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Thu, April 12, 2007
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Calgary ranks sixth as most expensive downtown housing# q" R* C+ s) z" o7 ]8 U
UPDATED: 2007-04-12 16:38:42 MST
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More and more Calgarians are buying downtown homes but paying top price for the prime location. ) P2 q0 \ q* M
- s! z/ a( I! k2 C) ~5 YPeople 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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3 W: v, C+ `4 M% K4 T; p7 LCalgary ranks sixth most expensive of 31 cities surveyed around the world. ' Y6 ]5 X* {6 c" P1 T; k
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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 $209 per sq. ft.
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5 @! @1 ]3 Q2 Y( U8 T- S. P- `George Bamber, owner of a Calgary-based Century 21 said it’s a sign of a city maturing and becoming more like Vancouver or Toronto where downtown is a place where people live and work.“You just get more real estate for your money outside of downtown,” he said. 1 q0 ?7 T l6 N7 P5 i$ Q7 |
* w: V$ X8 U8 F! T“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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9 L# ` D+ Q' c. I9 oStill 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.” / k+ Z% k! a8 w6 R% h. S8 }, h9 p" [" j* g
3 @3 |0 d( s% v1 @, A/ jPart 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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! W2 ?& c* z' Y. Q8 M" \5 \, m4 W# eHe said 30 % of the housing market is condos - the bulk of which are in downtown. - _. g1 z* K* C1 Q
3 E4 i) z9 H3 rThe survey showed Vancouver placing fourth most expensive at $577 per sq. ft. while Edmonton was 10th most expensive at $322. 8 p3 `/ v0 a1 M4 s
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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. , b0 u! V5 _' n T j
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A 650 sq. ft condo in Southwood, Bamber said, recently sold for about $323 per square foot, for instance.
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+ ^8 u9 w. o( a" `% k; \; u: s- j- 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. & g# r% E6 e# v
% L9 [# O& f! 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
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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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