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Thu, April 12, 2007
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( c0 J7 ?) T! m9 cCalgary ranks sixth as most expensive downtown housing. b+ w2 p( H) E, c; G' R; [5 `- b
UPDATED: 2007-04-12 16:38:42 MST3 I' A; j6 w* ]! m8 m$ v S
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8 q8 u, O9 t: k% U6 [3 ^More and more Calgarians are buying downtown homes but paying top price for the prime location.
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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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0 j# _; f7 \/ s. p/ _1 D& lCalgary ranks sixth most expensive of 31 cities surveyed around the world. 5 \ e& \, m- ^* C
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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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2 B, }& T q; BGeorge 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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& z. y+ [, T/ i2 v" c. h“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 $500. 1 `$ s1 [8 z! Y, w
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4 O0 U& C& R7 |2 P, j$ K+ uStill 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.”
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C& I# e% c$ r8 K$ pPart of the attraction is affordability but also people wanting to buy in to a certain lifestyle, Bamber said.
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& Z8 W- ]& |" s# n; e4 E“People want to be close to restaurants and bars and don’t want to drive an hour to work,” he said. $ ?7 c" G& \0 K5 T: b$ @/ C$ w7 u
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He said 30 % of the housing market is condos - the bulk of which are in downtown. ' F! d# k3 ~: K1 r
`5 X# k+ K$ @$ u t- N" W4 Y& gThe survey showed Vancouver placing fourth most expensive at $577 per sq. ft. while Edmonton was 10th most expensive at $322.
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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. ! A5 C& r4 b4 I) H' o* Y2 v( r
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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.
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% b! k2 O, z3 J+ UA 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. ) p- T" k2 X3 l2 P/ z8 c
! P% ~; V; n! p, x+ b: p— 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 . a8 R7 j1 t+ r( p
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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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