Is meat becoming expensive?

The article uses a definition of affordable being: can the average apartment dwellers afford to save the downpayment for a house. It’s a combination of average incomes, average monthly expenses while renting, and the average house prices. Basically it’s a list of places where one can still dream of being a homeowner without having to have exceptional income or generational wealth.

Calgary swings up and down like the weather. I bought in the fall of 2019, and it was very affordable. Fast forward a few years, and there’s busses coming through my neighbourhood loaded with Ontarians looking to buy. House across the street from me, not nearly as modern as mine, smaller, and without any of the amenities I have (heated garage, central a/c, irrigation), nor a finished basement (which I also have), sold for $250k more than I paid for my house, after a bidding war. I could probably realize a $300k+ gain on my house, after not even quite 4 years. Not like I’m going to act on it though, because the next level is just $300k+ more expensive now too, plus I swore I’m never moving ever again and it hasn’t been long enough yet for me to forget the stress of that.

This will alll change in a few years again. When we moved here at the end of 2012, it was roaring then too, and we were priced out. Real estate prices, like everything else around here, are pretty tied to O&G prices.