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Housing in Ottawa is ridiculously expensive. Good luck buying a home for less than $1M and even then you’re looking at a considerable commute. How one can tak

by refurb 2y ago

Housing in Ottawa is ridiculously expensive. Good luck buying a home for less than $1M and even then you’re looking at a considerable commute. How one can take a 67% pay cut and have housing still high means you have more in your pocket you’re going to have to explain.

cmrdporcupine 2y ago
Yeh this person's argument makes no sense in the context of today's Ontario, but did about 5+ years ago. Housing price inflation here has made the lower SWE salaries here very uncompetitive. And it's not just the house itself, goods and services associated with real estate have blown up with it. Home renovations and maintenance work on your home (if you can even find a contractor) are just stupid. So even if you bought in years ago (like I did), the carrying costs are very high.
- refurb 2y ago
  That’s why this take came across as unrealistic to me. Housing has exploded in Canada over the last decade. Even in smaller cities like Ottawa, the prices are more expensive than cities like Chicago. Then layer on top low salaries, and housing affordability is worse in Canada than many US cities.
b112 2y ago
https://www.realtor.ca/on/ottawa/real-estate https://www.realtor.ca/on/ottawa/real-estate There are loads of houses well under $1M Canadian, the average price would likely be 700k. In USD that's about 500K. a far cry from the 2 to 3M USD in Palo Alto. 1M CDN (720kUSD) houses in Ottawa, are what you'd pay $5M for in Palo Alto. Inflation is not unique to Ontario, you'll see the same sort if thing in SV too
- refurb 2y ago
  You need to compare like for like. If you're talking about homes in Kanata, then you need to look at homes the same distance in the East Bay where you can buy for under $1M as well. A $3M home in Palo Alto is comparable to a Ottawa home in the core of the city. And not a townhome, a detached single family home.
  - b112 2y ago
    If you're going to compare in this way, wouldn't 'most expensive in the metro area' be San Fransisco compared to 'most expensive in the metro area' downtown Ottawa? Palo Alto is like Kanata, price wise. Ottawa core is like San Fran.

by refurb 2y ago

cmrdporcupine 2y ago

Yeh this person's argument makes no sense in the context of today's Ontario, but did about 5+ years ago. Housing price inflation here has made the lower SWE salaries here very uncompetitive. And it's not just the house itself, goods and services associated with real estate have blown up with it. Home renovations and maintenance work on your home (if you can even find a contractor) are just stupid. So even if you bought in years ago (like I did), the carrying costs are very high.

refurb 2y ago
That’s why this take came across as unrealistic to me. Housing has exploded in Canada over the last decade. Even in smaller cities like Ottawa, the prices are more expensive than cities like Chicago. Then layer on top low salaries, and housing affordability is worse in Canada than many US cities.

b112 2y ago

https://www.realtor.ca/on/ottawa/real-estate https://www.realtor.ca/on/ottawa/real-estate There are loads of houses well under $1M Canadian, the average price would likely be 700k. In USD that's about 500K. a far cry from the 2 to 3M USD in Palo Alto. 1M CDN (720kUSD) houses in Ottawa, are what you'd pay $5M for in Palo Alto. Inflation is not unique to Ontario, you'll see the same sort if thing in SV too

refurb 2y ago
You need to compare like for like. If you're talking about homes in Kanata, then you need to look at homes the same distance in the East Bay where you can buy for under $1M as well. A $3M home in Palo Alto is comparable to a Ottawa home in the core of the city. And not a townhome, a detached single family home.
- b112 2y ago
  If you're going to compare in this way, wouldn't 'most expensive in the metro area' be San Fransisco compared to 'most expensive in the metro area' downtown Ottawa? Palo Alto is like Kanata, price wise. Ottawa core is like San Fran.