The average single-family home price in Alberta rose more than 4.5 percent over the last 12 months. According to the Canadian Housing Market report, the average cost is now $455,923.
It’s getting tougher and tougher to afford a house anywhere in Alberta, but if you dream about living in a resort town like Banff, Canmore or Jasper… well, a lottery ticket may be your only hope!
According to real estate agent Jamie Robinson, properties in Canmore are snatched up within three days. Current Canmore MLS statistics indicate the average house price in Canmore is more than double the average price elsewhere. It’s now just under $985,000, with 134 new listings in the last 28 days.
Let’s put those numbers in perspective. If you saved up $100,000 to put down, locked in the interest rate for five years at 6.8%, and had a 20-year mortgage, your monthly payment would only be $6000 a month!
According to the Alberta Government, the median family income in Canmore in 2020 was $125,000 before taxes. There is little left for anything else after annual mortgage payments of $72,000!
That isn’t cheap, but it’s more affordable than you would have to spend in Toronto or Vancouver.
For example, the Canadian Real Estate Association found that the average home price in Toronto was $1,118,374 for July 2023 and $1,270,664 for Greater Vancouver.
The difference isn’t jaw-dropping, but it’s enough for some Canadians with remote or hybrid jobs to make the move.
Sell your expensive house in Toronto or Vancouver, especially if you bought before the dramatic house price increases; buy a less expensive place in the Rockies and pocket the difference!
As of May 2021, five million Canadians were working from home. That’s one of every five of the national workforce. Additionally, more than a third of jobs in Canada can be done remotely.
Remote work and hybrid jobs are all the rage, and Ontarians have wasted no time looking for these positions in other provinces. More often than not, these job seekers end up here in Alberta.
According to Indeed senior economist Brendon Bernard, jobs in natural resources have always attracted job seekers to Alberta. But Ontarians are now eyeing Alberta for its remote opportunities in technology and marketing.
And if you can live anywhere, why not in a scenic resort town?
Canadians Flocking to Alberta In Droves
It isn’t just Ontarians. In the first three months of 2023, Alberta attracted more interprovincial migrants – people moving from other provinces -than anywhere else in Canada.
The “Strong and Free’ province gained almost 16,000 people from other provinces, while Ontario lost nearly 15,000.
it didn’t just happen randomly. Last year, then-Premier Jason Kenney announced the $2.6 million Alberta is Calling campaign to attract skilled workers from Toronto with the allure of lower taxes, housing affordability, shorter commutes, and the Rockies.
According to former Minister of Jobs Brian Jean, more than half of Alberta’s interprovincial migration happened after the Alberta is Calling campaign began.
But it’s not all sunshine and rainbows. Even though towns like Banff and Jasper reserve some house sales for working residents, most of the jobs in resort towns do not pay enough for people to get a mortgage.
Annual family income in Banff for 2020 was $100,000.
High house prices and (spiking rental prices) have had a devastating impact on some residents.
Marissa Kidd was one such resident. She moved to Jasper with her growing family in 2016. But in the fall of 2020, Kidd’s landlord told the family they had to leave. At the time, Kidd was pregnant with her third child.
The family looked elsewhere in town but couldn’t find anything within their budget. Not even rentals. In 2021, Kidd was forced to move into a travel trailer with her husband, a newborn, a two-year-old toddler, and a four-year-old child.
“It was, hands down, one of the most stressful times in my entire life…Having just given birth and it being a pandemic and losing our housing,” Kidd told Ricochet Media.
Short-Term Rentals More Attractive To Landlords
In-resort towns, vacancy rates have remained nearly zero for about a decade, driving rental prices up by 30 percent in some areas, including Jasper.
Instead of offering long-term rentals for locals, landlords in resort towns are choosing short-term rentals for tourists on platforms like Airbnb because they pay more.
“It’s much more lucrative to Airbnb your place than it is to rent long term. Everyone turns spare units into tourist accommodations because they can’t afford their houses otherwise — it’s a cycle,” Kidd explained.
Resort towns like Banff are doing what they can to support a high-demand housing market. They have added 400 new housing units since 2013. However, Banff Mayor Corrie DiManno points out that as many as 1,000 new units are still needed.
While the housing crisis is terrible in resort towns, the same problem also exists throughout Alberta and Canada.
But there is some hope. The federal government’s $4 billion Housing Accelerator Fund (HAF) aims to build 100,000 new homes across Canada over the next three years. Municipalities nationwide are now lining up for their piece of the pie.
Calgary Councilor Courtney Walcott claims the city wants to build 3,000 housing units yearly. Without the HAF, this won’t be possible. Banff has also applied for the federal fund.
Sure, the HAF can help Calgary and Banff meet their goals, but is $4 billion enough to address a nationwide housing crisis?
“We’re looking at a crisis on a national level. And when you’re thinking about what is actually required to address this, we’re looking at a wartime spending effort that is required to move on the housing crisis,” Walcott told Global News.
Don’t worry, we aren’t going to war. But to combat the housing crisis, we must start spending as if we were.
According to the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation, the country must build 5.8 million homes by the end of 2030 to “restore affordability.”
The housing crisis is complicated, but one thing is clear.
Finding a place to call home, a place to start a family, a place to make your own, has become a large mountain to climb for many Canadians. But, it’s an impossible dream for those trying to make a living in a resort town.
