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Thu, April 12, 2007/ _5 b- U: R L( E
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Calgary ranks sixth as most expensive downtown housing
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By NADIA MOHARIB, SUN MEDIA! o, r* d. n" d! g
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More and more Calgarians are buying downtown homes but paying top price for the prime location.
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( f+ Q$ m4 X# k K' ]0 iPeople 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.
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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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0 n& R- e6 l! J5 lGeorge 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. % u- G3 r H+ V' Q6 w
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“To live downtown people pay for it.” * w5 a( }3 H) Q. ]# n. J
0 n; t- A8 ~: R+ lA condo in southwood for instance would run about $323 a sq. ft while downtown goes for about $500. - }# ] G. Q( P6 k" |5 w
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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.” + U- u; l1 n# T9 h) g" P5 D2 |
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Part of the attraction is affordability but also people wanting to buy in to a certain lifestyle, Bamber said. ' |6 v) y4 o/ X: A: r0 h
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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. / T. H, a2 K4 `
3 `& [4 a n# x& ?He said 30 % of the housing market is condos - the bulk of which are in downtown. 5 L8 Y! W9 ~, C) {
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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.
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% ^5 \7 C1 g( m2 lIn Calgary, a typical first-time buyer would choose a one-bedroom, one-bath 500-sq. ft. apartment in Mission or Connaught priced at about $250,000 and a 10-minute drive or 20-minute walk to the downtown business core and the Calgary Tower. 4 `% y$ {; q0 V) N0 x
* v/ w7 s) z+ ^6 r# b7 ?While those looking for life in the suburbs and a better bang for their buck typically see a significant cost savings. 8 y" F# @3 C: W7 T# t
; D) f; E G; E* oA 650 sq. ft condo in Southwood, Bamber said, recently sold for about $323 per square foot, for instance. 3 ^" K+ N' p7 H8 @ @" f( I( w' \
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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.
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, U, Z3 _7 {3 K5 ?6 W! N— 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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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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