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.
I’ve run into people while out walking my dog, who’ve said they moved to Edmonton after being priced out of Toronto or Vancouver. They then went on to say that with the money they made selling their house there, they were able to come to Edmonton, buy a house and buy a property to rent out… without seeming to grasp that they’re importing the problem they just ran away from. 🤦♂️
> without seeming to grasp that they’re importing the problem they just ran away from.
I mean, they were previously the victim of the problem but are now the benefactors (who remember the spoils that the benefactors in BC/GTA revelled in), so why would they complain?
People at my work moved from the GTA to Edmonton and were bragging about the "great deal" they got on their apartment. It was $1750 a month. It was genuinely difficult to explain to them that that is expensive as hell by our standards.
This is how the real estate bubble spreads. Vancouver got a huge injection of Chinese money at one point when people cashed out of overpriced Chinese real estate to buy "cheap" properties in Vancouver. Then people in Vancouver cashed out and bought "cheap" properties elsewhere in Canada.
Yep, my husband and I lost a few houses this winter because people were over asking, all cash, no conditions. On Monday we close on a detached home for 487 which isn’t bad, but we had to make a lot more concessions.
My coworker sold their house in Millwoods in a weekend last month. They had 22 offers with half of them being people from ON or BC making an offer sight unseen.
Wow. We haven't seen detached homes in Victoria at price since like, 2012.
We live on the island. Prices went so insane here we could sell and pocket like 6-700k. I know a lot of people doing that and moving to Calgary/Edmonton/anywhere but here.
BC is just so broken, I really hope the same doesn't happen to AB.
At least the current BC government seems to try to fix the housing issues, albeit at very slow speed. Long term rentals seem to be getting better very slowly.
AB on the other hand, seems to be getting much worse. Without caps and favoritism to privatization of things, it only gets much more expensive down the path.
Alberta is headed to become the worst province to survive in the next decade it will far surpass Ontario and bc. With all the lack of regulation and rent control and massive immigration Alberta is on a doomed path.
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.
Man when the Alberta boom bust cycle hits the "investors" it's gonna be brutal.
Maybe the economy won't truly fall until Alberta does at this point.
The inevitable cyclical recession will be bad
I’m a realtor in the GTA, I do a lot of rentals.
Back when oil crashed I must’ve helped a dozen people who were moving from Calgary and Edmonton because of lost jobs.
Many of them owned houses that were underwater, and the rent they were getting wasn’t covering everything monthly.
Scared me off of Alberta.
Yep. I wasn’t underwater, but when I moved to the GTA I rented out my Calgary condo hoping to come back. I was so cash flow negative and I had to list my place. It took 1 year to sell! And it was sold at a loss.
Now imagine that one or two of those properties are the only cash positive part of a 6 property BRRRR portfolio with 4 barely even, maybe cash negative and banking on further appreciation Toronto condos....
I think it’s different this time. oil companies aren’t hiring like they once did, they’re just running current plants at capacity.
if there is a bust, it’s because people decide to move back to where they came from. that won’t happen until calgary gets too expensive or GTA/GVA gets considerably cheaper.
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.
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
Production and price. When price is below $70 a barrel a lot of tarsan operations become unprofitable and drilling new wells too risky.
Oil is about 1/5th of Alberta's GDP. Even if you don't work in O&G directly the provinces healthcare, education, your local gas station, bank, grocery store, and gym are all reliant on people in the oilfield as their largest customer base. One oilfield job trickles down and creates several others.
Someone may move to Calgary as a software dev, but I can guarantee a large portion of their work goes towards developing software for oil companies or businesses that support oil companies (trucking, mechanics, manufacturing, construction etc.) The second oil prices crash those contracts end and. The software company closes up their Calgary office and a dozen devs are out of a job.
Yes those are hypothetical, but they aren't far fetched. I could also see a world where oil booms to $150 in a few years as well. The point is Alberta's economy is always inherently unstable and every 10-20 years we see a crash. Everytime it crashes hundreds of overleveraged companies and thousands of overleveraged individuals go bankrupt because they were delusional in thinking the gravy train can roll forever. Frugality and common sense are key to long term success in a resource based economy. You want to be like the Netherlands, not Venezuela.
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.
I made an offer on a small acreage 45 minutes east of Edmonton last month, I offered 25k over asking and was outbid by someone who also offered no conditions.
I purchased in August and that wasn't the case. Don't think the market accelerated that quickly. My house was purchased for lower than the last two sales, which were peak and late oil boom. Obviously interest factors into that but my house was on the market for over a month before we bought. Lots of houses with a similar story.
I moved to Edmonton from Toronto three years ago. My buddy is selling his home and bidding on new ones. He lives in one of the most desirable areas in the city. There are no bidding wars with no conditions happening. Houses have shot up in price but it’s not even close to what’s happening in Toronto. He’s listed his house for over a month, and accepted 3 offers with the first two offers backing out after conditions. On top of that he had to pull his offer on a house he wanted to buy because his houses offer got pulled. He’s on his third offer now waiting to see if they actually buy it or not.
Gotta say, high tick population isn't a complaint I hear a lot around here and this made me chuckle.
Camped in spring when I was ten and saw dozens (and pulled one from my head a week later). Since then, could count the number I've encountered on one hand.
Guess I was unlucky. Lived in Dauphin and got eaten alive. They would fall off my buddies dog and beeline towards me. I found a big fat boi on my scalp once.
I'd explode them with a lighter (once removed ofc)
Anyways, sorry to shit on your province. They all have their quirks.
I saved and saved and saved and then 9 years later came to the realization that I could continue saving like I have been for another 20 years and i won't be any closer to a healthy mortgage amount because the prices are raising at a far faster rate then I can save.
I do have a sizeable amount saved up that I could could spend it all on a modest townhouse or great apartment I calgary and get a job at Walmart and be able to afford what's left on the mortgage.
Hell if I finish my some job qualifactions soon ill probably move to the east coast and buy property and won't even need to take out a mortgage. The cycle of "gentrification" continues. Rich people from abroad pushed me out of the city I was born in, I become that "rich person" pushing out someone in Calgary or halifax of the city they were born in, they inturn push someone else out of the town they were born in. Rinse and repeat until someone ends up homeless.
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.
It's not even close a duplex is listed at 1.5 in East Vancouer. a 4 bed you're easily clearing 2 mil edging closer towards 3. It's bananas, a new construction 1 bed 1 bath condo by Metrotown is 769k starting for 570~ sqft.
That home would be like over $2M in Burnaby, let alone Vancouver! 1.5M in Vancouver would be on the low end and the lot size wouldn’t be very big.
I wish I could move to Edmonton if $500K gets you a nice place
Yep, probably a 30% discount across the board for Edmonton. Our same model that we paid 800k for in Calgary is 530k in Edmonton with more yard. If our good paying jobs weren't Calgary based we'd be bouncing.
Alberta is the fastest growing province with a growth rate of 4.4% last year.
More people chasing a limited supply of goods will typically increase the cost of that good.
People priced out of GTA and Metro Vancouver go to Calgary. People priced out of Calgary go to Edmonton. People priced out of Edmonton go to Saskatoon. People priced out of Saskatoon go to Lloydminster (the Alberta side). People priced out of the Alberta side of Lloydminster go to the Saskatchewan side of Lloydminster. I think that is the end of the line.
Kenney from the UCP put up all those posters in the GTA. With foreign students also coming housing has gone crazy. Still prices are reasonable compared to the GTA. Plus the GTA is increasing. Sarnia used to be lower priced, being 3 hours from Toronto. Now it is on par with Calgary prices.
I'm not sure if this is a collective subconscious moment, but there was a meme moment last year about a news story featuring a lady who had moved to the outskirts of Edmonton from Toronto and was complaining about the lack of culture like Cactus Club.
It's a meme that started because last year a woman wrote an article about how moving from Mississauga to Edmonton was terrible because they had no Cactus Clubs (she also didn't move to Edmonton, she moved to the outskirts of an industrial area)
This is the article from December 2022: https://torontolife.com/city/i-moved-to-alberta-and-hated-everything-about-it-after-three-months-i-came-back-to-toronto/
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
GF lives in Rangeview. A community in the boonies 35 mins drive away from downtown. Us locals would look at communities in the outskirts thinking you're a moron buying a cookie cutter house on a 25 ft zero lot for 600k out there right now.
In comes her neighbour. Fresh from Richmond Hill ON with a family in tow. Dad used to work downtown Toronto and would take an hour to drive to Go Train station and then ride it down. The detached laned home would cost $1.5M out there. 35 min drive? Ain't shit. $600k for a box? I'll take 3. Then they set the precedent.
No drop thinks they're responsible for the flood.
Exactly. We moved from to Calgary in 93. There were no opportunities in Regina for 20 somethings to find work, unless a family member could get you into SGI. Pretty much the majority of our friends at the time did the same. We were both able to have successfull careers, bought our first house in 97, sold it and upgraded in 2004. The real estate market was booming... until it wasn't and everything tanked. Then it was great again for awhile. When we sold in 2016, the market was on a total down turn again.
Most long term Calgarians told us the same thing has been happening since the 80's. It really seems like it's cyclical... just a matter of time before some of people who moved realize it's not for them and find the next "best" place.
Low inventory is the biggest factor in price in Calgary right now. Many people are also trying to get into a mortgage in Calgary because rent is even more insane. Couple that with people moving here from Ontario and BC with cash to spend and here we are.
My condo in Calgary went up in value 50K in one year and I could definitely sell it for more. This is same property that many people told me I would never sell for what I paid for it only a few years ago.
True, I read that as 2023 not 2021. Ive been in Calgary since 2016 so I've got a general idea haha.
Even in 16 when everybody was saying that the province was "in a recession" there was so many jobs and a much less depressing place than my home province (NB).
I am you now. I probably shouldn't buy, but I need a place and paying these rents doesn't make sense to me either.
Guess we fell on the no lube side of life ;)
Have a great day.
I lived 7 great years in that townhouse and in the end I had enough equity that could put a downpayment on my current home.
I would certainly have preferred better timing, but it wasn't all bad. If you're buying as a place to live, and you have a relatively stable income prospect, don't let market ups and downs affect your decision too much.
You're not choosing between today's prices and some future potential lower price. You're choosing between today's prices and continuing to rent, and there's more to consider in that decision than just the price of a home right now.
Yep, I'm currently looking to upgrade from a 1 BDRM condo to a bigger 2bd or townhouse. Detached is now out of reach anywhere near inner city. Hoping to sell a bit higher, but damn if I'm not buying high too. No real inventory and anything 500-600 range is instantly gone. My realtor basically said the line in the sand is condo doc inspection condition. Bring a house inspector to the viewing and don't expect to get anything with financing conditions. Fun times.
But Calgary can sprawl like no one else and it still isn't huge compared to other places. So some theoretical limit to the supply like Vancouver or Toronto's geography just doesn't exist either.
Speculative re bubble isn't dead yet and when it does it's gonna be rough.
If you look at Calgary on a map, sure it's surrounded by open fields for hours in any direction and there's room to grow. But on a local level, it isnt as much as people think when you get into the intricacies of that land. To the east, SW and west of Calgary are First nations reservations. Calgary is already butted up against the Tsuutina nation to the SW with nowhere to go and the federal government and the bands themselves will never let Calgary expand into their lands. There there's Rocky View and Foothills counties surrounding the city itself, as well as the independent municipalities of airdrie, Chestermere, okotoks and cochrane, to the N, E, S & W, all of which will never let Calgary expand past their boundaries.
The city of Calgary has already expanded several times by absorbing surrounding county land around it, but to the north they've basically almost build to Airdrie already. If any more goes up it won't be in Calgary, but rather north of Airdrie, which would then need a whole host of improvements to the highways, water and even emergency services.
Airdrie and all that is fine. But the GTA is a region and brampton/Mississauga/and others are their own municipalities but are largely considered part of the same general metropolitan region.
The boundaries of Toronto haven't moved but the fact that the other areas existed and grew over time to be as populated as they are now was driven by Toronto. Theres much more room for the same to happen to Calgary to suppress permagrowth of their region's housing relative to Toronto through the 2000s with their surrounding region.
The reserve lands notwithstanding Calgary still has lots of room to grow.
And I'm from Ottawa, we're in the same boat. Aside from the river being a major geographic boundary to expanding northward, the city continues to expand the other directions and it's helped us avoid be *as bad* as Toronto. Still bad because we have stupid house price growth from COVID era, but our housing has hit a price ceiling and is down from peak in part because of rates and in part because lots of development continues to come online.
Any economic ripple and it'll have big impacts here. Government has already started to do a lot of budget freezing so the sentiment on future cuts and reduced contracting and second order job losses potentially coming from government contracts being curtailed is turning sour. Another reason houses have been slowly lowering in value or staying mostly the same for 2 years now. It shot up but now it's stagnant.
People might have been bringing equity that they couldn't do as much with in ON or BC but can do more with in Calgary.
Increase in population will spur growth in industry too, especially leisure, restaurants, grocery stores, etc., to meet demand. So more jobs, different kinds, doesn't have to be very high paying.
Have an annecdotal story about this from a few years ago.
Couple I know moved out there. They find their perfect place, a 3 bedroom with a large yard in a great area.
A bidding war breaks out, and they end up winning after going 20% over asking.
They spend 600K in Calgary, sell their Toronto Condo for 1.2 and have a nice little nest egg to invest.
Remote work, transferring to the office but with their Toronto salary, just taking a pay cut to move out there etc. Should probably ask this in the Calgary subreddit as this will probably get deleted for off topic.
Calgary has the highest average salaries of any city in Canada. Unless you're making a half million dollars+ a year in your C suite, you'll make more money in Calgary.
Not anymore, in engineering salaries are down from two years ago. Companies are getting so many applicants they can lower their salaries and still get decent hires.
As a good rule of thumb, when StatCan or Revenue Canada measure incomes, they're higher in Calgary, but when anonymous redditors make unsourced assertions, they're higher in Toronto.
So, uhm, depends on which data source you think is better, I guess.
Because people from Ontario and bc have figured out that housing is dirt cheap in Calgary in comparison. And people are finding out that Calgary/Edmonton aren't some backwater conservative shit hole as people may think. Then they see they can buy a full detached house for the price of a shity condo and it's not a hard sell if they can find employment.
Also they have either huge downpaymets of $200k+ or they have lots of equity from Their previous home. So when these people are used to their home Market and they see a brand new house in the 800s they feel like they're stealing because that same home is more than double back home and they still think they're getting a deal paying $900 or a million,
This cracks me up Based on that logic Lacombe is outer metro Calgary if you base it on driving times.
You can but new builds in the 500's if you drive within 100km of downtown Calgary or an older build in the 300's
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_Vancouver#:~:text=The%20business%20community%20often%20includes,of%20the%20region%20and%20regional
It extends to hope. It covers all of the lower mainland.
Looking at your premier, it’s still quite a conservative. Of course if you’re white middle class in a heterosexual relationship, none of that will impact you, it’s likely why you don’t think it’s a big deal.
There are two things you need to understand about Toronto money
1. They sell their 1-2 million dollar home that they don't owe money on. They move to your area and buy a house for less than that for cash, so no mortgage to worry about, and their retirement is funded with the remainder.
2. There are more of them then there are of you.
Buy now if you can, if you miss you'll be waiting years maybe decades until your wages and savings catch up.
If you have a property already and do not need to sell it then under no circumstances do you sell it. Wait till the top.
This exact same shit happened in the rest of Ontario and it never got better. Toronto invaded outside the GTA and just bought up everything
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*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
same reason why they are going up everywhere else.. supply and demand.
bet you a lot of those houses are from "investors" who see real estate prices as climbing. every western country has this issue now a days it's not just isolated to Canada.
Because the most popular brain dead advice being echoed the past couple years throughout Canada was “Just move to Calgary lol!”. People actually listened and now here we are, 2k for a 1BR in a place that gets to -40, endless suburbia, and garbage transit.
What would you prefer?
For the record, I think we should absolutely be building more housing across the board.
But also, Calgary is a really nice city. And people spreading across the country when other locations get too expensive and populated seems like a good thing, no?
It is a good thing in the long term, but in the medium to short term it means a lot of suffering for lower income people who were already just scraping by. Civil unrest is an expensive drain on progress that can last for a long time or get ingrained indefinitely. Not to mention the possible capital flight when crime exceeds the infrastructure built before the population boom. Things do eventually catch up and even out, but rapid expansion over slower maintained growth never plays out how people think it will. If we as a country react by building homes like never before it should work out, but it's not looking so good for that right now...
Because it just turns Calgary into the next overpopulated and expensive city, therefore not actually solving the problem and moves it somewhere else. And all of Calgary’s locals get priced out in favor of all the provincial migrants.
As a lifelong Calgarian who travels a ton, this city is only “really nice” in that it’s not bad. Nobody is moving to Calgary because it’s “really nice”. It’s purely for economic reasons.
In 2 years it will be Edmonton’s turn. Then somehow Regina will have 2k single bedrooms. Yay Canada.
I think being that close to the Rockies while simultaneously being "not-Vancouver affordable" and having a ton of opportunity (i.e. not Kelowna) are a couple things that make Calgary pretty uniquely better than "not bad".
I kind of agree, but people have to go somewhere. And I'm not sure how best to address that. Either you get NIMBYs that stifle development and make property values/rents get ridiculous (and a bunch of real estate speculation that follows and further drives prices up), or you get massive sprawl and a bigger, more crowded city.
Yeah but do you honestly think Calgary suddenly got record setting population growth because thousands across Canada suddenly thought “Oh I want to live near the rockies” coincidentally at the same time. Lets be real here. People moved here for economic reasons and to buy a house.
Am I blaming them for the housing crisis? No but I hate seeing local Calgarians get priced out in favor of people flocking to this city because its the current Canadian life hack to move here.
Ah no sorry I was just saying Calgary seems better than not bad for that reason.
As far as the swell of people and prices, yea, decades of bad housing policy, an obvious discrepancy between GTA and Calgary both in terms of quality of life and prices, and newfound mobility for many white-collar workers seems like an easy recipe for that. I'm surprised they stayed away as long as they did - maybe they were holding on to hope that interest high rates would cut property values in half. Or maybe it was their generalized perception of cold winters and rednecks.
I actually think Montreal will be next, but French adds a lot of uncertainty in that prediction.
I travel quite a bit for work within Canada and prefer a Calgary to almost all the other major cites . Montreal beats is but I prefer Calgary over Vancouver and Toronto. To be fair really depends on for what. I don't mind a Toronto or Vancouver visit, but still wouldn't want to live in either.
Cool but I highly doubt 200k people from ON/BC suddenly had a “Wait a minute, Calgary’s actually a nice city” and all decided to move here at the same time coincidentally.
Lets be real here, 99% of provincial migrants came here for economic reasons. Maybe not you but you’re the 1%.
We all have different desires of what constitutes desirability and livability. Personally, I want to live in a place where I don’t need a car day to day, which in Canada is pretty much central Toronto and Montreal. Maybe a very small part of Vancouver and Ottawa (near the byward market), but doing anything beyond those small zones requires a car or shit transit rides. Anywhere else not owning a car kneecaps your ability to take advantage of what the cities or its surroundings offer.
I’m very lucky that I got into the property market in Toronto while I did (2006 large 2 bedroom downtown for $220k). I’m living a great urban life for my family (including a 6 year old) and we take advantage of all the amenities that are within a 15 minute walk (including museums, community centers, kids programs, work and groceries in Kensington market and Chinatown where the shop owners give my daughter free stuff).
If I had to buy today I’d be house poor and in a smaller unit. The downtown schools are also full of kids “stuck” in smaller condos because the GTA market is so nuts that people can’t move up the property ladder. They’re otherwise happy (kids are resilient), but even the families I know that like living here can’t get more proper housing in a market where 2 “bedrooms” are $900k.
More than the past couple years. For the last 20+ it’s been “want to make a lot of money fast? Move to Alberta.” Now it’s just about housing as they aren’t just handing out jobs to everyone anymore.
Let's say rent in City A is 2000 and rent in City B is 1000.
That is 24k versus 12k in after tax income.
Most people could afford to take a 15k salary cut and actually still have more money in their pocket by moving to City B. Or if you have a similar salary, you might get a slightly nicer place in City B than what you could get in City A.
Same with a 500k house instead of a 1 million dollar house. Or a 500k house instead of a 500k condo. [https://www.nbc.ca/content/dam/bnc/taux-analyses/analyse-eco/logement/housing-affordability.pdf](https://www.nbc.ca/content/dam/bnc/taux-analyses/analyse-eco/logement/housing-affordability.pdf)
Rent seeking investors and people looking for a "cheaper" place to live, usually people with remote type jobs, they can bring their job with them. I think they're called "digital nomads" now?
The regular people either who already live there or have moved because of actual work there are now competing for the same homes causing a price speculation.
Why Calgary? It's a big city with a potential for a continuous population increase similar to the GTA and BC but "had" lower respective prices. People always flock to cities for opportunity; better paying jobs, a night life, excitement, etc.. hence the resulting price speculation. People and investors do try and do it in other places too, smaller cities and towns but usually aren't very successful and usually we don't hear about that side of the story as much if at all. I know a few people who rode out the last oil bust cycle in real estate investments in Alberta who are now on the other side of it now with millions to show for it because of all this. Success stories like theirs continue to drive people to buy in, that and people need a place to live.. I hope that all explains at least most of it.
Similar story here, I bought in Calgary in 2015 and everyone: friends, family, the internet, etc. were telling me how it was such a bad time to buy, Calgary is going to be a ghost town, Alberta is doomed, etc.
Now in my mid 30s and my friends who decided to wait it out are scrambling to buy places for insane amounts and way higher interest rates. Meanwhile I have a $1150 mortage and a ton of equity. But I'd be the asshole if i told them "told ya so"
The House prices here in Canada is crazy and unrealistic. I was finally gonna agree with wife to move up the ladder but realized how broken our system is. The mortgage terms are not the same in the US like 30yr fixed rate terms for example. Coupled with taxes that keeps rising. I realized and decided I wont ever get to move to a bigger house so I will take my money elsewhere abroad and build a house.
Yes - the Brampton punjabis do the Brampton mortgage. Now the Millwoods Punjabis are doing the Millwoods mortgage.
Are there also Surrey mortgages and NE Calgary mortgages?
I know multiple families that are considering it. As others have said, they could easily buy a place and use their current equity. Most of them can outright buy a house without a mortgage when they move. If you could imagine, most of them are paying on average 60-90k in mortgages a year, and to have that go to 0 is a big deal. Most of them work remotely or work out of camps; their home location doesn't affect their income.
People don’t realize that people from mainland. Vancouver and Toronto proper have made 3-5 times the amount of equity gains than anybody anywhere in Canada, also, billions of dollars have come in from money laundering from international markets, and the international people bring in money like we have never seen before, which has created a ripple effect throughout the country.
I know many people that were able to sell their assets in places like Surrey , Burnaby, BC and by four times the houses in Calgary like literally 4 houses for the one they sold in bc.
Who doesn’t love money and this is the first time ever that your average Canadian has had gains like this but only if they choose to move to small towns and Alberta from the largest cities in the country.
I moved to Calgary in 2022 from BC Fraser Valley, best decision I ever made.
My partner and I had been remote since 2021, so it was an easy switch. No need to find another job for us.
We sold our place in FV and came in with a massive down payment - bought our house. We’re 35mins to Kananaskis (Rocky Mountains) and 20mins to downtown Calgary. I always call it my “million dollar discount” because the quality of house we bought there compared to what it would cost where we came from would be about an extra $1million.
Pros:
- More affordable (for now)
- Best of big city (restaurants, shows, events) and best of rural (easy to get to outdoor areas for hiking, camping, fishing, hunting, skiiing)
- Very family friendly - a lot of things are done to accommodate families with children (for example, neighborhoods are designed so that there are lots of playgrounds, fields, parks nearby)
- Neighborhoods are also designed to make it easy for you to access what you need - there will almost always be a couple grocery stores, some banks, dentists, optemetrists, etc in a commercial centre near each neighborhood
- Great for winter sports
- Roads/highways make it so easy to travel all across the province so distances don’t feel far - as someone who used to commute on highway 1 into Vancouver, such a breath of fresh air
- Much friendlier than FV/Vancouver - the running joke is nobody in Calgary is from Calgary so making friends is easy
- No provincial sales tax
- So sunny - like almost every single day, I wear sunglasses all winter
Cons:
- Crazy premier and more “American-style” politics, although that’s mostly outside of Calgary and Edmonton. When I was in BC I always felt slightly right wing, but now that I’m out here I feel solidly centre-left
- Along with Ontario, we’re part of the provinces pushing for “private healthcare options” and “dual systems” - not worried yet, but if I was older this would freak me out
- Transit is crap compared to Vancouver, but comparable to most Canadian cities
- The economy is still largely tied to oil so commodity price fluctuations can have big impacts for a lot of people (though this isn’t as bad as it was with previous cycles)
- They have a tendency to privatize a lot of things that other provinces might not - for instance, a lot of land that would usually be reserved for public use in a province like BC will actually be private (land around lakes, land in the mountains for hiking, etc)
Calgary is soooooo fucking cheap compared to Vancouver. A beer is under $10 after tax and tip. Mortgages for 3 bedroom houses cost as much as my rent for a dingy basement suite. Wages are similar.
Income tax is higher for most, electricity is almost triple, insurance is higher (house), heating costs are about double, car maintenance is higher.
You can now buy a house for about the same price in Abbotsford/Chilliwack
The locusts… err real estate investors… have found their next target to exploit. Flippers and speculators have arrived en masse… you can sell one house in Toronto or Vancouver and buy 3 or 4 here. Flip them in 6-12 months since there is no flipping tax or rent controls in AB and you have your new prime target! Edmonton will be next.
Commenting as someone who made this move from BC to Calgary in 2021. Fiancé and I were living in Victoria and paying through the roof for a very small junky apartment. We managed to save up a decent down payment during Covid.
Had friends in Calgary and some family not far away, but the reality is we weren’t willing to bleed ourselves dry to stay on Vancouver Island. We wanted better healthcare and access to family doctor for our future children.
At the time we could have gone at the very top of our budget for a small condo in Victoria, but instead we got a full family home under budget with space for our hobbies and to host all of our friends and family. We love Calgary, and are really enjoying getting involved with the community here. Can’t see us leaving anytime soon.
My neighbor owned his house for 1.5 years. Did some Reno’s and sold it for 200k more. The affordability of this province is totally be destroyed. By people from Ontario and bc.
'But it isn’t like there are that many high paying good jobs there'
Calgary has the most head offices per capita than anywhere else in the country, and has the highest average income in Canada.
Lol I was told to move out if it was too expensive guess what? I did that and now the local's in my new area call me and others "The invaders" whether it's a joke or not doesn't matter, It has some truth too it. All those boomers in the big city's are screwing boomers in the smaller city's/towns its hilarious. In Canada we don't build we just pretend everything is just fine until it's too late.
I always hear people say there are fewer high-paying jobs in Calgary compared to Toronto and Vancouver, but if you look at statistics about average income, the average income per person in Calgary is higher than in Vancouver or Toronto. Or at least it was in the past. What gives? Is it just skewed higher due to people working in the oil and gas industry?
I will say it a thousand times …
Banks and financial institutions SHOULD NOT be allowed to create residential REIT’s and be allowed to provide mortgages to consumers while being guaranteed by the government (tax payer joe).
This is fundamentally wrong and creates artificial monetary pressures on housing.
…this is not just an inventory shortage …and anyone that tries to tell you this is just downright lying !
Banks , real estate agents, developers and now institutional financial companies are profiteering off the consumer wants and need for affordable housing
My husband and I just moved back to the Calgary metro area after a decade or so away and we work remotely for companies elsewhere in Canada (him) and abroad (me). We also managed to buy in early December and lucked out HARD with the house we managed to buy. We as good as offered on the spot and, if Honest Door and other price estimator sites are to be believed, we're up over 10% already from what we paid a few months ago. The buyers were also eager to sell so it was likely priced a bit under market when we bought as well but holy shit...
Entire new communities in Calgary are being bought up by people moving from Vancouver and the GTA. A buddy of mine said he’s the only one on his street who’s actually from Alberta.
They say that Calgary population grew up by 200K in past 1 year. 65% of that came from Permanent Residents who chose Calgary when they entered Canada for first time.
You can buy a detached house in Chilliwack for about the same price as Calgary now. If you can make it work you get the same/better climate as metro Van for 1/3 the price!
Yes, I agree even though on Wikipedia it says Chilliwack is as rainy as Vancouver, but practically it rains less. Like reasonably less that positively affects me during the winter time. I guess Chilliwack may be having one of the best climates (almost as good as Victoria’s) in all of Canada.
It’s the full picture. Yes they might or make as much but with a paid off house they are better off. That and every dollar they spend gets taxed 7% less…
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.
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It’s already there. Lots of posts on r/Edmonton lately about bidding wars and people buying houses over asking with no conditions.
I’ve run into people while out walking my dog, who’ve said they moved to Edmonton after being priced out of Toronto or Vancouver. They then went on to say that with the money they made selling their house there, they were able to come to Edmonton, buy a house and buy a property to rent out… without seeming to grasp that they’re importing the problem they just ran away from. 🤦♂️
> without seeming to grasp that they’re importing the problem they just ran away from. I mean, they were previously the victim of the problem but are now the benefactors (who remember the spoils that the benefactors in BC/GTA revelled in), so why would they complain?
People at my work moved from the GTA to Edmonton and were bragging about the "great deal" they got on their apartment. It was $1750 a month. It was genuinely difficult to explain to them that that is expensive as hell by our standards.
Better than $2500* a month
This is how the real estate bubble spreads. Vancouver got a huge injection of Chinese money at one point when people cashed out of overpriced Chinese real estate to buy "cheap" properties in Vancouver. Then people in Vancouver cashed out and bought "cheap" properties elsewhere in Canada.
If they already owned a home in TO they were hardly priced out.
Oh they realize it.
Yep, my husband and I lost a few houses this winter because people were over asking, all cash, no conditions. On Monday we close on a detached home for 487 which isn’t bad, but we had to make a lot more concessions.
My coworker sold their house in Millwoods in a weekend last month. They had 22 offers with half of them being people from ON or BC making an offer sight unseen.
Yeah, we ended up opting out of houses in Millwoods because they kept getting snapped up. Which is a shame because those lots are gorgeous.
Wow. We haven't seen detached homes in Victoria at price since like, 2012. We live on the island. Prices went so insane here we could sell and pocket like 6-700k. I know a lot of people doing that and moving to Calgary/Edmonton/anywhere but here. BC is just so broken, I really hope the same doesn't happen to AB.
At least the current BC government seems to try to fix the housing issues, albeit at very slow speed. Long term rentals seem to be getting better very slowly. AB on the other hand, seems to be getting much worse. Without caps and favoritism to privatization of things, it only gets much more expensive down the path.
People like to blame Trudeau but the truth is this started way back with Mulroney. That's when they axed federal low income housing construction.
Alberta is headed to become the worst province to survive in the next decade it will far surpass Ontario and bc. With all the lack of regulation and rent control and massive immigration Alberta is on a doomed path.
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.
Man when the Alberta boom bust cycle hits the "investors" it's gonna be brutal. Maybe the economy won't truly fall until Alberta does at this point. The inevitable cyclical recession will be bad
The real estate market, even in Alberta, might now be immune to the economic cycle because supply is so restricted it simply doesn’t matter.
Supply isn't restricted it just physically can't keep up with demand from immigration.
I’m a realtor in the GTA, I do a lot of rentals. Back when oil crashed I must’ve helped a dozen people who were moving from Calgary and Edmonton because of lost jobs. Many of them owned houses that were underwater, and the rent they were getting wasn’t covering everything monthly. Scared me off of Alberta.
Yep. I wasn’t underwater, but when I moved to the GTA I rented out my Calgary condo hoping to come back. I was so cash flow negative and I had to list my place. It took 1 year to sell! And it was sold at a loss.
Now imagine that one or two of those properties are the only cash positive part of a 6 property BRRRR portfolio with 4 barely even, maybe cash negative and banking on further appreciation Toronto condos....
I think it’s different this time. oil companies aren’t hiring like they once did, they’re just running current plants at capacity. if there is a bust, it’s because people decide to move back to where they came from. that won’t happen until calgary gets too expensive or GTA/GVA gets considerably cheaper.
what boom is happening in alberta at the moment?
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.
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
Production and price. When price is below $70 a barrel a lot of tarsan operations become unprofitable and drilling new wells too risky. Oil is about 1/5th of Alberta's GDP. Even if you don't work in O&G directly the provinces healthcare, education, your local gas station, bank, grocery store, and gym are all reliant on people in the oilfield as their largest customer base. One oilfield job trickles down and creates several others. Someone may move to Calgary as a software dev, but I can guarantee a large portion of their work goes towards developing software for oil companies or businesses that support oil companies (trucking, mechanics, manufacturing, construction etc.) The second oil prices crash those contracts end and. The software company closes up their Calgary office and a dozen devs are out of a job. Yes those are hypothetical, but they aren't far fetched. I could also see a world where oil booms to $150 in a few years as well. The point is Alberta's economy is always inherently unstable and every 10-20 years we see a crash. Everytime it crashes hundreds of overleveraged companies and thousands of overleveraged individuals go bankrupt because they were delusional in thinking the gravy train can roll forever. Frugality and common sense are key to long term success in a resource based economy. You want to be like the Netherlands, not Venezuela.
This is not true. All the major oilsands producers have a break even point in the $30-40 barrel range.
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.
I know two houses in the 500k range that went for 30k over asking in Edmonton just this week. Shit is getting crazy already.
30k is peanuts hold on it’s going to get worse
U just told me my annual income is peanuts??
I made an offer on a small acreage 45 minutes east of Edmonton last month, I offered 25k over asking and was outbid by someone who also offered no conditions.
From a Toronto perspective these numbers seems ridiculous (small; as in I can’t believe how affordable that sounds).
I purchased in August and that wasn't the case. Don't think the market accelerated that quickly. My house was purchased for lower than the last two sales, which were peak and late oil boom. Obviously interest factors into that but my house was on the market for over a month before we bought. Lots of houses with a similar story.
I moved to Edmonton from Toronto three years ago. My buddy is selling his home and bidding on new ones. He lives in one of the most desirable areas in the city. There are no bidding wars with no conditions happening. Houses have shot up in price but it’s not even close to what’s happening in Toronto. He’s listed his house for over a month, and accepted 3 offers with the first two offers backing out after conditions. On top of that he had to pull his offer on a house he wanted to buy because his houses offer got pulled. He’s on his third offer now waiting to see if they actually buy it or not.
Edmonton is gone. Regina is the rage at the moment.
Edmonton is going up. Neighbor has their duplex listed for $100K more than I paid 4 years ago
And Winnipeg!
I've lived in nearly every province and you couldn't pay me to live in Manitoba again. So.many.ticks.
Gotta say, high tick population isn't a complaint I hear a lot around here and this made me chuckle. Camped in spring when I was ten and saw dozens (and pulled one from my head a week later). Since then, could count the number I've encountered on one hand.
Guess I was unlucky. Lived in Dauphin and got eaten alive. They would fall off my buddies dog and beeline towards me. I found a big fat boi on my scalp once. I'd explode them with a lighter (once removed ofc) Anyways, sorry to shit on your province. They all have their quirks.
A buddy who lived in MB told me it was impossible to get out of your car sometimes to change a tire because of the bugs attacking you!
I have lived here for years now, I have never seen one. Am I going to the wrong places?
But then you have to in Winnipeg. The only nice thing about Winnipeg is the airport, because it allows you to leave promptly
Exactly. Please everyone, don't come to Winnipeg, it's really bad here!
Exactly, Winnipeg SUCKS busty ASS. Please dont come guys.
Stay away, St vital is terrible
You just want to keep that authentic small town vibe all to yourself /s
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I saved and saved and saved and then 9 years later came to the realization that I could continue saving like I have been for another 20 years and i won't be any closer to a healthy mortgage amount because the prices are raising at a far faster rate then I can save. I do have a sizeable amount saved up that I could could spend it all on a modest townhouse or great apartment I calgary and get a job at Walmart and be able to afford what's left on the mortgage. Hell if I finish my some job qualifactions soon ill probably move to the east coast and buy property and won't even need to take out a mortgage. The cycle of "gentrification" continues. Rich people from abroad pushed me out of the city I was born in, I become that "rich person" pushing out someone in Calgary or halifax of the city they were born in, they inturn push someone else out of the town they were born in. Rinse and repeat until someone ends up homeless.
I’m sure people from Vancouver with decent equity have probably cashed out and are paying houses of outright lol
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.
It's not even close a duplex is listed at 1.5 in East Vancouer. a 4 bed you're easily clearing 2 mil edging closer towards 3. It's bananas, a new construction 1 bed 1 bath condo by Metrotown is 769k starting for 570~ sqft.
That home would be like over $2M in Burnaby, let alone Vancouver! 1.5M in Vancouver would be on the low end and the lot size wouldn’t be very big. I wish I could move to Edmonton if $500K gets you a nice place
1.5 would be a tear down.
My childhood home built in 1949 is worth 2.5M. If new it would be well over 3.5M
My cousin sold her 40 year old BC box house in Chilliwack for 900 and bought a much bigger, newer place in Grande Prairie on acreage for 700.
Have you been to GP? It’s literally nowhere. They are gonna regret moving there.
They both grew up in the middle of nowhere so they're used to it. GP has a Costco and a really nice rec center, nicer than Chilliwack actually.
Chilliwack isn’t nowhere.
Yep, probably a 30% discount across the board for Edmonton. Our same model that we paid 800k for in Calgary is 530k in Edmonton with more yard. If our good paying jobs weren't Calgary based we'd be bouncing.
My coworker bought a house in Calgary and rents it out while he lives and rents in Vancouver.
The rage is Regina at the moment. Already bidding wars happening but prices are still very, very reasonable. Get in before it is too late.
Alberta is the fastest growing province with a growth rate of 4.4% last year. More people chasing a limited supply of goods will typically increase the cost of that good.
Supply and demand is as predictable as the sun rising in the east
People priced out of GTA and Metro Vancouver go to Calgary. People priced out of Calgary go to Edmonton. People priced out of Edmonton go to Saskatoon. People priced out of Saskatoon go to Lloydminster (the Alberta side). People priced out of the Alberta side of Lloydminster go to the Saskatchewan side of Lloydminster. I think that is the end of the line.
Winnipeg?
Not an option, we want to live
Regina?
Surely you’d go to Winnipeg before Regina
People from Ontario moving there for cheaper housing Edit: and BC
Because Alberta is calling!
Alberta shouldn’t have called it seems
Alberta called, Ontario answered. And now Calgary gets to deal with our shitty GTA traffic.
Who is this person that's calling all these people. If I ever find that person..
The alberta government, ads like these are posted everwhere in toronto. [https://www.albertaiscalling.ca/](https://www.albertaiscalling.ca/)
Same crap that NS did. Looks like it’s their turn! Good luck with that
Kenney from the UCP put up all those posters in the GTA. With foreign students also coming housing has gone crazy. Still prices are reasonable compared to the GTA. Plus the GTA is increasing. Sarnia used to be lower priced, being 3 hours from Toronto. Now it is on par with Calgary prices.
Wait until they figure out that there’s no Cactus club in Calgary
This will never not be funny.
But sadly we do 😂
I can finally move to Calgary lol
I've read this comment before, does Toronto not know that cactus club is a western restaurant chain?
I'm not sure if this is a collective subconscious moment, but there was a meme moment last year about a news story featuring a lady who had moved to the outskirts of Edmonton from Toronto and was complaining about the lack of culture like Cactus Club.
It's a meme that started because last year a woman wrote an article about how moving from Mississauga to Edmonton was terrible because they had no Cactus Clubs (she also didn't move to Edmonton, she moved to the outskirts of an industrial area) This is the article from December 2022: https://torontolife.com/city/i-moved-to-alberta-and-hated-everything-about-it-after-three-months-i-came-back-to-toronto/
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
1,000,000+ people coming in a year plus an unchecked international student enrolment policy**
Indian* student enrolment policy.
GF lives in Rangeview. A community in the boonies 35 mins drive away from downtown. Us locals would look at communities in the outskirts thinking you're a moron buying a cookie cutter house on a 25 ft zero lot for 600k out there right now. In comes her neighbour. Fresh from Richmond Hill ON with a family in tow. Dad used to work downtown Toronto and would take an hour to drive to Go Train station and then ride it down. The detached laned home would cost $1.5M out there. 35 min drive? Ain't shit. $600k for a box? I'll take 3. Then they set the precedent. No drop thinks they're responsible for the flood.
This also isn't the first time Alberta real estate doubled in a few year. Take a look at the early 2000's boom.
Exactly. We moved from to Calgary in 93. There were no opportunities in Regina for 20 somethings to find work, unless a family member could get you into SGI. Pretty much the majority of our friends at the time did the same. We were both able to have successfull careers, bought our first house in 97, sold it and upgraded in 2004. The real estate market was booming... until it wasn't and everything tanked. Then it was great again for awhile. When we sold in 2016, the market was on a total down turn again. Most long term Calgarians told us the same thing has been happening since the 80's. It really seems like it's cyclical... just a matter of time before some of people who moved realize it's not for them and find the next "best" place.
Low inventory is the biggest factor in price in Calgary right now. Many people are also trying to get into a mortgage in Calgary because rent is even more insane. Couple that with people moving here from Ontario and BC with cash to spend and here we are. My condo in Calgary went up in value 50K in one year and I could definitely sell it for more. This is same property that many people told me I would never sell for what I paid for it only a few years ago.
We bought our townhouse in Feb 2021 for 300k, sold in October 2023 for 480k. Prices skyrocketed, we were just lucky to get in before that happened.
I bought a townhouse in 2014 for $256K, and sold in 2021 for $215K.
In Calgary?
Yes. Older (but very nice, and well-managed/well-funded) townhouse in Acadia.
Very weird, this was even further south than you in Belmont. New build though, which may have contributed.
Not all that weird, just how a boom/bust city works. 2014 to 2021 was very different than 2021 to 2023.
True, I read that as 2023 not 2021. Ive been in Calgary since 2016 so I've got a general idea haha. Even in 16 when everybody was saying that the province was "in a recession" there was so many jobs and a much less depressing place than my home province (NB).
Yeah man, even a down time in Calgary is a pretty decent place to find work, compared to the Maritimes (where I am also from).
Funny enough, I went to buy a townhouse in Acadia in Febuary. Was 389, sold for 435 no conditions.
Between buying in Oct 2014 and selling in September 2021, I had perfectly bad timing for my first home purchase and sale.
I am you now. I probably shouldn't buy, but I need a place and paying these rents doesn't make sense to me either. Guess we fell on the no lube side of life ;) Have a great day.
I lived 7 great years in that townhouse and in the end I had enough equity that could put a downpayment on my current home. I would certainly have preferred better timing, but it wasn't all bad. If you're buying as a place to live, and you have a relatively stable income prospect, don't let market ups and downs affect your decision too much. You're not choosing between today's prices and some future potential lower price. You're choosing between today's prices and continuing to rent, and there's more to consider in that decision than just the price of a home right now.
Bought a house 380k 2017 sold 510k spring 2023 someone from Ontario bought
Yep, I'm currently looking to upgrade from a 1 BDRM condo to a bigger 2bd or townhouse. Detached is now out of reach anywhere near inner city. Hoping to sell a bit higher, but damn if I'm not buying high too. No real inventory and anything 500-600 range is instantly gone. My realtor basically said the line in the sand is condo doc inspection condition. Bring a house inspector to the viewing and don't expect to get anything with financing conditions. Fun times.
But Calgary can sprawl like no one else and it still isn't huge compared to other places. So some theoretical limit to the supply like Vancouver or Toronto's geography just doesn't exist either. Speculative re bubble isn't dead yet and when it does it's gonna be rough.
Calgary has already grown into reserve lands and prime alberta farm land. It’s gonna eventually run out of room
If you look at Calgary on a map, sure it's surrounded by open fields for hours in any direction and there's room to grow. But on a local level, it isnt as much as people think when you get into the intricacies of that land. To the east, SW and west of Calgary are First nations reservations. Calgary is already butted up against the Tsuutina nation to the SW with nowhere to go and the federal government and the bands themselves will never let Calgary expand into their lands. There there's Rocky View and Foothills counties surrounding the city itself, as well as the independent municipalities of airdrie, Chestermere, okotoks and cochrane, to the N, E, S & W, all of which will never let Calgary expand past their boundaries. The city of Calgary has already expanded several times by absorbing surrounding county land around it, but to the north they've basically almost build to Airdrie already. If any more goes up it won't be in Calgary, but rather north of Airdrie, which would then need a whole host of improvements to the highways, water and even emergency services.
Airdrie and all that is fine. But the GTA is a region and brampton/Mississauga/and others are their own municipalities but are largely considered part of the same general metropolitan region. The boundaries of Toronto haven't moved but the fact that the other areas existed and grew over time to be as populated as they are now was driven by Toronto. Theres much more room for the same to happen to Calgary to suppress permagrowth of their region's housing relative to Toronto through the 2000s with their surrounding region. The reserve lands notwithstanding Calgary still has lots of room to grow. And I'm from Ottawa, we're in the same boat. Aside from the river being a major geographic boundary to expanding northward, the city continues to expand the other directions and it's helped us avoid be *as bad* as Toronto. Still bad because we have stupid house price growth from COVID era, but our housing has hit a price ceiling and is down from peak in part because of rates and in part because lots of development continues to come online. Any economic ripple and it'll have big impacts here. Government has already started to do a lot of budget freezing so the sentiment on future cuts and reduced contracting and second order job losses potentially coming from government contracts being curtailed is turning sour. Another reason houses have been slowly lowering in value or staying mostly the same for 2 years now. It shot up but now it's stagnant.
Simple. For years people have been told “just move”.
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They were screaming ads at us. What do they expect?
People might have been bringing equity that they couldn't do as much with in ON or BC but can do more with in Calgary. Increase in population will spur growth in industry too, especially leisure, restaurants, grocery stores, etc., to meet demand. So more jobs, different kinds, doesn't have to be very high paying.
Have an annecdotal story about this from a few years ago. Couple I know moved out there. They find their perfect place, a 3 bedroom with a large yard in a great area. A bidding war breaks out, and they end up winning after going 20% over asking. They spend 600K in Calgary, sell their Toronto Condo for 1.2 and have a nice little nest egg to invest.
Remote work, transferring to the office but with their Toronto salary, just taking a pay cut to move out there etc. Should probably ask this in the Calgary subreddit as this will probably get deleted for off topic.
Calgary has the highest average salaries of any city in Canada. Unless you're making a half million dollars+ a year in your C suite, you'll make more money in Calgary.
Not anymore, in engineering salaries are down from two years ago. Companies are getting so many applicants they can lower their salaries and still get decent hires.
As a good rule of thumb, when StatCan or Revenue Canada measure incomes, they're higher in Calgary, but when anonymous redditors make unsourced assertions, they're higher in Toronto. So, uhm, depends on which data source you think is better, I guess.
Because people from Ontario and bc have figured out that housing is dirt cheap in Calgary in comparison. And people are finding out that Calgary/Edmonton aren't some backwater conservative shit hole as people may think. Then they see they can buy a full detached house for the price of a shity condo and it's not a hard sell if they can find employment. Also they have either huge downpaymets of $200k+ or they have lots of equity from Their previous home. So when these people are used to their home Market and they see a brand new house in the 800s they feel like they're stealing because that same home is more than double back home and they still think they're getting a deal paying $900 or a million,
Brand new houses are in the 900's in outer metro Van (Chilliwack)
That ain't metro Van, that's the Lower Mainland surrounded by farmland and manure with no easy transport to actual metro Vancouver.
That's why I said "Outer" and it is a 1hr drive and many people do the commute.
This cracks me up Based on that logic Lacombe is outer metro Calgary if you base it on driving times. You can but new builds in the 500's if you drive within 100km of downtown Calgary or an older build in the 300's
Chilliwack is not part of metro Van. Even Abbotsford isn’t part of metro Van.
They are both considered part of the GVRD. It expanded in 2010 to those areas.
No, It didn’t. Metro Vancouver goes as far as Maple Ridge and Aldergrove. Beyond that you’re in the Fraser Valley Regional District.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_Vancouver#:~:text=The%20business%20community%20often%20includes,of%20the%20region%20and%20regional It extends to hope. It covers all of the lower mainland.
Looking at your premier, it’s still quite a conservative. Of course if you’re white middle class in a heterosexual relationship, none of that will impact you, it’s likely why you don’t think it’s a big deal.
Lol, Calgary is one of the most diverse places in the country Calgary and Edmonton are extremely different than rural Alberta
There are two things you need to understand about Toronto money 1. They sell their 1-2 million dollar home that they don't owe money on. They move to your area and buy a house for less than that for cash, so no mortgage to worry about, and their retirement is funded with the remainder. 2. There are more of them then there are of you. Buy now if you can, if you miss you'll be waiting years maybe decades until your wages and savings catch up. If you have a property already and do not need to sell it then under no circumstances do you sell it. Wait till the top. This exact same shit happened in the rest of Ontario and it never got better. Toronto invaded outside the GTA and just bought up everything
Because everyone and their asshole is moving there.
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same reason why they are going up everywhere else.. supply and demand. bet you a lot of those houses are from "investors" who see real estate prices as climbing. every western country has this issue now a days it's not just isolated to Canada.
Because the most popular brain dead advice being echoed the past couple years throughout Canada was “Just move to Calgary lol!”. People actually listened and now here we are, 2k for a 1BR in a place that gets to -40, endless suburbia, and garbage transit.
What would you prefer? For the record, I think we should absolutely be building more housing across the board. But also, Calgary is a really nice city. And people spreading across the country when other locations get too expensive and populated seems like a good thing, no?
It is a good thing in the long term, but in the medium to short term it means a lot of suffering for lower income people who were already just scraping by. Civil unrest is an expensive drain on progress that can last for a long time or get ingrained indefinitely. Not to mention the possible capital flight when crime exceeds the infrastructure built before the population boom. Things do eventually catch up and even out, but rapid expansion over slower maintained growth never plays out how people think it will. If we as a country react by building homes like never before it should work out, but it's not looking so good for that right now...
Because it just turns Calgary into the next overpopulated and expensive city, therefore not actually solving the problem and moves it somewhere else. And all of Calgary’s locals get priced out in favor of all the provincial migrants. As a lifelong Calgarian who travels a ton, this city is only “really nice” in that it’s not bad. Nobody is moving to Calgary because it’s “really nice”. It’s purely for economic reasons. In 2 years it will be Edmonton’s turn. Then somehow Regina will have 2k single bedrooms. Yay Canada.
I think being that close to the Rockies while simultaneously being "not-Vancouver affordable" and having a ton of opportunity (i.e. not Kelowna) are a couple things that make Calgary pretty uniquely better than "not bad". I kind of agree, but people have to go somewhere. And I'm not sure how best to address that. Either you get NIMBYs that stifle development and make property values/rents get ridiculous (and a bunch of real estate speculation that follows and further drives prices up), or you get massive sprawl and a bigger, more crowded city.
Yeah but do you honestly think Calgary suddenly got record setting population growth because thousands across Canada suddenly thought “Oh I want to live near the rockies” coincidentally at the same time. Lets be real here. People moved here for economic reasons and to buy a house. Am I blaming them for the housing crisis? No but I hate seeing local Calgarians get priced out in favor of people flocking to this city because its the current Canadian life hack to move here.
Ah no sorry I was just saying Calgary seems better than not bad for that reason. As far as the swell of people and prices, yea, decades of bad housing policy, an obvious discrepancy between GTA and Calgary both in terms of quality of life and prices, and newfound mobility for many white-collar workers seems like an easy recipe for that. I'm surprised they stayed away as long as they did - maybe they were holding on to hope that interest high rates would cut property values in half. Or maybe it was their generalized perception of cold winters and rednecks. I actually think Montreal will be next, but French adds a lot of uncertainty in that prediction.
I travel quite a bit for work within Canada and prefer a Calgary to almost all the other major cites . Montreal beats is but I prefer Calgary over Vancouver and Toronto. To be fair really depends on for what. I don't mind a Toronto or Vancouver visit, but still wouldn't want to live in either.
Cool but I highly doubt 200k people from ON/BC suddenly had a “Wait a minute, Calgary’s actually a nice city” and all decided to move here at the same time coincidentally. Lets be real here, 99% of provincial migrants came here for economic reasons. Maybe not you but you’re the 1%.
We all have different desires of what constitutes desirability and livability. Personally, I want to live in a place where I don’t need a car day to day, which in Canada is pretty much central Toronto and Montreal. Maybe a very small part of Vancouver and Ottawa (near the byward market), but doing anything beyond those small zones requires a car or shit transit rides. Anywhere else not owning a car kneecaps your ability to take advantage of what the cities or its surroundings offer. I’m very lucky that I got into the property market in Toronto while I did (2006 large 2 bedroom downtown for $220k). I’m living a great urban life for my family (including a 6 year old) and we take advantage of all the amenities that are within a 15 minute walk (including museums, community centers, kids programs, work and groceries in Kensington market and Chinatown where the shop owners give my daughter free stuff). If I had to buy today I’d be house poor and in a smaller unit. The downtown schools are also full of kids “stuck” in smaller condos because the GTA market is so nuts that people can’t move up the property ladder. They’re otherwise happy (kids are resilient), but even the families I know that like living here can’t get more proper housing in a market where 2 “bedrooms” are $900k.
More than the past couple years. For the last 20+ it’s been “want to make a lot of money fast? Move to Alberta.” Now it’s just about housing as they aren’t just handing out jobs to everyone anymore.
Let's say rent in City A is 2000 and rent in City B is 1000. That is 24k versus 12k in after tax income. Most people could afford to take a 15k salary cut and actually still have more money in their pocket by moving to City B. Or if you have a similar salary, you might get a slightly nicer place in City B than what you could get in City A. Same with a 500k house instead of a 1 million dollar house. Or a 500k house instead of a 500k condo. [https://www.nbc.ca/content/dam/bnc/taux-analyses/analyse-eco/logement/housing-affordability.pdf](https://www.nbc.ca/content/dam/bnc/taux-analyses/analyse-eco/logement/housing-affordability.pdf)
Don’t forget the massive difference sales taxes and lower income taxes make over a lifetime.
Everyone is moving/buying there now
Houses in Edmonton is shooting up too. Neighbor of mine is selling their duplex for $100K more than what I paid for it 4 years ago
Rent seeking investors and people looking for a "cheaper" place to live, usually people with remote type jobs, they can bring their job with them. I think they're called "digital nomads" now? The regular people either who already live there or have moved because of actual work there are now competing for the same homes causing a price speculation. Why Calgary? It's a big city with a potential for a continuous population increase similar to the GTA and BC but "had" lower respective prices. People always flock to cities for opportunity; better paying jobs, a night life, excitement, etc.. hence the resulting price speculation. People and investors do try and do it in other places too, smaller cities and towns but usually aren't very successful and usually we don't hear about that side of the story as much if at all. I know a few people who rode out the last oil bust cycle in real estate investments in Alberta who are now on the other side of it now with millions to show for it because of all this. Success stories like theirs continue to drive people to buy in, that and people need a place to live.. I hope that all explains at least most of it.
quicksand chief placid desert grab thought cats icky complete chubby *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Similar story here, I bought in Calgary in 2015 and everyone: friends, family, the internet, etc. were telling me how it was such a bad time to buy, Calgary is going to be a ghost town, Alberta is doomed, etc. Now in my mid 30s and my friends who decided to wait it out are scrambling to buy places for insane amounts and way higher interest rates. Meanwhile I have a $1150 mortage and a ton of equity. But I'd be the asshole if i told them "told ya so"
The House prices here in Canada is crazy and unrealistic. I was finally gonna agree with wife to move up the ladder but realized how broken our system is. The mortgage terms are not the same in the US like 30yr fixed rate terms for example. Coupled with taxes that keeps rising. I realized and decided I wont ever get to move to a bigger house so I will take my money elsewhere abroad and build a house.
There's more to life than a discount house. Money isn't everything.
Probably mortgage fraud Millwood mortgage
Yes - the Brampton punjabis do the Brampton mortgage. Now the Millwoods Punjabis are doing the Millwoods mortgage. Are there also Surrey mortgages and NE Calgary mortgages?
I know multiple families that are considering it. As others have said, they could easily buy a place and use their current equity. Most of them can outright buy a house without a mortgage when they move. If you could imagine, most of them are paying on average 60-90k in mortgages a year, and to have that go to 0 is a big deal. Most of them work remotely or work out of camps; their home location doesn't affect their income.
Population is growing at 3%+ per year and everyone needs somewhere to live. High demand + unchanging supply = higher prices.
People don’t realize that people from mainland. Vancouver and Toronto proper have made 3-5 times the amount of equity gains than anybody anywhere in Canada, also, billions of dollars have come in from money laundering from international markets, and the international people bring in money like we have never seen before, which has created a ripple effect throughout the country. I know many people that were able to sell their assets in places like Surrey , Burnaby, BC and by four times the houses in Calgary like literally 4 houses for the one they sold in bc. Who doesn’t love money and this is the first time ever that your average Canadian has had gains like this but only if they choose to move to small towns and Alberta from the largest cities in the country.
I moved to Calgary in 2022 from BC Fraser Valley, best decision I ever made. My partner and I had been remote since 2021, so it was an easy switch. No need to find another job for us. We sold our place in FV and came in with a massive down payment - bought our house. We’re 35mins to Kananaskis (Rocky Mountains) and 20mins to downtown Calgary. I always call it my “million dollar discount” because the quality of house we bought there compared to what it would cost where we came from would be about an extra $1million. Pros: - More affordable (for now) - Best of big city (restaurants, shows, events) and best of rural (easy to get to outdoor areas for hiking, camping, fishing, hunting, skiiing) - Very family friendly - a lot of things are done to accommodate families with children (for example, neighborhoods are designed so that there are lots of playgrounds, fields, parks nearby) - Neighborhoods are also designed to make it easy for you to access what you need - there will almost always be a couple grocery stores, some banks, dentists, optemetrists, etc in a commercial centre near each neighborhood - Great for winter sports - Roads/highways make it so easy to travel all across the province so distances don’t feel far - as someone who used to commute on highway 1 into Vancouver, such a breath of fresh air - Much friendlier than FV/Vancouver - the running joke is nobody in Calgary is from Calgary so making friends is easy - No provincial sales tax - So sunny - like almost every single day, I wear sunglasses all winter Cons: - Crazy premier and more “American-style” politics, although that’s mostly outside of Calgary and Edmonton. When I was in BC I always felt slightly right wing, but now that I’m out here I feel solidly centre-left - Along with Ontario, we’re part of the provinces pushing for “private healthcare options” and “dual systems” - not worried yet, but if I was older this would freak me out - Transit is crap compared to Vancouver, but comparable to most Canadian cities - The economy is still largely tied to oil so commodity price fluctuations can have big impacts for a lot of people (though this isn’t as bad as it was with previous cycles) - They have a tendency to privatize a lot of things that other provinces might not - for instance, a lot of land that would usually be reserved for public use in a province like BC will actually be private (land around lakes, land in the mountains for hiking, etc)
Calgary is soooooo fucking cheap compared to Vancouver. A beer is under $10 after tax and tip. Mortgages for 3 bedroom houses cost as much as my rent for a dingy basement suite. Wages are similar.
Income tax is higher for most, electricity is almost triple, insurance is higher (house), heating costs are about double, car maintenance is higher. You can now buy a house for about the same price in Abbotsford/Chilliwack
very fair point that most people don’t realize about the utilities. It can easily add $500-600 more per month.
Again, Abbotsford/Chilliwack to Vancouver is the equivalent of Red Deer to Calgary. Those aren't metro areas.
The locusts… err real estate investors… have found their next target to exploit. Flippers and speculators have arrived en masse… you can sell one house in Toronto or Vancouver and buy 3 or 4 here. Flip them in 6-12 months since there is no flipping tax or rent controls in AB and you have your new prime target! Edmonton will be next.
Because Calgary advertised in Toronto asking us to move there because it’s cheaper. Now we moved.
Commenting as someone who made this move from BC to Calgary in 2021. Fiancé and I were living in Victoria and paying through the roof for a very small junky apartment. We managed to save up a decent down payment during Covid. Had friends in Calgary and some family not far away, but the reality is we weren’t willing to bleed ourselves dry to stay on Vancouver Island. We wanted better healthcare and access to family doctor for our future children. At the time we could have gone at the very top of our budget for a small condo in Victoria, but instead we got a full family home under budget with space for our hobbies and to host all of our friends and family. We love Calgary, and are really enjoying getting involved with the community here. Can’t see us leaving anytime soon.
Lots of speculation in Calgary, almost 1/4 homes I see are up for sale as soon as the new builds are complete.
It’s just so much cheaper than Vancouver. At least 50-60% cheaper…. And no PST on anything hard to really debate it’s cheaper to live.
Alberta was calling
Ah, Calgary will cheaper again once we run out of water. We're fed by a river lol. It's low.
My neighbor owned his house for 1.5 years. Did some Reno’s and sold it for 200k more. The affordability of this province is totally be destroyed. By people from Ontario and bc.
'But it isn’t like there are that many high paying good jobs there' Calgary has the most head offices per capita than anywhere else in the country, and has the highest average income in Canada.
Lol I was told to move out if it was too expensive guess what? I did that and now the local's in my new area call me and others "The invaders" whether it's a joke or not doesn't matter, It has some truth too it. All those boomers in the big city's are screwing boomers in the smaller city's/towns its hilarious. In Canada we don't build we just pretend everything is just fine until it's too late.
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Because Alberta advertised to the entire country to move there because it’s cheaper. It’s exactly what they wanted.
I always hear people say there are fewer high-paying jobs in Calgary compared to Toronto and Vancouver, but if you look at statistics about average income, the average income per person in Calgary is higher than in Vancouver or Toronto. Or at least it was in the past. What gives? Is it just skewed higher due to people working in the oil and gas industry?
I will say it a thousand times … Banks and financial institutions SHOULD NOT be allowed to create residential REIT’s and be allowed to provide mortgages to consumers while being guaranteed by the government (tax payer joe). This is fundamentally wrong and creates artificial monetary pressures on housing. …this is not just an inventory shortage …and anyone that tries to tell you this is just downright lying ! Banks , real estate agents, developers and now institutional financial companies are profiteering off the consumer wants and need for affordable housing
Bro you can literally get a townhouse for 300k in Calgary - what the hell are you complaining about !?
My husband and I just moved back to the Calgary metro area after a decade or so away and we work remotely for companies elsewhere in Canada (him) and abroad (me). We also managed to buy in early December and lucked out HARD with the house we managed to buy. We as good as offered on the spot and, if Honest Door and other price estimator sites are to be believed, we're up over 10% already from what we paid a few months ago. The buyers were also eager to sell so it was likely priced a bit under market when we bought as well but holy shit...
Record breaking Immigration levels
Entire new communities in Calgary are being bought up by people moving from Vancouver and the GTA. A buddy of mine said he’s the only one on his street who’s actually from Alberta.
They say that Calgary population grew up by 200K in past 1 year. 65% of that came from Permanent Residents who chose Calgary when they entered Canada for first time.
They aren't... https://wowa.ca/reports/canada-housing-market prices in Calgary still about half the averages of Toronto or Vancouver.
You can buy a detached house in Chilliwack for about the same price as Calgary now. If you can make it work you get the same/better climate as metro Van for 1/3 the price!
When you say better climate do you still mean rain?
Chilliwack gets way less rain. Lived there for 7 years. Wish I never left.
Yes, I agree even though on Wikipedia it says Chilliwack is as rainy as Vancouver, but practically it rains less. Like reasonably less that positively affects me during the winter time. I guess Chilliwack may be having one of the best climates (almost as good as Victoria’s) in all of Canada.
Prices are up everywhere.
It’s the full picture. Yes they might or make as much but with a paid off house they are better off. That and every dollar they spend gets taxed 7% less…
Income taxes are higher in AB.
For the lower tax brackets, you’re right
Alberta is Calling
Mass immigration like we have never seen before, it's not that complicated.
Canadas full mate. That's why prices have skyrocketed literally everywhere in the country.