Housing in Winnipeg

[esquire]

I agree with Biff and Phil's neighbour. Unfortunately as the city grows more physically divided (the social divides were always there but the physical divide is becoming much more pronounced), you end up with a generation of youngsters like CoryB who think there be dragons anywhere north of Portage. And that just exacerbates the situation.

Some of the best housing deals in town can be found in the EK, WK and Garden City areas, partly because of the "North End discount" due to the proximity of that area. Just yesterday I saw a spectacular house on Bredin (off Henderson), right on the river, beautifully done, $600K. That would be a million dollar+ house if it were on the Assiniboine. Just one example. Scotia Street, Ambassador Row, Kildonan Drive are examples of areas with homes undervalued due to location, even though there is nothing wrong with those areas in and of themselves... it's just that a generation of young adults who grew up in River Park South, Island Lakes or whatever whitebread suburbs won't even consider them.

In my work life I have dealt with a good number of professionals and fairly wealthy people who live in the areas surrounding the North End, your Scotia Drives, Bredin Drive, Henderson-along-the-river type areas. The one thing they have in common is that they're all over 60... not many young people of means live north of downtown anymore (unless it's beyond the Perimeter). This is an ominous sign for Winnipeg.