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Thu, April 12, 2007: C7 A8 l% B6 t" q8 i
! v* ?' s0 o* v% I! |% DCalgary ranks sixth as most expensive downtown housing
& D' q2 l" @4 `" ~UPDATED: 2007-04-12 16:38:42 MST
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By NADIA MOHARIB, SUN MEDIA
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More and more Calgarians are buying downtown homes but paying top price for the prime location.
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) v; D3 t D+ S0 o8 w, ^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. 2 G9 }7 G0 U9 x9 y
2 z2 ?) J( [) Y6 Q3 ]2 T+ U( h3 \Calgary ranks sixth most expensive of 31 cities surveyed around the world. + {( ]4 ~7 E& V0 V1 ] Z1 p4 j& Y& Z3 i
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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. 3 ]8 Q3 x6 n6 i4 H
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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.
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“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 $500. 7 X4 s1 v" H' Y
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) @1 y& U w3 a$ u8 aStill 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.” # h2 a) J3 r$ I R. X- p
/ L( v8 f! v( }5 W" |Part of the attraction is affordability but also people wanting to buy in to a certain lifestyle, Bamber said.
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“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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He said 30 % of the housing market is condos - the bulk of which are in downtown. 8 m5 m0 \" @6 D3 C
% l2 a: C1 s7 P5 a0 }6 uThe survey showed Vancouver placing fourth most expensive at $577 per sq. ft. while Edmonton was 10th most expensive at $322. : d9 t9 T6 s; ~# [% t2 H
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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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, g- e4 S8 _/ n2 k7 W4 A7 p1 UWhile those looking for life in the suburbs and a better bang for their buck typically see a significant cost savings.
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% W5 M' q4 L5 i" g2 C* A+ `6 z+ |' A1 H/ TA 650 sq. ft condo in Southwood, Bamber said, recently sold for about $323 per square foot, for instance. 7 Q$ S, m h t. ^& E
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( S, O0 }. q, A" R/ r6 |- 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.
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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 $119 , @- F9 [$ J3 i
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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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