Cindy White
Cindy White reports for Castanet on how housing policy, real estate markets and broader civic decisions shape everyday life in her coverage area. She brings more than three decades of broadcast journalism to stories that connect government programs, market conditions and business activity, including detailed reporting on “missing middle” housing initiatives and condo market pressures. Her work combines real estate–driven angles with day-to-day news on infrastructure, transit, tourism and local enterprise.
Housing design catalogue and ‘missing middle’ homes
A recurring focus in White’s coverage is how public policy translates into new housing options, particularly for the “missing middle” between single-family homes and high-rise apartments. In a recent piece, she examines West Kelowna’s decision to join the federal Housing Design Catalogue, framing the story around how standardized designs and federal support are intended to speed up construction of townhomes and similar forms of housing.
She treats the catalogue not as an abstract program but as a practical tool for municipalities trying to add attainable homes in established neighbourhoods, and she links the policy choice directly to concerns about supply, affordability and the shape of future development. Her housing stories stay close to specific decisions - council votes, program sign-ons and implementation details - rather than broad market commentary, which makes them useful for understanding how real estate changes one project at a time.
Rental glut and the condo market ‘perfect storm’
White’s business reporting on real estate looks at the market through concrete local trends, such as the balance between rental inventory and condo sales. In a year-end business feature on a “glut of rentals” creating a “perfect storm” for the condo market, she traces how an oversupply of short- and long-term rentals affects pricing, vacancy and buyer behaviour in the apartment and condominium sector. The piece treats rental conversions, investor activity and shifting demand as interconnected forces, highlighting how one segment of the housing market can quickly reshape another. Her framing of the story as a “business story of the year” underscores that she approaches real estate as an economic beat as much as a planning beat, focusing on the financial implications for developers, owners and would-be buyers.
That combination of market mechanics and on-the-ground outcomes is a consistent thread in her real estate coverage.
Infrastructure, transit and airport expansion
White frequently covers infrastructure projects and transportation decisions that sit at the edge of the real estate beat, where land use, mobility and economic development meet. Her reporting on Kelowna International Airport’s expansion and new departures lounge tracks how capital projects change passenger experience and capacity, and how those upgrades are received by travelers and officials.
In a separate story on two new restaurants at the airport, she focuses on local food, beer and wine offerings, tying the changes to both regional producers and the airport’s role as a gateway for visitors. She also reports on the renewal of the Kelowna Regional Transit operator contract with a foreign firm, outlining the length of the agreement and its significance for transit service in the region. Coverage of the Mission Creek Greenway closure for bridge work similarly shows her attention to how infrastructure maintenance affects public access to valued spaces.
Taken together, these stories show a reporter who treats transportation hubs, contracts and construction sites as part of the same landscape as condos and new housing, emphasizing how built assets and mobility patterns support or constrain growth.
Community stories, weather records and local business growth
Beyond strict real estate pieces, White’s general assignment work brings out community context that often overlaps with housing and economic themes. She has covered January’s record-dry conditions in parts of the Okanagan, documenting how unusual weather patterns are tracked and understood locally.
Her tourism coverage looks ahead to hopes for the 2026 season in the Okanagan, with attention to visitor numbers, regional attractions and the expectations of tourism stakeholders.
Business features include profiles such as “Third business in three years: A Ukrainian success story in Kelowna,” where she follows an immigrant entrepreneur’s rapid growth and the opening of multiple enterprises in a short period. She also writes street-level pieces like “People ‘glad to be Canadian’ in the face of recent Trump threats,” capturing public sentiment through brief interviews and quotes on international political developments.
Earlier work highlighted athletes at Simon Fraser University in relay events, showing her capacity to move into sports and campus stories when needed. Across these assignments, she maintains a focus on how wider forces - climate, geopolitics, migration and tourism - are experienced and voiced in local streets, businesses and institutions.
Long broadcast background and major event coverage
White’s current reporting is shaped by more than 30 years of experience in broadcast journalism.
Her professional biography notes that she began her career in smaller centres before moving through a series of stops and eventually working in Alberta, where she covered major news events such as the Pine Lake Tornado and the Calgary Flood. That history of breaking-news and disaster coverage informs the way she approaches present-day stories about weather records, infrastructure resilience and market disruptions.
It also marks a distinction from many real estate-focused reporters whose backgrounds are primarily in business or financial media. White comes to housing and city issues from a general news tradition, carrying over an emphasis on clear timelines, lived impact and the practical consequences of policy decisions.
4 more real estate journalists.
Addie Morfoot
Addie Morfoot covers how real estate, culture and media meet, focusing on people, rules and the way homes shape a life. She reports for The New York Times on housing and lifestyle, from personal narratives about finding a home after loss to features on how short-term rental policy affects everyday owners and renters. She writes real estate stories that connect laws and regulations to the choices available to ordinary residents in specific towns and cities. She is a regular contributor to the Sunday Routine franchise, following actors, comedians and designers through a typical day and showing how settings like homes, studios and subway cars shape daily experience. She also has a long track record covering documentary film and the entertainment business, including legal questions around fair use, changing docu-series formats, festival premieres and financing. Her portfolio spans more than two decades of work for The New York Times, Variety, The Wall Street Journal and Crain’s New York Business.
Alcynna Lloyd
Alcynna Lloyd is a real estate reporter and economic journalist at Business Insider whose work is distinct for treating housing as a core economic system people must navigate. She covers how housing markets, costs, and mobility shape everyday life decisions, connecting data on rents, home prices, and city trends with stories of people managing debt, multigenerational living, and moves abroad. Her beat centers on housing costs, renters, and household strategies, following renters pushing back against landlords and tracking “desperate home sellers” using concessions in unaffordable markets. A second strand of her coverage focuses on relocation, remote work, and cheap cities as everyday economic strategies. She regularly uses rankings and lists, such as best and worst states to buy a home and Rising Stars of Real Estate, and reads city housing and migration shifts as signs of broader economic change.
Alec Lazenby
Alec Lazenby covers how provincial politics and government decisions shape housing, real estate and the wider social fabric. He reports for The Vancouver Sun from the provincial legislature. His work examines HousingHub, middle-income rentals, affordability, stalled projects, empty condos, developer layoffs, municipal housing targets and land use. He also covers health, addiction, safer supply, involuntary care, water rights, resource management, Indigenous rights and Crown land. Lazenby connects policy language to specific buildings, rents, projects, services and people. He explains financial, regulatory and market pressures, then follows how institutions, professionals, developers, municipalities and affected communities respond. His reporting tests government goals against practical outcomes and shows how policy reversals, construction costs, interest rates and political accountability shape housing and public life.
Amir Ali
Amir Ali links housing, disputes, and oddball neighbourhood stories in case-based, street-level reporting for Daily Hive. He holds a senior editorial and writing role, listed on the masthead as part of Vancouver leadership and described as a staff writer. His core beat is real estate, especially the rental market and housing affordability, tracking rent ranges, market shifts, and how pressures land on people trying to stay housed. He also covers crime, civil tribunals, and mental health, explaining decisions and conflicts in plain language that focuses on timelines, behaviour, and outcomes. Ali writes offbeat hyperlocal features, traffic and transport disruptions, business, food, and general local news, often turning infrastructure, small businesses, and civic systems into tangible stories. A former radio producer, he brings tight pacing and clear stakes to written pieces and maintains an active social media presence as a broadcaster and writer.