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Thu, April 12, 2007
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Calgary ranks sixth as most expensive downtown housing
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More and more Calgarians are buying downtown homes but paying top price for the prime location. " ?+ p0 X5 H. \/ e
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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.
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Calgary ranks sixth most expensive of 31 cities surveyed around the world. . Y7 F7 s, i3 ^: |$ C
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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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George 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. 2 K' A( l8 f; [
( G# y3 B0 ^! Y3 V! Q! U“To live downtown people pay for it.”
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% m1 s, e u' m# @9 F9 r& WA condo in southwood for instance would run about $323 a sq. ft while downtown goes for about $500.
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3 C2 O* R; `* Q9 fStill Bamber said the interest in downtown living only seems to be getting more popular — a sign Calgary is “getting to be more like a big city.” ' R7 I) q* j+ f! J9 n2 m' X3 x8 l- n
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Part of the attraction is affordability but also people wanting to buy in to a certain lifestyle, Bamber said. - B8 d0 V9 h' O9 k% k
6 c% j, C* h5 [' L$ G8 A“People want to be close to restaurants and bars and don’t want to drive an hour to work,” he said. * P- G* s) q: J! I6 x J5 b! @
# z* W8 u M% l3 C' LHe said 30 % of the housing market is condos - the bulk of which are in downtown.
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The survey showed Vancouver placing fourth most expensive at $577 per sq. ft. while Edmonton was 10th most expensive at $322. 4 M! T( L6 L+ G6 _# {
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In Calgary, a typical first-time buyer would choose a one-bedroom, one-bath 500-sq. ft. apartment in Mission or Connaught priced at about $250,000 and a 10-minute drive or 20-minute walk to the downtown business core and the Calgary Tower. * S+ E9 u6 b3 S! e1 r$ Y
+ M1 [, d, @4 X8 pWhile those looking for life in the suburbs and a better bang for their buck typically see a significant cost savings. 1 T; b% E2 h4 G0 M1 ?; A1 n
& G# Y5 g2 B3 i6 {1 F% vA 650 sq. ft condo in Southwood, Bamber said, recently sold for about $323 per square foot, for instance.
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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. ( X" |/ B5 B1 i F* q0 d6 i
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— 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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8 A6 ?! R& n2 R5 n# cThe 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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