As I look back over a years worth of columns the titles reveal an eventful twelve months with the big themes being affordability (read taxes), sustainability (read green) and "condo-mania."

As you browse the ads and editorial in this section, you will come across BILDs ad celebrating our community partnership with Habitat for Humanity Toronto as well as the many other ways in which the land development and homebuilding industry gives back to the community.

Whatever you've been hearing about the U.S. housing market, it's all true, except its worse, and all I can say for our part up here is "thank goodness for Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), our national mortgage insurer.

Looking over my last several columns I seem to have become pre-occupied with government issues, either reacting to or explaining tax increases such as the "MillerBite" (Toronto land transfer tax) or tax decreases (a very rare subject) such as the federal government's recent GST reduction. My final comment on these two topics before changing the channel is that the feds giveth and the City taketh away.