Yet another survey is telling Metro Vancouver residents what they already know — it’s outrageously expensive to buy real estate here.
This latest news flash says that Vancouver is second behind Hong Kong for featuring pricey real estate.
So what to do? Well, you can move to Windsor, Ont., the Rose City, which earned the title of Canada’s most affordable city.
According to the 8th-annual Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey, Windsor boasts one of Canada’s most affordable markets.
In Vancouver, you can buy a “very bright and private” apartment for $435,000. In Windsor, population 216,473, you’ll get a five-bedroom, four bathroom “executive home” on Whiteside Road for $419,000, according to mls.ca.
“Prices in Windsor are probably the lowest in Canada that I know of,” said veteran Windsor realtor Joe Roberts. “You can get a beautiful raised rancher here for under $200,000, finished up and down. And there are good starter homes.”
The survey coincides with a growing conversation about Vancouver’s unaffordability and the displacement effect it’s having on first-time homebuyers searching for affordability. A large part of Vancouver’s unaffordability was attributed to its restrictions on land development.
“Oh yeah, obviously,” Roberts said when asked if displaced Vancouverites would be greeted with open arms. “Windsor is a very friendly, metropolitan city.”
And, by the way, Windsor is Ontario’s warmest city in the winter, with average low temperatures of -8 C and an average of about five centimetres of snow.
And then there’s the smog, which really is not nearly as bad as it was before the industrial belt began to rust, promise.
The survey examined 325 metropolitan markets in Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, the U.K., the U.S. and Hong Kong.
Abbotsford, Victoria and Kelowna are also severely unaffordable.
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