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Thu, April 12, 2007
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Calgary ranks sixth as most expensive downtown housing. G+ _4 P8 v% a, x! |2 }
UPDATED: 2007-04-12 16:38:42 MST
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By NADIA MOHARIB, SUN MEDIA
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. {- [3 I+ {& W _) k: O" C3 @More and more Calgarians are buying downtown homes but paying top price for the prime location.
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2 q. y6 w9 Y% S, i( B. G" a5 aPeople 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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& F5 U. D) m9 i9 D" O4 c3 ^9 R9 mCalgary 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 $209 per sq. ft.
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+ H4 A' E3 w4 ]6 ~# d9 wGeorge Bamber, owner of a Calgary-based Century 21 said it’s a sign of a city maturing and becoming more like Vancouver or Toronto where downtown is a place where people live and work.“You just get more real estate for your money outside of downtown,” he said. , ` Q, K4 t; L6 K
: n/ [7 {. a4 b: @“To live downtown people pay for it.” + U1 P/ B: {# z& A
, q# p3 F$ y- z5 Y, OA condo in southwood for instance would run about $323 a sq. ft while downtown goes for about $500.
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0 b4 e2 g) i4 ^; \' B$ O3 bStill 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.” / {" ]7 Z0 b9 g4 y4 l6 |9 V
# t0 m5 S! B7 b! }6 O) c @Part of the attraction is affordability but also people wanting to buy in to a certain lifestyle, Bamber said. / ^0 \0 N/ s& w* A$ k: H( l
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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.
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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. 7 P5 o, J( X, b
0 c& C' `! z. ]3 YIn 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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' s: o# m; E5 R3 I+ F8 @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 $323 per square foot, for instance. 8 W$ S9 |( n/ W0 A8 {
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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. " v7 |3 g& b V" O% l! ^
0 W6 ^7 z3 k! g5 z! K6 Y! v5 e& M— 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 $119 # W* T7 b+ i1 B# u3 [) B
, N1 ?$ d" H$ u3 B2 m0 MThe 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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