thommyjo
Senior Member
Yeah. I’m not sure if long term the transience of DT Van and Toronto are actually good for human flourishing and families/people.
But from a pure DT vibrancy perspective, having thousands of people spend 3-10 years in your downtown, using transit/filling condos/eating out/activating streets/engaging with events/festivals, before they buy a more family oriented home, makes a big difference.
And I don’t think it’s just surbabnite thinking. Although that’s real. It’s also just familiarity and relational networks. A lot of my friends grew up in St. Albert and the SW, so that’s where their parents and friends are. Moving DT actually creates a large drive to access those relationships. Especially if they don’t work DT. If you’re a teacher or tradesperson or nurse and your existing city relationships are outside the core, and you can afford to rent or buy outside DT (often actually cheaper in Edmonton), DT would have to be suuuuuper attractive to move there.
Where in Vancouver, either 1) people move out from parents’ in burbs and head DT for work, good transit/don’t need car, to be a part of the city vibe and to enjoy the ocean. 2) move to Vancouver from another city and therefore don’t have relational ties, which makes living DT very convenient.
I think the lack of DT jobs drawing people to Edmonton is a key challenge. Most people that move to a city for an office job want to be somewhat close to the core and transit. But a lot of our worker migration is linked to the trades and more industrial/rural gigs. So people come from other provinces, buy in ellerslie, and work in Nisku. Vs move from Edmonton to Toronto and rent on Yonge street to subway to DT and work at RBC or Google.
Also, if you can afford a home, people will try to buy one. Whether true or not, most assume it’s the best financial decision. Especially with the gains in recent years, that’s created lots of fomo. If you cant afford anything except a condo, DT becomes a better options in most cities. Until our home prices jump above 800ish, and we have more condos that are new/stylish and under 600, I don’t see many choosing condos. I would have loved to live DT when moving back last year after selling in Toronto. But the financials don’t make sense. 500k infill house next to future LrT stop with a basement suite. Or 500k for 2bdrm 800sqft in encore. In 10 years time, the infill leaves us likely tens of thousands, if not 150-200k better off. Especially cause we would still need a car DT to visit friends/family.
A lot of this is just anecdotal. So I’m not saying it’s 100% true. But from living and working in edm/van/tor and still being in my mid 20s, these seems to be some common trends from talking to and observing peers.
But from a pure DT vibrancy perspective, having thousands of people spend 3-10 years in your downtown, using transit/filling condos/eating out/activating streets/engaging with events/festivals, before they buy a more family oriented home, makes a big difference.
And I don’t think it’s just surbabnite thinking. Although that’s real. It’s also just familiarity and relational networks. A lot of my friends grew up in St. Albert and the SW, so that’s where their parents and friends are. Moving DT actually creates a large drive to access those relationships. Especially if they don’t work DT. If you’re a teacher or tradesperson or nurse and your existing city relationships are outside the core, and you can afford to rent or buy outside DT (often actually cheaper in Edmonton), DT would have to be suuuuuper attractive to move there.
Where in Vancouver, either 1) people move out from parents’ in burbs and head DT for work, good transit/don’t need car, to be a part of the city vibe and to enjoy the ocean. 2) move to Vancouver from another city and therefore don’t have relational ties, which makes living DT very convenient.
I think the lack of DT jobs drawing people to Edmonton is a key challenge. Most people that move to a city for an office job want to be somewhat close to the core and transit. But a lot of our worker migration is linked to the trades and more industrial/rural gigs. So people come from other provinces, buy in ellerslie, and work in Nisku. Vs move from Edmonton to Toronto and rent on Yonge street to subway to DT and work at RBC or Google.
Also, if you can afford a home, people will try to buy one. Whether true or not, most assume it’s the best financial decision. Especially with the gains in recent years, that’s created lots of fomo. If you cant afford anything except a condo, DT becomes a better options in most cities. Until our home prices jump above 800ish, and we have more condos that are new/stylish and under 600, I don’t see many choosing condos. I would have loved to live DT when moving back last year after selling in Toronto. But the financials don’t make sense. 500k infill house next to future LrT stop with a basement suite. Or 500k for 2bdrm 800sqft in encore. In 10 years time, the infill leaves us likely tens of thousands, if not 150-200k better off. Especially cause we would still need a car DT to visit friends/family.
A lot of this is just anecdotal. So I’m not saying it’s 100% true. But from living and working in edm/van/tor and still being in my mid 20s, these seems to be some common trends from talking to and observing peers.
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