Why is housing in Halifax so expensive when there is virtually nobody moving there?

Vancouver...Calgary are obviously growing significantly, thus supply and demand is the refrain, but why in Halifax?

Because Nova Scotia is simply the most beautiful Province in the whole country.

yeah that is stupid isnt it , what a great way to enspire people NOT to move to a city. hmmm , theres a lack of jobs , we feel alienated by the rest of Canada so why not charge an arm and a Leg to live her too. Real smooth , any chance we could blame the NDP for this?

My partner and I were in NS for Xmas (in Amherst), then we were in Halifax for his sister's wedding, and I have to tell you that I really enjoyed the city; prior to actually visiting there, all I ever heard was how economically depressed it is, how people flee the city (and province), but I would move there in a heartbeat. The downtown area is quite nice for a city its size, and anytime we went out to bars (Reflections is awesome), there was plenty of people around.

What I found interesting though, again, is the cost of housing. How can such high prices be maintained?

Rhino, are you from NS?

People fleeing the city? Economically depressed? No jobs? What are you guys talking about?

The population of Halifax is growing, but not fast like Toronto. It grew 11,700 between 2001 and 2005. The reason why population growth isn't taking off is because there are not many immigrants moving here. The economy is doing very well in Halifax and surrounding areas, unemployment is at 5%.

Housing in Halifax is expensive because people want to live in the city and demand is high(particually the peninsula)

Over the last couple of years, the numbers have dropped significantly...the population grew by 1600 between 2004-2005. Has Halifax received all it can from the rest of Atlantic Canada, and will now lose its momentum?

There are going to be dips, but Halifax is still projected to have 450-500,000 people by 2025. There are plans to attract more immigrants and keep more young university students here. Who knows how successful they will be...

Im going on what I have been told by people who have moved from there .
I asked one guy I roofed with what was going on bck there , and he said " well we finished all the work a long time ago . thats why there isnt any now " . I dont know, I found it funny.

I bet it's probably because the Halifax Municipality is well over 5 000km sq. Therefore, the whole metro would be paying city taxes, would it not?

Why is housing in Halifax so expensive when there is virtually nobody moving there?

This seems like a conundrum, except half of it is wrong. Plenty of people are moving here (I am skeptical of statscan's figures, especially when some other cities have increased tremendously and they have downgraded the numbers here- wait for the actual census) and the economy is fine. The problem is that there is a lot of misinformation, especially when it comes to people hearing about the region (e.g. from people from rural CB, or people with zero skills) and then formulating an opinion of the city from that.

The funny thing is that the stereotypes seem so deeply engrained that people don't even seem to want to reformulate their opinion after they visit and see that it's not really how it is portrayed in other parts of the country.

Halifax housing expensive? :hilarious

I'm on the west coast and $200k gets you a bachelor aparment but only if you don't mind it having no running water.
They add an extra 50k for the water/electricity/refrigerator bundle.

Halifax housing expensive? :hilarious

I'm on the west coast and $200k gets you a bachelor aparment but only if you don't mind it having no running water.
They add an extra 50k for the water/electricity/refrigerator bundle.
That's part carp, you can get a bachelor fixer upper for around $120,000 if you know where to look.

Well housing in Halifax is more expensive than Edmonton, which is growing significantly more, I have to wonder...Halifax isn't booming like Calgary, so I am just wondering what has caused housing there to be quite pricey!

I'm no expert on Nova Scotia real estate, but my impression of Halifax was that it's an economically healthy city. It has a large post-secondary base to draw from... RIM recently announced that it's expanding there. It's a working port, it has a relatively large film and t.v. production industry... it's a hip place. What's not to love??

My only guess for a high cost of real estate is that maybe there isn't enough product to go around.

But my question is: are Halifax homes expensive? We have no evidence here.... I'll check MLS.

Ok, I did a search between 100-200k, and I got 15 matches for single-family homes in the central area. Here's a 3-bedroom for 169

http://pictures.mls.ca/mls/reb107/highres/0/1225801.jpg

For 200-300k, I got 93 matches. Here are some of them:

249k
2 units, 5 bedrooms total
http://pictures.mls.ca/mls/reb107/highres/2/1274721.jpg

300k
3 bedrooms
http://pictures.mls.ca/mls/reb107/medres/3/2065731.jpg

Just from casual searching, Halifax is similar to Kitchener/Waterloo. These prices may be high compared to elsewhere in Atlantic Canada, but seem to be on the mark for a city like Halifax. Of course, you need to factor in how much people make, and look at the housing stock itself. Alot of what I saw wasn't very impressive.

Well housing in Halifax is more expensive than Edmonton, which is growing significantly more, I have to wonder...Halifax isn't booming like Calgary, so I am just wondering what has caused housing there to be quite pricey!

or why is housing in Edmonton and Calgary so cheap?

Housing in Calgary is not cheap. As for Edmonton, I dunno! Wages in Halifax are not as high....

in Calgary's downtown area, the least expensive house listed is this @ $385k

http://pictures.mls.ca/mls/reb9/highres/4/c31911441.jpg

Otherwise, you can get a tiny condo for $250k

...Of course, you need to factor in how much people make, and look at the housing stock itself. Alot of what I saw wasn't very impressive.

A lot of the houses that I see are quite nice. There are large numbers of historic/heritage homes, and even though they may not look "impressive" especially in pictures, they are very charming, and so demand respectable sums. Also, it's quite popular to convert larger homes near the centre to multiple units, and since there is a shortage of apartments in the area, I suppose it could be quite lucrative to purchase one of these homes to rent out. The bidding over these properties by landlords could also raise costs couldn't it? As I said, this really is very common. Also, in the S. End, there are many large, comfortable, and even "stately" homes that I'm sure would command quite a sum. Especially if potential owners knew they could recover some of the costs by renting out basement appartments.

Another important thing to remember is that sprawl is very closely controlled here. It exists (to a very limited extent) but isn't common. And it's well known that sprawly areas have lower initial housing costs, but dense areas make up for the greater expenditures through greater long term effeciency.

Two kinds of housing here tend to attract buyers from outside of the city. "Character homes" close to the downtown area are very desirable and tend to be expensive because they are in limited supply (not just here but in the entire country). Many people also move to large lot subdivisions such as Kingswood because it is simply not possible to get the same kind of thing in most other cities, where you get several acres of land for relatively cheap and don't have a 2 hour commute. That kind of development is bigger in Atlantic Canada than anywhere else because of the lack of agricultural land surrounding the cities and the rocky/hilly terrain which requires millions of dollars' worth of blasting to pack full of houses.

My brother had a place in Dunbar area of Vancouver. Its about 4km from downtown. Pleasant area but by no means exclusive. He had a house about the size of the one shown above in Calgary. Small post-war home, except he got $900k for it. and that was 2 years ago.

No surprise!

Housing in Calgary is not cheap. As for Edmonton, I dunno! Wages in Halifax are not as high....

in Calgary's downtown area, the least expensive house listed is this @ $385k


Otherwise, you can get a tiny condo for $250k

What I meant was, if Halifax is comparable to Edmonton, the perhaps Edmonton is undervalued, rather than Halifax being overvalued.

I assume prices in Edmonton and Calgary are similar. How about that Fort McMurray though?? It just recently passed Toronto and Vancouver as having the most expensive rents in Canada. I've checked it out myself... I couldn't afford to live there.

Housing in Calgary is more expensive than Edmonton.