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Thu, April 12, 2007" R' }/ m, _8 _+ D4 J
4 S, v$ W1 `: r1 f! ^; \: w2 [5 e% v. DCalgary ranks sixth as most expensive downtown housing- \& X" X: e% G/ p& X
UPDATED: 2007-04-12 16:38:42 MST
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2 }- M# I: W: |& z5 |More and more Calgarians are buying downtown homes but paying top price for the prime location. 7 `# s0 F3 e# c/ h
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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. 7 G/ h$ B4 V0 D# U" Q
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Calgary ranks sixth most expensive of 31 cities surveyed around the world. 8 z; Q2 B& ^5 `$ k
. w# ~5 A& E5 A+ F# mThe 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. , @! H8 [. H3 c/ ]4 \' Y) j; s# u8 k
/ \' y8 S7 F# y, X" ]2 EGeorge 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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, |# ~8 X! {) k6 D u- ]“To live downtown people pay for it.”
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1 M7 | ~9 N0 U) rA condo in southwood for instance would run about $323 a sq. ft while downtown goes for about $500. " g9 }! x* Z) X+ ]+ V+ U3 H
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9 T" [. l- Q2 R5 wStill Bamber said the interest in downtown living only seems to be getting more popular — a sign Calgary is “getting to be more like a big city.”
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, E$ x8 V9 R1 g9 |Part of the attraction is affordability but also people wanting to buy in to a certain lifestyle, Bamber said. ( Z3 a" B& P- U5 o5 N1 m
9 q6 J7 f1 T. P! J- j6 v“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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The survey showed Vancouver placing fourth most expensive at $577 per sq. ft. while Edmonton was 10th most expensive at $322. # R% D& b: t3 R5 W. i8 @( f. A
2 B$ z+ T% \. I2 J1 `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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3 H0 Q# N+ e, N' d/ GA 650 sq. ft condo in Southwood, Bamber said, recently sold for about $323 per square foot, for instance.
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* Y \# u2 R7 W0 G" V- 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. k% r. l( J% R. {" |
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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
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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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