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Thu, April 12, 2007
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Calgary ranks sixth as most expensive downtown housing6 c& j# s% f' X6 O" a7 R& h2 f% J5 j
UPDATED: 2007-04-12 16:38:42 MST; j$ C2 G8 F. `) W, E
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; }2 ?- h8 g5 Y& R' D$ yBy NADIA MOHARIB, SUN MEDIA
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More and more Calgarians are buying downtown homes but paying top price for the prime location. 9 E+ c. w( [# f# l
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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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& H8 m! }* G- i5 NCalgary ranks sixth most expensive of 31 cities surveyed around the world.
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( X9 o2 ^' o* YThe 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 $209 per sq. ft. / E, D" h* |, X7 x- t4 h
7 l& W- e, V5 |0 g0 T$ V% p0 ]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.
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2 P3 x5 v9 e8 ^, m% L! ^5 T# F3 a“To live downtown people pay for it.”
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A condo in southwood for instance would run about $323 a sq. ft while downtown goes for about $500.
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Still Bamber said the interest in downtown living only seems to be getting more popular — a sign Calgary is “getting to be more like a big city.”
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" F! k. B; g5 B b2 w( B7 DPart of the attraction is affordability but also people wanting to buy in to a certain lifestyle, Bamber said. % q$ j, |; z5 @" V
1 ]# ]1 g/ R' O" _“People want to be close to restaurants and bars and don’t want to drive an hour to work,” he said. ! x* ~- v# W5 Z; z* [
4 _, O X& j+ K" t8 ?He said 30 % of the housing market is condos - the bulk of which are in downtown. $ O) H! C. y% q% y$ o1 z9 @' Q
* C/ n' P' R3 w& A0 U! g7 pThe survey showed Vancouver placing fourth most expensive at $577 per sq. ft. while Edmonton was 10th most expensive at $322. % u8 T! _6 d4 t) L C4 w
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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 $250,000 and a 10-minute drive or 20-minute walk to the downtown business core and the Calgary Tower.
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While those looking for life in the suburbs and a better bang for their buck typically see a significant cost savings. 1 Z; m& B9 C$ S
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A 650 sq. ft condo in Southwood, Bamber said, recently sold for about $323 per square foot, for instance. M. e, B! u2 X: W& u* \% |, q! j
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/ ^6 _; ]" L I- 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. 1 a5 _- k. @' I' n* s
9 P/ v* k# ^2 g2 l# B— 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 $119 1 @6 ?# i! j) a! F$ ], L( ~
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The 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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