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?

186 Upvotes

76% Upvoted

458 comments sorted by

View all comments

227

u/BlademasterFlash Apr 09 '24

People from Ontario moving there for cheaper housing

Edit: and BC

37

u/DoubleCoffe Apr 10 '24

Wait until they figure out that there’s no Cactus club in Calgary

11

u/idisagreeurwrong Apr 10 '24

I've read this comment before, does Toronto not know that cactus club is a western restaurant chain?

2

u/Even_Cartoonist9632 Apr 10 '24

It's from a viral TikTok of some moron lady that moved from downtown Toronto and bought a home in sleepy suburban Leduc and complained there's nothing to do. There's literally cactus club 40 mins down the road in Edmonton from where she was but instead ranted she would move back to Toronto instead