Hi everyone. I registered on the forum because of this thread.
I too am relatively new to this city (moved to Edmonton from Vancouver a little over 1.5 years ago). However, I've never been very enthusiastic about this city. I've never hated it, but I haven't loved it either. The recent downtown developments, the river valley and still somewhat affordable real estate are definitely the bright spots for me.
I'm in Vancouver right now and over the past 2 days I've visited a few presentation centers for condos under construction in the heart of the city. I still can't make up my mind about where to buy: Edmonton or Vancouver. I'd love to own in Edmonton for a few different reasons:
1) I work and live in Edmonton.
2) Prices are nowhere near as insane as Vancouver (in downtown Edmonton prices seems to be around 300-400 dollars a square foot while in downtown Vancouver, units in the most affordable buildings were around 600-700 dollars a square foot and more. I was looking at a unit on the 29th storey of a 40 storey tower and it was going for 445K without parking (that was an additional 35K, which was 15k less than parking in another unit I was looking at). That's close to 500K for a unit that's barely over 600 sf!!
3) Growth potential of downtown Edmonton.
4) Value for money. I can understand not getting parking in downtown Vancouver, that's normal, but 50k for a parking spot in the same building that's under construction is ridiculous. Not having AC or floor heating in every unit is even more ridiculous when every single unit is going for 400K plus.
The major problem I've found with Edmonton is SUPPLY! Everything I've put my finger on has been sold out. It seems like my trip to Vancouver caused me to miss out on the Jasper House as well.