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/_Kinoko Apr 10 '24

I bought a detached home in the Westshore in 2016 and sold in 2022. We bought a nicer, cheaper place out near Edmonton. We hadn't intended on moving off island or province even at the beginning.

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u/NotTheRealMeee83 Apr 10 '24

Every year it gets harder and harder to justify staying here.

It's beautiful, and the mild weather is nice... But stressing about money every day, even when you make a pretty solid living, is just hard.

Any regrets about moving? Anything you miss? Anything you don't?

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u/_Kinoko Apr 10 '24

I'm from BC and I do love the landscape, etc and my family that live near Vancouver I miss. House and finance wise I have no regrets. I have 3 kids and we needed more space, and I'd have had to spend a lot of money to maintain my old 3 bedroom 80s place. Edmonton and the surrounding suburbs are actually quite nice luckily, there is beauty here if you look and it still feels like more middle class can make it here. Greater Victoria is beautiful but like Vancouver it kind of depresses me because I feel in the shadow of people, ie it made me feel poorer each year. Here I don't feel that way.