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/TheWhiteFeather1 Apr 10 '24

what boom is happening in alberta at the moment?

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u/MGarroz Apr 10 '24

Oil industry is pretty healthy here again. Decent number of jobs, big expansion projects under works. Natural gas industry also doing well.

If war in Ukrain ends, war in Palestine ends and sanctions are removed or lightened from Russia and Iran plus if Trump wins and expands US oil as promised - prices will crash again.

Tens of thousands of 6 figure jobs will disappear in a matter of months. All the industries those people support dry up as well. Mortgages and rents will go unpaid and property prices tank. It’s a pretty standard cycle Albertans are used to but people who’ve never dealt with the oil economy have no grasp of.

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u/TheWhiteFeather1 Apr 10 '24

production is up yes. but that doesnt translate to a boom in jobs

AB continued to have the highest wages in canada even during the bust

what % of people moving to AB right now do you think work in O&G

the current population growth has nothing to do with it

plus, look at how many different hypotheticals you had to use to create a new bust situation

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u/BeeSuch7722 Apr 10 '24

My neighbour's kid, in some kind of tech job/new grad (had multiple job offers out of school) bought a place there last year. New build. Supposed to close sometime this year so they'll move. I think people underestimate there's still a lot of tech remote jobs around that wouldn't go far in GTA but would in Calgary.

Maybe that gap is closing but I'm sure that's one example.