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Thu, April 12, 2007
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Calgary ranks sixth as most expensive downtown housing
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More and more Calgarians are buying downtown homes but paying top price for the prime location. 8 p2 [' \1 V; i" L
& G: U; c1 F& `! Q; L5 x( }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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) h/ ?5 A6 G& q5 gCalgary ranks sixth most expensive of 31 cities surveyed around the world. 7 U, ^8 N6 z& V0 y D; c. w. [
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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 $209 per sq. ft.
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5 r& E; ]% l" i% l3 K. ~George Bamber, owner of a Calgary-based Century 21 said it’s a sign of a city maturing and becoming more like Vancouver or Toronto where downtown is a place where people live and work.“You just get more real estate for your money outside of downtown,” he said.
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1 a$ n) d9 E/ T“To live downtown people pay for it.”
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$ w0 h! @$ x* s1 i$ g% ]A condo in southwood for instance would run about $323 a sq. ft while downtown goes for about $500. 4 r4 h% R2 T7 o, G/ \! V/ B
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b0 V, r- u& R4 f' Z5 z- mStill Bamber said the interest in downtown living only seems to be getting more popular — a sign Calgary is “getting to be more like a big city.” / ]: ~4 @6 ~3 I8 }; z; V
) K. A& h$ I# f+ {Part of the attraction is affordability but also people wanting to buy in to a certain lifestyle, Bamber said. , r! {! Y" C o+ d& H
* N5 O q4 D0 k2 o* c2 b# b“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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3 |3 q! d" z' l7 x- D. PThe survey showed Vancouver placing fourth most expensive at $577 per sq. ft. while Edmonton was 10th most expensive at $322.
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7 @: P/ ^+ y+ D* d/ j$ D" o: A8 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 $250,000 and a 10-minute drive or 20-minute walk to the downtown business core and the Calgary Tower. 2 T1 {0 M6 }* \8 n$ _4 ?2 _& A, F
9 a% O* m6 }- N- h9 wWhile those looking for life in the suburbs and a better bang for their buck typically see a significant cost savings. 1 B3 _4 ^/ m S! n2 `9 |# u" u
6 H& t U, c0 c7 Q( b1 AA 650 sq. ft condo in Southwood, Bamber said, recently sold for about $323 per square foot, for instance.
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6 }* i3 b: X0 W) {& aFAST FAX
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) L% b# ]* u4 _- 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
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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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