Commercial real estate investment is hot right now. It is currently the top choice of savvy investors, aspiring individuals looking to move up from the single family market and giant funds searching for better investment vehicles to take advantage of tax benefits.  But with so much movement in the commercial real estate market across the board why are savviest investors still choosing retail? Edmonton, Alberta recently posted the second best commercial real estate returns in Canada, and among the best in the world. All sectors are firing on all cylinders! Analysts expect Edmonton to outperform the rest of Canada in 2013. Edmonton has been doing very well for the last couple of years and shows strength across all fundamentals. From the economy to migration to jobs and real estate development. In fact the woes elsewhere only continue to be better news for Edmonton investors.  Yet, with so many choices available why choose retail? The energy and industrial sector seems like it should stick out for anyone considering investing in Alberta, Canada but it may not be the easiest property type to get in and strike it big for the average investor. Certainly Alberta&#x27s energy sector isn&#x27t going anywhere, but energy companies have already been gobbling up quite a bit of real estate in anticipation of future needs. Residential housing, both single family and multifamily is performing great in comparison to the rest of the nation, but perhaps not the strongest and the sector with the biggest growth potential going forward for the next 5 to 10 years due to variety of exterior factors. The office sector is definitely strong as all businesses including energy companies, residential investment firms and property managers need offices, and there is a lot of shifting around and portfolio adjustments going on right now, but there may certainly be valid concerns about vacancy in the next 5 years as business trends change the need for physical space.  Then there is retail. The surges in all other commercial and residential markets naturally combine together to fuel retail businesses in many ways.