There’s a good article in the Calgary Herald from the weekend that talks about the increase in housing prices in the city and how they’ve impacted those in the middle incomes and those looking to buy their first piece of property. People have had to change their expectations about what they can expect to afford. Also, I found it interesting that Calgary has a higher rate of home ownership than any of the other large cities in Canada. I’ve noticed that from the people around there is more pressure to get in early and buy something. They seem to echo that trend that home ownership is very important.
Personally, I fall in the category of those who earn not quite enough and came to the city just a year too late. 2 years ago as the prices were starting their steep upward turn, I was just finishing university and working through a couple different contract positions in smaller companies. At the time, I still had a decent amount of debt I wanted to begin paying off and had nothing in the way of savings. I didn’t own a car and my equity would have around $-15000. I’ve been saving and paying off debt since then and by the end of the year should have just a small student loan and maybe, if I’m diligent, 5% downpayment for a house saved. On my own though, I still don’t have enough income for a place other than a single bedroom apartment.
Not that I automatically think I must buy a house or condo. There are a lot of factors that should impact such a decision. I’ll go over those in a future post.
Filed under: Calgary , Calgary, Calgary Herald, housing
