This And That

City's Psyche, like it's homes are undervalued - "Earlier this week, a national study determined that Edmonton house prices are eight per cent too low. This is an uncannily perfect statistic for anyone who seeks to understand the mysterious heart and mind of the Edmontonian."

"There is kind of a collective mentality. A malaise sets in, even if we have no intention of selling our house." Todd Hirsch, senior economist for ATB Financial

Edmontonians really have no idea what an incredible economic position they are in. The economic situation that Edmonton and Alberta are currently in is perhaps the healthiest economy in Canada.

After The Bubble Ghost Towns In America - "Since real-estate tanked, many new planned communities across the country are half-empty, with for-sale signs outnumbering residents by a large margin. Some of the projects abandoned by bankrupt developers are in places that were hotbeds of new housing construction: Southern California, Atlanta, Las Vegas, Phoenix."

Regions with economic fundamentals will weather the storm, but many other areas will continue to get worse. A 'general' correction of 25% is predicted and currently the USA is at about 15%, so in 'general' they can expect another across the board drop of 10% of house prices.

The Future Is Fantastic - "We strive at the university to really change lives with the kind of research we undertake -- whether it is in engineering, to find more environmentally friendly ways to extract oil, or in health-care fields, or in the social sciences,"University of Alberta president Indira Samarasekera

"She (Samarasekera) is confident that Edmonton can compete for talent with great academic centres such as Oxford and Princeton."

Attracting new students for an excellent education and the opportunity to influence international research is one way the university is helping to increase in-migration to the province. When these talented young graduates realize they can earn more money than anywhere across Canada they will make the province their home.