Calgary is ranked fifth overall in North America for the number of highrises and skyscrapers currently under construction.

A ranking gathered by Emporis, an international provider of building data, said Toronto is North America’s highrise boomtown with 130 projects on the go.

The report, released Tuesday, said New York City was second at 91, followed by Montreal (25), Vancouver (23) and Calgary (22).

Emporis said one aspect common to all the cities in the ranking with the exception of Houston is the majority of the highrises under construction are residential buildings.

It said New York remains the city with the most completed highrises in North America with 6,069.

 The high amount of leasing activity in 2013 in the Calgary industrial real estate market is a solid indicator of healthy demand which will continue to take vacant product, according to a new report by Colliers International.

Colliers said absorption - the change in occupied space - remained high at 1.2 million sq ft in the 4th quarter of 2013. This is a small growth over the 3rd quarter which saw just over one million sq ft of absorption.

It also said a shortage of land is expected to continue into this year(2014).

Cochrane and Okotoks both experienced record years in 2013 for MLS residential sales activity.

A new report by the CREB said there was strong sales activity in the final quarter of last year in Airdrie, Cochrane, and Okotoks and as the supply of single-family homes in Calgary decreased.

CREB said total sales in communities surrounding Calgary boosts to 4,440 units in 2013, a hike of nearly 12 per cent.

In the city, MLS sales rose by nearly 11 per cent to 23,489 transactions.

A  booming luxury market, and tight overall conditions with listings not keeping pace with demand, has pushed Calgary house prices to unparalleled levels.

Average sale and median prices hit all-time records for the city in 2013 for both single-family home and in the total MLS transactions category, according to data released Thursday by the CREB.

The average sale price for total MLS hit $456,703 for the year, up 6.54 per cent from 2012, while the single-family average price boosts by 7.61 per cent to $517,887.

The median sale price for total MLS was $401,000 and it was $450,000 for single-family homes. The median price up by 5.53 per cent from the previous year for total MLS and it was a 7.14 per cent hike in the single-family market.

Also, December capped a strong year for the residential real estate market with the highest-ever monthly average sale price at $527,764, eclipsing the previous record of $526,546 set in June 2013.