Bloomberg Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government is offering home and factory owners at least €13 billion ($14.8 billion) in loans and subsidies over the next four years to reduce the carbon emitted from their properties. The money, earmarked in the mid-term federal budget plan, will be disbursed to property owners who sign up to programs to cut power and heat …

  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 …