[photon]

I'd agree that in that 3:1 to 4:1 area is an ideal zone.

And Calgary isn't that far out compared to other places, so we have a lot less ground to cover than Vancouver or San Diego. Plus Calgary's salaries have been increasing faster than the rest of Canada so that affects the affordability from the other side (though of course now with the recession that's not going to continue).

Different areas also naturally have different affordability. Vancouver because it is restricted with respect to available land, so scarcity and building up instead of out drives up costs. Downtown areas cost more for the same reasons coupled with demand. Some places are just so much nicer to live than other places and are desirable. Some places are dumps, Regina had a 2.1:1 I think a few years ago lol.

Some places have lots of jobs high paying jobs and lower taxes, so people want to move there. That's what happened to Calgary.. economic woes aside, the price decreases were coming anyway. Huge influx of people, limited inventory, prices go up. Supply tries to catch up, overshoots, excess inventory, prices drop.

I had a really cool graph but I can't seem to find it.