Edmonton Real Estate Market

[AntonK]

If we did a better job dealing with the various serious issues or problems related to our downtown: safety, cleanliness, attracting more corporate jobs, and more retail, it would also be more attractive for people to live there and be more vibrant.

There’s those issues as well, and they can’t be overstated.
Many of my downtown living friends grew tired of the same old issues and instead left for other cities.

 

[JMatt88]

I don’t like sprawl, and I wish our downtown was more vibrant, but at the same time, Edmonton’s affordability works for me personally. With a wife, two kids and a dog, my quality of life is better with a house or townhome than would be with an apartment.
At the same time I’m envious of the downtowns in places like Calgary or Ottawa, but I’m not envious of their real estate prices.

Its definitely a "catch 22" situation. Sprawl has allowed for affordability, but at the same time the cost to maintain the sprawl will (and likely has already) increased over time. My Vancouver friend was shocked to learn that I paid $4,700 in property taxes last year on my house valued at $458,000. For context, we were walking around North Vancouver looking at SFH and she was like "the property taxes here on that house is probably $5K" and I said "well my property taxes are almost at that" haha

 

[Yeggy]

The argument should not be about high-rise vs. mid-rise vs. low-rise; it should be about the quality of Architecture.

after spending a month in europe bring on midrise everywhere.

 

[archited]

Keep building cheap crap and see if the situation improves.

 

[Yeggy]

^what cheap crap are you talking about.

 

[IanO]

There’s those issues as well, and they can’t be overstated.
Many of my downtown living friends grew tired of the same old issues and instead left for other cities.

THIS.

We seem to forget about being competitive and working harder to make Edmonton attractive and retain more folks who are mobile and want:

1. great job offerings
2. an urban experience
3. a city that is interesting, exciting, vibrant

 

[Edmcowboy11]

I think the downtown core is improving as more and more empty parking lots disappear. Yes I do want to see you far better architecture in these areas but the vibrancy of the downtown will continue to improve as there is more people and more buildings as opposed to fields and Fields of parking lots.

 

[IanO]

2001 says that exactly what we said back then with 1/10th the disorder and 10x the retail.

 

[thommyjo]

2001 says that exactly what we said back then with 1/10th the disorder and 10x the retail.

I wonder how the valley lines and bike infrastructure change the “net” of the equation for improvements and challenges.

I think disorder is the trump card problem. But arguably in 2029 we will have a much more accessible DT for those living in mature suburbs and out to the henday.

We don’t live downtown, we are in a central, mature neighborhood. But the bike lanes and a frequent bus route with 7min frequencies have been the biggest reason I’m downtown more than if driving was my only option.