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Thu, April 12, 2007
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Calgary ranks sixth as most expensive downtown housing
( w4 Z* s8 D4 D( r5 y7 cUPDATED: 2007-04-12 16:38:42 MST6 ^3 }( C- P8 o& i/ w# N2 x9 F; J
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More and more Calgarians are buying downtown homes but paying top price for the prime location. 4 S7 k! B9 [8 l* M! ?
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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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% `; e y9 b! t% E2 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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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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5 k% K4 y' l5 U8 x“To live downtown people pay for it.”
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! I- F3 _8 ?! d k6 PA condo in southwood for instance would run about $323 a sq. ft while downtown goes for about $500. 6 R/ r* \$ b& [$ h
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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.”
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Part of the attraction is affordability but also people wanting to buy in to a certain lifestyle, Bamber said. 7 q6 k! m9 M% [
) L p" X0 T3 _* ~9 P- H“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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1 D! m- I* `( f; N7 h' P) ~; AHe 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.
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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.
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# f6 r T- T/ D' aA 650 sq. ft condo in Southwood, Bamber said, recently sold for about $323 per square foot, for instance.
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7 x6 t% o+ k' q9 v- y# \- 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. ; }) [+ C' _! p' O( ~- t1 \
4 k4 A* j8 {5 p. N1 i* V— 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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9 B% r+ S: n; j# @8 p0 p0 C' f9 RThe 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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