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Thu, April 12, 2007
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Calgary ranks sixth as most expensive downtown housing' i! o! @. D/ n' `
UPDATED: 2007-04-12 16:38:42 MST) _4 N' X8 ~3 Z7 N& K. {
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9 k. J& e @) h- a- GBy NADIA MOHARIB, SUN MEDIA
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7 _: ?! N, V$ c7 D% d, ~) hMore and more Calgarians are buying downtown homes but paying top price for the prime location.
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7 X) p9 C/ L! Q W9 ePeople 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. 3 \; B+ }( p% g1 {! s/ l
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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 $209 per sq. ft.
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& v0 ^! S1 T, G$ CGeorge 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. : w. t5 _# C- ?0 d* m) [ G
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“To live downtown people pay for it.” - r, n l9 ]& a3 Z5 @ i- c
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A condo in southwood for instance would run about $323 a sq. ft while downtown goes for about $500.
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8 X8 E; A' E/ R# M) u7 E5 UStill Bamber said the interest in downtown living only seems to be getting more popular — a sign Calgary is “getting to be more like a big city.”
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Part of the attraction is affordability but also people wanting to buy in to a certain lifestyle, Bamber said. 8 t- L: o$ m( S# s) N1 x/ R0 d
& A* @: ^! Z# W* l4 R2 s' f! e“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 m( O8 }% K/ t3 R9 WThe survey showed Vancouver placing fourth most expensive at $577 per sq. ft. while Edmonton was 10th most expensive at $322.
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7 E: I2 U. u' x @$ R( J8 _2 L' B& `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. 6 ?; ]4 {- K) {( b- z
$ v# B+ F( f2 OWhile those looking for life in the suburbs and a better bang for their buck typically see a significant cost savings.
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A 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. # u6 B9 ]! \8 [3 K& e4 A2 }
u4 o) _: n: a% n f! 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 $119 ( d) f" S' ]& J$ H4 o* {' z* x
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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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