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Thu, April 12, 2007
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\: a- M- f" Q: |Calgary ranks sixth as most expensive downtown housing4 {8 s0 v- C" S* ?
UPDATED: 2007-04-12 16:38:42 MST4 _: J0 C% [/ j4 J; Y0 v6 e* ^
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By NADIA MOHARIB, SUN MEDIA8 d+ v% x: i; C! l! N6 p- g8 H
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More and more Calgarians are buying downtown homes but paying top price for the prime location. ( e% G, q6 c; u- A1 Z
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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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- h( z4 s3 C& l/ n5 N( R+ ?Calgary ranks sixth most expensive of 31 cities surveyed around the world. * Y. e" ^) r P7 ?3 H) K
2 t3 {* m6 _, O. U \% `$ ?! y, C, UThe 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. : k3 ?5 c& x5 x) a) h3 I; q
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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. % a- I s/ k0 a
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“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 $500. ( `3 K" N" W5 R( W& u
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2 a4 B0 u% G* R7 p2 [) f5 ]. yStill Bamber said the interest in downtown living only seems to be getting more popular — a sign Calgary is “getting to be more like a big city.”
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5 g) ~8 m( @$ d$ i- E e8 |1 u* EPart of the attraction is affordability but also people wanting to buy in to a certain lifestyle, Bamber said. 9 i3 b7 Q4 U* ]; u5 ]& p, k7 l& c
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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.
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# y5 p1 h" n9 _& {0 KHe said 30 % of the housing market is condos - the bulk of which are in downtown. + A- C( [: G' L
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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. ' J6 c. H# h6 @9 n9 T
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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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5 w/ C" c. H9 C; P. mWhile those looking for life in the suburbs and a better bang for their buck typically see a significant cost savings.
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% n( L6 ?% b/ e9 |! b5 vA 650 sq. ft condo in Southwood, Bamber said, recently sold for about $323 per square foot, for instance. ! I9 _; Z2 ^$ t, g: Y, C* z
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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.
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5 u4 V# e; d8 L6 P s, ?8 |— 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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