Do your future house plans involve setting up a home in one of the bigger cities in the Golden Horseshoe? If so, you might be in for a bit of a shock. Most people know that real estate is all about location, but fail to really realize what that means until they try to buy in a big city for the first time.
Big city location means easy access to lots of opportunities. Many of these opportunities involve entertainment, but what has the biggest impact on the real estate market are the economic opportunities big cities afford. St. Lawrence Market condos are priced so high because of the convenience they offer to people living right in this area. They don't have to commute very far to work, whether they own a downtown Toronto business or work in one.
Those people have traditionally been willing to pay top dollar in order to purchase a convenient home, and even a recession is failing to curb these high prices. Wealthier buyers have not witnessed a great reduction in their spending capacity, so prices in big cities such as Toronto, Vancouver, and Montreal remain high.
For the average buyer, big city prices mean that you will have to have a good financial plan together in order to afford real estate. If you are counting on a home sale in another town to make up the difference for you, don't get your hopes to high. Many people have been disappointed after successfully putting their houses for sale in London Ontario and starting their Toronto home search, only to find a purchase may mean they end up deeper in debt than before. In fact, an equivalent home in Toronto would probably cost half again what the home in London sold for.
But, that's just the nature of the real estate world. The opportunities afforded by big cities attract a lot of people, which in turn drives up prices on the real estate market. We can extend our example with Toronto and London Ontario real estate and apply it to London versus, say, Halton Hills. Here, you will find that London prices are higher than those in another Golden Horseshoe town, again due to size.
So how can anyone afford to live in a big city today? Well, from Vancouver to Calgary to Toronto, many people are working two or more jobs. In addition, there are creative mortgage options which can be selected (longer terms at lower interest rates, etc). Whatever you decide, living in the big city means paying attention to your budget!
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