Quote:
Originally Posted by Harry Lime
The issue isn't so much looking at fair value for homes respective to other jurisdictions, or even recent historical sales, it's that the availability of homes at under $350K is almost non-existent. The only opportunities to get into the market at this price point are apartment style condos, or properties with extenuating circumstances. Working class Canadians are being turned into a sub-class. This changes the basic structure of a kids upbringing significantly from what 'we' were used to growing up. There seems to be a level of segregation that we are building into our communities that wasn't there 20 years ago.
You can't even move out of the city to upgrade your home. Commuter towns outside of Calgary and Edmonton are pretty much priced the same way now. Smaller cities in BC are priced at Calgary prices, so Kamloops and Vernon are priced out for most people wanting a detached home with a backyard for the kids.
It feels as if a way of life is being exterminated.
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I appreciate the sentiment and sympathize with the likely frustration if you're someone who is trying to buy in this current market. But I would push back on a few points for the sake of discussion:
- Townhomes are an option between SFH and condos -- you may not get your own "backyard" but it can help bridge the gap if you're wanting more space for family.
- Why $350k? Is that related to "working class" income in Calgary, or house prices? It looks like median prices have hovered around $460-475k since 2014; you have to go back to 2011 to be in the $400k range:
https://creastats.crea.ca/mls/calg-median-price
- Also, in my experience, kids and families growing up today DO have a different upbringing regardless of what kind of house you live in. If your frame of reference is 20 years ago (i.e. circa 2002), then yeah house prices have increased substantially and those lucky enough to buy before the big jump in the first half of 2006 benefited greatly (I was not so lucky). I'm not sure what the solution is -- besides making more "missing middle" type housing -- but I would take our situation over Vancouver/GTA 7 days of the week...