housing Market Outlook forecast that new construction will keep declining until at least 2028. Both numbers are real. They simply measure different things, and developers in Alberta..
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Real Estate Feasibility in Alberta: Where Projects Lose Money Before Construction
Most real estate developers in Alberta are not losing money on site. They are losing it 12 to 18 months earlier, during feasibility, and do not know it yet. By the time construction starts, the decisions that determine the project’s margin have already been made: the product, the unit mix, the price assumptions, the schedule..
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When to Stop a Construction Project Before It Starts
The budget was approved. The site was available. The client was ready to start. I still recommended not to proceed. In my assessment I added one line to the project risk register: Condition: project scope unclear Probability: confirmed Impact: high Owner: developer and project manager Status: invisible to the team Next step: do not proceed..
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Alberta Wages vs House Prices: The Affordability Gap Developers Must Model
For a generation, Alberta’s economic story was simple: higher wages than the rest of Canada and more affordable homes. In 2013, average wages in the province were as much as 17% above the national average. By 2024 that premium had shrunk to about 2%. Meanwhile, home prices in Calgary have moved closer to national levels…
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Alberta Construction Market 2026: Why Pre-Construction Discipline Wins
Alberta housing starts are cooling from their 2025 record. ATB Financial expects about 45,000 starts in 2026, down from 54,858, and builder confidence across Canada has fallen. Many people read that as a weak market. I don’t. I added a new line to the risk register I use to assess projects in 2026: Condition: Alberta..
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The Drawing Was Perfect: Why the Design-to-Site Handoff Fails
In the meeting room, the project was solid. Clear drawings, approved plans, everyone aligned. Three weeks into construction, trades were working from different drawing versions, requests for information were piling up and the project manager was firefighting instead of managing. The drawings had not changed. The execution had. This gap between design completion and site..
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Alberta Real Estate Market 2026: Ownership Slows, Rental Holds, Renovation Rises
A year ago, every conversation about Alberta construction started with groundbreakings, cranes and record pipelines. In 2026 the same people are asking different questions. Condo presales have slowed, unsold inventory has grown in some segments and builder confidence across Canada has fallen to historic lows. At the same time, rental demand remains solid and renovation..
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Calgary or Edmonton in 2026? Choosing the Right City for Your Project
Calgary or Edmonton? For developers and investors looking at Alberta in 2026, it is one of the most common questions, and the honest answer is: it depends on what you are building and for whom. A year ago both cities were riding the same wave of record housing starts. Today they tell different stories, and..
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Alberta Housing Affordability 2026: Why Affordable Doesn’t Mean Feasible
Alberta remains one of the most affordable major housing markets in Canada. In RBC Economics’ latest affordability report, covering the second quarter of 2026, owning a home at market prices in Calgary required 41.3% of a typical household’s income and in Edmonton 36.8%. In Toronto the figure was 64.1% and in Vancouver 83.9%. For developers..
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Alberta Market Indicators Developers Should Track in 2026
Alberta’s construction and real estate market has changed from a market where almost everyone won to a selective one. In 2025 the province set a new housing starts record with 54,858 units. In 2026 starts are forecast to fall to about 45,000, inventory has grown in some segments, buyers have more negotiating power and builders..
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Missing Middle Housing in Alberta: 70% of 2025 Starts Were Multi-Unit
Alberta recorded 54,858 housing starts in 2025, a provincial record. Many people read that number as a single-family housing boom. It was not. According to ATB Financial’s analysis of CMHC data, 70% of the province’s 2025 starts were multi-unit dwellings: apartments, rowhouses, multiplexes and other attached forms. That is the highest share on record and..
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Canary Islands Holiday Rental Law 2026: What Owners and Developers Need to Know
In December 2025 the Canary Islands approved a new law on holiday rentals: Ley 6/2025, de 10 de diciembre, de Ordenación Sostenible del Uso Turístico de Viviendas. On paper, the rules are clear. In practice, months later, many owners, developers and property managers still do not know what they can do with a specific property..
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As-Built Surveys for Renovations: Why Budgets Fail Without Accurate Site Data
Renovations and commercial fit-outs have a reputation for going over budget and over schedule. The usual suspects are hidden damage, slow trades and indecisive clients. But in most projects I have reviewed, the real cause was decided before the first tool was picked up: the design and the budget were based on information about the..
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Estadio de Gran Canaria Renovation: Why Technical Specifications Decide Major Tenders
The renovation of the Estadio de Gran Canaria, home of UD Las Palmas and one of Spain’s candidate venues for the 2030 FIFA World Cup, has become a case study in how large public construction contracts succeed or stall. In less than six months the project went from a €174.7 million tender with no bidders,..
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Building Permits Up 9.8%, Construction GDP Down 0.6%: Reading Canada’s Q4 2025 Data
At the end of 2025, two Canadian construction indicators moved in opposite directions. Building permit values jumped 9.8% in the fourth quarter, the strongest quarterly gain since 2021. In the same quarter, real construction GDP fell 0.6%, its first decline after six consecutive quarters of growth. Many headlines read the permit number as a boom..
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Eros Belotti 01.
Eros belotti
Construction project manager with over 20 years of experience in Europe and the Canary Islands. Specialized in modular housing, container construction, real estate development and international project management. Founder of Reforma Vivienda Tenerife and Donkey Lab.
