I have a client who is relocating from Vancouver. Over a cup of coffee one day, she told me that she was “sick of hearing gunfire” from her home. Fortunately, I can say that I’ve never heard a gun being fired in the city of Saskatoon. Yes, people do get killed here but if you know where to travel, I don’t think the likelihood is real high that your going to catch a stray bullet.

Patience my friend. I have a kitchen to paint.

Crunched the numbers this morning and I’m just going to put it together now. Give me a hour please.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/saskatchewan/story/2008/05/05/trial-mcleod.html

Have you guys ever lived or worked there as I did for many years until recently?

Most of it is not cheap. The nice part of Surrey (South Surrey) is like Briarwood but you will be paying $1,000,000+ for a newer 3000 sq. foot home on a small lot. Does that sound affordable?

Even in Newton, a lower middle class area favoured by new Canadians, a newer house will set you back $600,000.

Whalley is the “cheap” part of Surrey you are probably thinking of and you can find an older home there for $500,000. It is a run down, crime ridden, slummy neighbourhood about as bad as your worst Westside areas. After the Downtown Eastside Vancouver ghetto, it is by far the worst area of Greater Vancouver. Lots of crime, graffiti etc. It also is considerably more expensive than your Westside. There are some attempts made to gentrify it and new condos are sprouting up but they are by no means cheap. A one bedroom studio of about 500 sq. feet will be well over $200,000. A two bedroom condo there will sell for a minimum of $350,000. Rents are about comparable to Saskatoon or slightly less. And this is in a poor crime ridden neighbourhood!

Finally, Surrey just so you know is a 40 – 50 minute drive from Downtown Vancouver (about 30 km away) and is a sprawling mess of a city. It doesn’t have anywhere the charm or ease of travel of Saskatoon.

Saskatoon has the huge, solid looking, pretty and important U of S campus right in the middle . . . . there is nothing like that in Surrey.

There is nothing in Surrey like your Broadway (or any of Vancouver’s trendy commercial streets) and no downtown to speak of. All right – neighbouring White Rock is pretty nice but a shack there will go for $600,000 and a proper home $1,000,000. And it is still about an hour drive from Vancouver.

As for jobs, a lot of Surrey types commute to Vancouver or Richmond for work. There are no major head offices in Surrey. If you are a professional like a doctor, lawyer or own a small business, Surrey is a fine place as it is growing quickly in population with tons of new immigrants to work for your business and buy your services. However, for most people, the industrial jobs in Surrey (and much of BC for that matter) are surprisingly poorly paid. I believe that a $65,000/year blue collar job in Saskatchewan would pay $50,000 in Surrey. You won’t find a well paid industrial job in any of the many wood mills in Surrey as they are laying off workers and shutting down. But no worries, there are even more $9/hour service industry jobs which are sought after by the numerous new immigrants with limited English skills flooding into Surrey. That definitely keeps a lid on wages with a nice, ample labour supply growing by the day. There is no energy, potash, uranium industry to speak of in Surrey. Cameco does not have a headquarters in Surrey and in fact, Vancouver doesn’t have many head offices either.

Yes, there are many plush executive suburban monster home enclave/ghettos in Surrey but they are not close to anything and sell in the seven figures. The residents of these places leverage off the plentiful cheap labour!

On the plus side, it is very easy to find an affordable and hard working maid in Surrey.

So in conclusion, Surrey really only beats Saskatoon in the weather department and that it does handily. However, Saskatoon wins hands down in all other categories including price, wages and ambience.

But by all means, compare away to something that is totally not comparable!

I am noticing a similar pattern on this blog vs the Calgary blog. Basically the Sask markets are doing the same thing the Alberta markets did except with a one year lag. Therefore the comments made are roughly the same too. I can’t say that next year Sask markets will do the same but if so, there is no harm in waiting until next year to buy…but we’ll let you know at the end of this year for sure about how it turns out.

We’ve heard a lot of talk about Red Deer being a great place to buy and I actually considered buying a condo there about a year ago, but I didn’t pull the trigger. There’s a lot of talk about the fact that Red Deer is in the Calgary/Edmonton “corridor”, and it’s a fact, every single town and city between Edmonton and Calgary has been attractive from the investment point of view. And they likely will continue to be… once we get over this outrageously “overly listed” situation.

The few times I’ve actually spent time in Red Deer (usually I by-pass Red Deer on my way to Edmonton), I’ve found it to be a lovely city. But its kind of funny in Red Deer. It seems like a transition point. It’s approx. half way between Calgary and Edmonton (a little closer to Calgary). Calgarians are generally a very positive lot while Edmontonians seem a little bit negative more often than they should. So I don’t know what the mentality is in Red Deer, but I suspect its very positive. And you have to decide whether you’re an Oilers Fan or a Flames fan! LOL Red Deer even seems to be a dividing line weather-wise. Often a person will be driving from Calgary to Edmonton and see no snow on the ground, but at Red Deer, you often start to see snow that runs all the way to the Arctic. But I’ve found Red Deer to be very friendly and upbeat, not to mention that it’s an all round nice city.

And just for you who aren’t all that happy with Saskatoon, my well-travelled daughter says her two favourite cities in Canada are Ottawa and Saskatoon. Go figure! I think she likes bridges and trees:-) And if any of you were wondering what Albertans think of Saskatchewan… we’ve always viewed Saskatchewan with a ton of respect. In the construction industry, lucky is the contractor who can get a Sask. farmboy as an employee. They just don’t get any better than that. All a kid has to do is tell a contractor that he’s from Saskatchewan and bingo… he has a job. And from the sports side of things… there are more great athletes come out of Saskatchewan per capita than any other province, bar none.

So keep smiling over there… you have a lot going for you!

I wasn’t being sarcastic. Just trying to bring a little humor to the discussion.I was addressing the notion it was inexpensive here.It isn’t.The point remains the same; for a person starting out the entry level pricing is daunting.

Whether it’s in Saskatoon or Calgary I don’t find a lot to get excited about a 1/2 duplex at 300,000. Looking at the MLS that would be mostly in N.E. Calgary and most people in Calgary would rather live in the S.W. I think.

We are similar in experience but just at different places in the game. The house Conrad bought was probably $100,000 less before the run in price. and could have been $100,000 more at the peak of the run. Saskatoon will probably see the same kind of correction. I’m in Calgary and don’t know a lot about the Edmonton market, but I think they have experienced a faster race to the bottom of the price bucket. I hear there are people that expect them to reduce their inventory and maybe even experience undersupply by fall.

I don’t know if the only thing attracting people to Saskatoon was the undervalued property. But the work and wage issue will probably need to improve to sustain whatever has been going on.

That property is listed at $429,900.

Really 300 G for a nice duplex in Calgary? The crummy town houses in my end are all up to like 275, I would assume a new duplex in Stoon in 300, sure you’re trying to say that isn’t a good deal, but sounds about normal to me.

And not sure about the optimism thing, maybe Calgary, I’ve heard nothing but bargains, and long waits for selling places in Edmonton, Conrad says he bought a nice place for 350 there, Norm had a 1200 sq ft bilevel for 475? in Saskatoon 5 years old, pretty average looking listed on his page last week, not sure if anything i’d think actually “prime” in stoon for under 400,000. Don’t think it’s so much “Alberta boosting” as realistically, Alberta housing should cost more, for the much higher wages (I think everyone here concedes that), apparently lower crime in Red Deer and just the opportunities that exist there NOW, not in years and years like here

I don’t mind Saskatoon. I just think it made a lot more sense as an affordable place to live where people put up with the crime, and low wages.

I s’pose y’all r thinkin bout swoopin in and stealin one of our prime duplexes; a steal at around 300G.

There are deals here but there is also a decent optimism about the economy, so not every seller is desparate.

Red Deer is a great place. Reminds me a little of Saskatoon; except without people complaining about the crime, the lost boom or the house prices.

What is the frustration level?

But I love the location, and it’s a beautiful city.

I’m wondering how far down everyone thinks house prices in saskatoon will go?

I’m also wondering when people think this will pop. Or if they think it will just fizzle.

My other question is: Who is still buying houses at these prices? Are we wrong in thinking these prices are high?

As for me, I’m gonna idle home after work (nice 5 min drive now) and enjoy some wine in the hot tub with my gf while we cook some delicious Sask grown top sirloins. Damn good beef in SK too. Damn times are good, looking forward to a summer at Waskesiu in the cabin… It feels so good to be back in SK and ahead of the game by a few miles and enjoy the good times of my mid-20′s in my nice big house in the north end.

And congrats to Conrad on taking a higher paying job and buying a house in cheaper Alberta. Not sure what he does, but as long as it’s not potash related, why would he care that potash prices are up (even though apparently we’re now in an oversupply situation)if he makes more money and can buy a house there?

http://tinyurl.com/4fr5ba