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Thu, April 12, 2007
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6 u2 ^3 C1 ]' ~# h: ?9 yCalgary ranks sixth as most expensive downtown housing
+ M1 z" j/ G+ m/ ^, z3 l5 KUPDATED: 2007-04-12 16:38:42 MST
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9 Y$ x( h- E* F, W+ K- ]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. ! C1 R% N7 @/ }0 ~$ k
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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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( U! c9 g3 R" q& z4 }0 r1 G7 z7 @/ p) mCalgary ranks sixth most expensive of 31 cities surveyed around the world.
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- [/ o& ~5 `! C3 [ }- H5 C; K$ xThe 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. ! Z! ~4 w s# Y8 e( O/ {; b( X6 A1 @
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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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( E6 R+ d% M1 h( l. B“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 $500. ( F# u9 r Y' s% X
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Still Bamber said the interest in downtown living only seems to be getting more popular — a sign Calgary is “getting to be more like a big city.” - I( q6 X6 K4 a q% @1 V$ E
) g3 ]' b5 M4 p3 `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. % l- x! F" \. A9 {- p
5 ?9 o/ H- N# M, Z7 \8 a G sHe said 30 % of the housing market is condos - the bulk of which are in downtown. : Z4 v6 h/ L! b2 Q T7 v
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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. 3 c/ L) o2 \/ K& E1 z- [
6 h r& D- f" i9 V% i8 sIn Calgary, a typical first-time buyer would choose a one-bedroom, one-bath 500-sq. ft. apartment in Mission or Connaught priced at about $250,000 and a 10-minute drive or 20-minute walk to the downtown business core and the Calgary Tower. 5 S7 L" @# R- V3 r7 M. I
% ~7 R5 a, L4 {1 z: b1 n: TWhile those looking for life in the suburbs and a better bang for their buck typically see a significant cost savings. 7 y+ _: H5 k3 `1 c$ v& I( S
8 B; ]) ]! k# T' A! a6 V5 NA 650 sq. ft condo in Southwood, Bamber said, recently sold for about $323 per square foot, for instance.
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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& m6 m+ n7 R. d: |— 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 . B! ^# E7 {5 Y' Y; 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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