The Board of Governors of the Alberta Real Estate Foundation approved $246,990 in our third round of Investment Grants of the year.

The Alberta Real Estate Foundation invests in real estate policy, research, practices, and education that strengthen Alberta’s communities. Under the Real Estate Act, whenever a consumer deposits money in trust through a real estate broker, property manager, or commercial broker, the interest earned on the deposit is accumulated and forwarded to the Foundation for reinvestment into Alberta’s communities. Individually, it is nickels and dimes, but across the province it all adds up! Since 1991, the Foundation has invested $27.5 million in nearly 700 initiatives across Alberta.

Join us in celebrating the Investment Grant projects approved at the October meeting that support and advance education, research, law reform, and other activities related to real estate in Real Estate Leadership, the Built Environment, and Land:

2050 Net Zero Targets & Changing Building Codes: Implications to Existing Building Owners & Alberta Real Estate Professionals
From the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT)
Buildings are Canada’s third-largest source of greenhouse gas emissions. By 2050, close to nine million buildings will require at least one deep retrofit to reduce energy consumption to the levels required to achieve net-zero goals. This means that Canada’s rate of retrofits will need to increase to 1 million dwellings retrofitted annually. Building codes and standards will be updated to expedite and drive these retrofits and these changes will be felt across Alberta’s real estate industry. This research project is the first phase of an ongoing study exploring the impacts of building code changes on homeowners, real estate professionals, and other key stakeholders.

Exploring Canada’s Interest Act & Risk in Canadian Residential Housing & Mortgage Markets
By the University of Alberta, Centre for Cities and Communities
This project will investigate the housing and residential mortgage markets in Alberta and Canada, and Section 10(1) of the Interest Act. The project hypothesizes that this section contributes to the inability of lenders to appropriately manage the interest rate risk associated with making residential mortgages with terms longer than five years and to readily access longer-term capital. The section dates from 1880 and a number of experts believe it should be revised. This research will provide a detailed basis for revisions to the Interest Act and will conduct research to compare the Canadian and U.S. markets and include economic modeling of the impact on default risk in the Canadian mortgage markets during periods of interest rate volatility.

Indigenous Pathways Program
By the University of Calgary, School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape (SAPL)
Canada’s real estate-related industries have signaled their commitment to undertake the truth and reconciliation process and embrace a diversity of thought in addressing the pressing and monumental challenges of our times including climate change, sustainability and environmental stewardship, social justice, population aging, public health, and wellness. The aim of the proposed Indigenous Pathways Program is to educate and empower Indigenous students to become future leaders in real estate-related industries and to expose non-Indigenous students to Indigenous perspectives so that they can incorporate these learnings into their practices.

Explore our Projects page for more Foundation-funded initiatives.