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Thu, April 12, 2007
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* Y0 p* w& a* z. X3 F! B4 A* ?6 kCalgary ranks sixth as most expensive downtown housing
, j1 w( P% ?- S ]1 `UPDATED: 2007-04-12 16:38:42 MST
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6 ~! _5 A! v) \4 c) U! L! g* L7 b3 u8 DBy NADIA MOHARIB, SUN MEDIA+ t/ y A2 j. @5 ?
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More and more Calgarians are buying downtown homes but paying top price for the prime location.
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People who live in downtown business districts in Canada’s largest cities generally pay less per-square foot than people in cities around the world and enjoy shorter daily commutes to work, according to a recent survey done on first-time home buyers by CENTURY 21. 8 z h+ w3 g; I8 a) q# Q
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Calgary ranks sixth most expensive of 31 cities surveyed around the world. ; j/ k$ ~2 ?5 m4 w
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The cost to buy in Calgary’s downtown is even more than settling in Toronto’s core which ranked 16th in the survey with the average cost running $209 per sq. ft.
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- b8 \# N( I H) X( B3 m+ FGeorge Bamber, owner of a Calgary-based Century 21 said it’s a sign of a city maturing and becoming more like Vancouver or Toronto where downtown is a place where people live and work.“You just get more real estate for your money outside of downtown,” he said.
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4 f' P4 p+ k& \6 t! n+ N“To live downtown people pay for it.” , i u# _1 p' `0 I0 D7 l
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A condo in southwood for instance would run about $323 a sq. ft while downtown goes for about $500.
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Still Bamber said the interest in downtown living only seems to be getting more popular — a sign Calgary is “getting to be more like a big city.” ! n A. S& t; }% b- Y
' q' Q- }$ Z& f( KPart of the attraction is affordability but also people wanting to buy in to a certain lifestyle, Bamber said.
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& s6 R/ s7 X$ Q“People want to be close to restaurants and bars and don’t want to drive an hour to work,” he said.
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! L( W8 l3 i2 ?* X. m: Z( {9 E$ K9 \He said 30 % of the housing market is condos - the bulk of which are in downtown.
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4 @, E: J& `4 ?1 b" M, F: NThe survey showed Vancouver placing fourth most expensive at $577 per sq. ft. while Edmonton was 10th most expensive at $322.
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* D. D( L# ^0 n$ }7 u% AIn Calgary, a typical first-time buyer would choose a one-bedroom, one-bath 500-sq. ft. apartment in Mission or Connaught priced at about $250,000 and a 10-minute drive or 20-minute walk to the downtown business core and the Calgary Tower. & L' N5 Y O9 a
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While those looking for life in the suburbs and a better bang for their buck typically see a significant cost savings.
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A 650 sq. ft condo in Southwood, Bamber said, recently sold for about $323 per square foot, for instance. l, d$ C0 C3 |4 A% o+ a
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- St. John’s and Quebec City had the lowest and second-lowest per-square-foot downtown prices of all 31 cities surveyed, at $55 and $93 respectively.— The two lowest per-square-foot prices for international cities were Istanbul, Turkey and Sydney, Australia, at $94 and $105 respectively. 6 d4 L9 Y: [( ]0 n9 d, D
; O. Y. p" @! I0 ]5 B1 c: D8 w— Vancouver was fourth most expensive at $577 per square foot while Calgary was sixth most expensive at $500 and Edmonton was 10th most expensive at $322 — Globally Paris was the most expensive at $1,051 per square foot while London was fifth most expensive at $532 and New York was eighth most expensive at $375 The 10 least expensive downtown housing markets as ranked per-square-foot for first-time buyers are; St. John’s $55 Quebec City $93 Istanbul $94 Halifax $97 Charlottetown $104 Sydney, Australia $105 Bogota $114 Mexico City $119
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: {, J- c3 }1 W5 f: i! Z' S& k! NThe 10 most expensive downtown housing markets; Paris $1051 Moscow $688 Seol $630 Vancouver $577 London, England $532 Calgary $500 Athens $375 New York City $375 Tokyo, $325 Edmonton $322. |
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