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Thu, April 12, 2007
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$ J# y3 v, J4 yCalgary ranks sixth as most expensive downtown housing& E$ b2 x8 y, `8 C
UPDATED: 2007-04-12 16:38:42 MST
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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.
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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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Calgary ranks sixth most expensive of 31 cities surveyed around the world. 8 `# }6 }. j2 z1 B
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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. # w! ?+ a: P% D# {; E5 l5 z1 s3 y" I3 g8 X
; P. C; C( h' u8 gGeorge 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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. @2 k, z& X3 `! P7 X& s0 n1 I“To live downtown people pay for it.” + P3 W! o) b# w- u1 L _3 f
1 M6 O9 D0 Y7 n- U" S1 IA condo in southwood for instance would run about $323 a sq. ft while downtown goes for about $500.
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# j4 t0 l6 L" o* k/ y* KStill Bamber said the interest in downtown living only seems to be getting more popular — a sign Calgary is “getting to be more like a big city.” 9 O; }, D D3 v; p2 q4 s. {$ ^
2 z) x9 `& N" r" `. MPart of the attraction is affordability but also people wanting to buy in to a certain lifestyle, Bamber said. 1 n8 h+ Z7 o# Z
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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. 3 n. [- n! q \0 A
7 O3 _0 }1 u) x7 X( e; hHe said 30 % of the housing market is condos - the bulk of which are in downtown.
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& j) V* c6 S- c& SThe survey showed Vancouver placing fourth most expensive at $577 per sq. ft. while Edmonton was 10th most expensive at $322.
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5 A) e( Z" P1 v A ~. RIn Calgary, a typical first-time buyer would choose a one-bedroom, one-bath 500-sq. ft. apartment in Mission or Connaught priced at about $250,000 and a 10-minute drive or 20-minute walk to the downtown business core and the Calgary Tower. : w2 U$ ~) C# l b$ Y0 f" j) T- c
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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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2 r( |" I3 z+ _ S$ ~A 650 sq. ft condo in Southwood, Bamber said, recently sold for about $323 per square foot, for instance.
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) f: f7 f" @& f' D5 [2 c# W- 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. + d2 e& d3 ?2 [
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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 ( S) z- k, Q" ~5 N
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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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