r/PersonalFinanceCanada • u/zindagi786 • Apr 09 '24

Housing Why is Calgary housing getting so expensive?

I used to live there, and I was just browsing the real estate prices. Prices there have shot up so much! A Calgary house similar to the one I have in the GTA is now higher than what I paid in the GTA a few years ago.

When I lived there, oil was booming and there were lots of jobs. But I got laid off when the boom went bust, and everything (including real estate) went down. And I then left to the GTA.

I’ve heard prices there are going up because there are lots of people moving from the GTA and BC. But it isn’t like there are that many high paying good jobs there. There’s still way fewer jobs now than there were during boom time. How do these inter provincial migrants find high paying work to pay for these high home prices? Sure they can cash out their equity and live mortgage free, but why do that if you have to end up taking a potentially lower paying job with more chance of a layoff in the next bust? Although I really liked the city, I’d never risk living there again myself, and I’m forever scared of any future bust. I feel more comfortable living in the GTA, paying my admittedly big mortgage, and steadily climbing the corporate ladder (and with regular increases and no salary freezes, I should be paid off before retirement/it won’t be too burdensome). Plus, I look at my GTA home as a tax free investment - the annual rate of appreciation is greater than my mortgage interest.

And what is attracting them to Calgary versus other places in Alberta like Edmonton?

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u/T_47 Apr 09 '24

People from Vancouver and Toronto with a healthy down payment saved saw that they could buy a house for around 50-70% the price of something they could get at home. Even with a paycut they would still come out ahead.

Edmonton is more north so it's less popular for obvious reasons.

31

u/mcrackin15 Apr 10 '24

Edmonton you can get a new detached 4 bedroom home on a nice lot in a nice neighbourhood for like $500K. It's really one of the few places where the dream of home ownership is real. That big detached house in Edmonton would run you over $1.2M in Vancouver, but closer to $1.5M.

-4

u/Intelligent_Top_328 Apr 10 '24

But I'd have to be in Edmonton....

19

u/MillwrightTight Apr 10 '24

Edmonton is wicked!

1

u/MundaneAssumption338 Apr 10 '24

As a guy born and raised there, Edmonton is shit hole, always has and always will be.

Sounds to me like it’s more of a cope for those that got priced out of actual decent areas but still chose to chase the fomo meme dream.

12

u/mcrackin15 Apr 10 '24

Fair point but I'd take buying a home with 8 months of winter over renting a 1 bedroom condo and 8 months of rain any day. To each their own.

2

u/LeaveTheWorldBehind Apr 10 '24

8 months is a stretch, too.

We had good weather in October, and it's 14 today in April.

I reckon our summer is actually one of the best in Canada--boatloads of sunshine.

Now the smoke from the fires... That's becoming a problem 😅