I'm an international immigrant who came to Canada two years for my Masters. I also plan to settle in Canada, got afraid on hearing the housing crisis existing in Canada. Currently, studying at the University of British Columbia and I got accommodation in Vancouver with my friends at a decent rate. Is it good to search for a job in Calgary or Alberta after the studies to own a home at a reduced price? I heard that Alberta is a good place for living. What is your opinion? Which place is good for living with fewer life expenses?
Housing crisis in Canada
- Thread starter ZZDown
- Start date
If you have time, it's better for you go to visit Calgary and drive around or use public transit or in the summer use the free scooter to see around the downtown core. For now, you can visit the websites of tnt supermarket in Calgary to compare the food prices with those in BC. Or gasbuddy to check gas prices.
As long as you can find a job. The job market is tougher than BC and not as diversified although it is getting better.
We moved from Toronto to Ottawa in the perspective of buying a place. Ottawa prices went up so much that it is now more or less comparable to Toronto. Plus there is a low supply of houses/condos here so you must be ready to add $$ to make sure you win the bidding war you are going to enter. For example if you make $100,000/year, you would with all additional fees and taxes spend at lest 6 to 7 times more to get a house here. A 1 to 7 ratio is quite unhealthy. Most people chose to bite the bullet and hope the property value will go up in the future. My question is up by how much? To reach a 1/20 ratio? Who will even be able to afford buying a place then.
It's really crazy, I can't imagine for single people or students. Again - noone forced us to immigrate to Canada. It's a beautiful country, unfortunately the cost of housing makes it difficult for people having normal jobs, to buy a place and live the calm family life they were looking for.
It's really crazy, I can't imagine for single people or students. Again - noone forced us to immigrate to Canada. It's a beautiful country, unfortunately the cost of housing makes it difficult for people having normal jobs, to buy a place and live the calm family life they were looking for.
As I mentioned earlier in the thread, the housing prices in Calgary and the rest of Alberta is already low. How much more correction do people need to make it easier to have normal jobs especially in the oil and gas industries, to buy a place and live the calm family life they were looking for? If you can afford a home in Toronto / Ottawa, why can't you afford one in Calgary. Calgary is still In Canada, right?
First, not sure what makes you think I can afford a house in Toronto or Ottawa. Second, this is unrelated to my point so not sure why you quoted me. If I could afford a house where I am, why would I even move.
As to Calgary, yes it's an option although not everyone can find jobs easily there and the market is rather unstable. If all of us could find a job there, I believe everyone would be moving there as housing prices are certainly more affordable there.
If there were a variety of jobs available in Calgary more people would move there and housing prices would increase. Current housing prices are due to the tough economy. When oil prices were very high housing prices in Alberta we’re going up at similar rates than a lot of Canada.
Same issue in many countries. One of the negative side effects of low interest rates and economies that have become dependent on housing as a major industry.
I partly agree but Canada's housing crisis is quite exceptional in my opinion. I had the chance to travel a bit and I rarely saw a ratio annual salary to house prices that bad, even in cities that have always topped the high cost of living rankings. I mean Toronto and Vancouver have been out of reach for the "normal" working class for quite some time, but we are now adding Ottawa and Montreal to the list. Frankly in Ottawa is becomes difficult to find anything decent for less than 600K (advertised), plus bidding war fees, plus taxes and other fees etc... easily 700K in the end + most probably strata fees to pay every month. It's just absurd compared to the average salary in Ottawa. Sure there are other cities but as you said it depends if you can find a job there.
Ottawa has always had higher salary prices so it’s not surprising housing prices are increasing. With the increasing number of tech jobs and many moving from Toronto it is not surprising that housing prices have gone up. You can still get a decent sized home for 600k. Montreal housing prices are delayed compared to the rest of Canada for political reasons. The province was a total mess for a few decades so housing was essentially flat and a lot of businesses wouldn’t consider setting up in Quebec. Now that this has changed the population is increasing and investment dollars are also pouring in. Not saying that it is not an issue but without the interest rates increasing and without decreasing the dependence that our economy has on housing nobody is willing to try to correct the issue. Someone should have done something 2 decades ago like reduced the term limit on mortgages , increase the percentage needed for downpayment, limited the amount of international investment or real estate investment in general, etc. If you tried to rollback prices now you would hurt the people who currently purchased. In Australia for example foreign purchasers are limited to new construction (there are ways around this so not very effective).
Canada’s housing crisis is the same as Australia’s which is the best comparison to Canada when it comes to economies, immigration, etc. Lots of other countries where housing affordability is one of the biggest complaint. The UK is a good example.
Absolutely agree, the problem will be difficult to resolve. Singapore has a system that I find great, you have two main type of accommodations, the HDBs (very basic buildings but the new ones are really decent) and the Condos (more luxurious, with gym/pool etc...). The HDBs are only accessible for purchase to residents and the supply is controlled, while the Condos is a "free market" that foreigners can enter and buy/sell. While the system is far from perfect, there is a desire to house the residents. I don't have anything against luxury condos and I am happy that some people can afford them, but I don't think this is what most people are after in a market that much in crisis. On a side note, watching J. Trudeau talking so much about how he is going to make housing affordable now, is frankly hilarious.
None of the parties can making housing affordable and all of them are promising that. Would also point out that Harper was in power at the time where the housing market really started taking off and things like a 35 years term mortgage was allowed so it’s not just the Liberals that are to blame. Canada needs to create denser housing. If a builder can build whatever they want they are going to build higher end condos and taller buildings versus basic buildings. It is also very expensive to build in Canada. The majority of building in Singapore is done by migrant workers. If it wasn’t for the migrant workers the cost of HDBs would be a lot higher.
All this would go through drastic measures/regulations and it's unlikely that will happen or we will see the results soon. Sad story for first time home buyers.
Even more complex than just first time home owners. We have a huge number of baby boomers which have the highest home ownership rate. They are going to get older and all need to get rid of their homes. Many have been able to ride the housing wave and now live in expensive homes. There isn’t a huge number of younger people able to buy up all these homes.
Then what are you complaining?
I've seen people find normal jobs and afford homes in Calgary.
Btw, I quoted you because of this statement: "Again - noone forced us to immigrate to Canada". Shouldn't you say immigrate to Ontario instead?