Bloomberg British Columbia took over as Canada’s fastest growing economy last year on the back of its red-hot real estate market, while Alberta fell to last place. Gross domestic product in the westernmost province grew 3 percent in 2015, the fastest since 2006, led by a 5 percent gain in real estate-related services. It marks the first time — …

  Bloomberg Hong Kong’s economy unexpectedly contracted in the first quarter as falling retail sales and a weakening property market weigh on the city. Gross domestic product fell 0.4 percent in the three months through March from the previous quarter, the government said in a statement Friday, compared with the median estimate for 0.1 percent growth in a Bloomberg News …

  Babylon, New York / AP Matt Price and his wife, Carla, are gambling that the devastation inflicted by Superstorm Sandy will be their key to the American dream of home ownership. The couple was among the successful bidders at an auction on Wednesday that sold off the last of more than 400 flood-damaged houses that were purchased by New York …