500,000 Dollars

The "average" price of a house in Calgary has now surpassed the $500,000 dollar mark. This is a typical single family home that I'm talking about.

I have to wonder who buys these houses? I'm amazed at the number of mortgages out here that are 40 years in length. Guys buying with no money down and making payments of 2000 bucks a month.

I went to Ontario a few weeks ago. I was in Waterloo, my hometown. In 2001, the prices for a house there were pretty much the same. I was looking at a townhouse in Uptown Waterloo. It was 179K, which once seemed like alot of money. That same place out here in an urban core would run 450K. 6 years ago the prices were the same.

This is a good thing if you own a house here. But if you don't....well... I've had a couple of workmates give up on Calgary & leave. One to Saskatoon, the other to New Brunswick. Fed up with the high costs of housing & the rising costs of living here.