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Mark Basi - Colliers | LinkedIn

Views are my own. · Experience: Colliers · Education: University of Alberta · Location: Edmonton · 500+ connections on LinkedIn. View Mark Basi’s profile on LinkedIn, a professional community of 1 billion members.
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Condo on the market for 2 weeks now, not a lot of buyers out there it seems, but a lot of tire-kickers.

Pretty disappointed that even at a 25-30% discount from pre-covid that you cannot sell a well located condo.
 
IanO said:
Condo on the market for 2 weeks now, not a lot of buyers out there it seems, but a lot of tire-kickers.

Pretty disappointed that even at a 25-30% discount from pre-covid that you cannot sell a well located condo.
Click to expand...
This shouldn't be a surprise, in many different studies or surveys or even from personally living and working in the downtown cores of Calgary, Montreal, Toronto and now Edmonton, a big reason people live downtown is because they want to live and work downtown, certainly not everyone, but many people want to live and work downtown.

Edmonton has had almost nil job growth in its downtown over the last decade plus (and likely even negative job growth) which is reflective of the fact that there has been an abysmal effort to attract employers to downtown. And yes, in a post-covid world where remote jobs exist there are still many employers that are taking up space in downtowns to have their employees work hybrid in the office throughout the week.

We can clean up streets and build parks and have cool festivals which all make living downtown more attractive, but until we put in an effort to attract more jobs to the core, which is the number one reason many people choose to live downtown, we will continue to see the status quo.
 
Yes, that is one of the two Achilles heels of downtown Edmonton that people so often seem to want to ignore. We need to attract more businesses and jobs downtown. Almost every other major city in the country understands this, Edmonton never has.

The second problem is a more recent one - the dearth of retail downtown. What is the attractiveness of living downtown when you have to drive to a suburban strip mall on the edge of downtown for most things?
 
CaptainBL said:
This shouldn't be a surprise, in many different studies or surveys or even from personally living and working in the downtown cores of Calgary, Montreal, Toronto and now Edmonton, a big reason people live downtown is because they want to live and work downtown, certainly not everyone, but many people want to live and work downtown.

Edmonton has had almost nil job growth in its downtown over the last decade plus (and likely even negative job growth) which is reflective of the fact that there has been an abysmal effort to attract employers to downtown. And yes, in a post-covid world where remote jobs exist there are still many employers that are taking up space in downtowns to have their employees work hybrid in the office throughout the week.

We can clean up streets and build parks and have cool festivals which all make living downtown more attractive, but until we put in an effort to attract more jobs to the core, which is the number one reason many people choose to live downtown, we will continue to see the status quo.
Click to expand...
Just wait till Stantec is acquired by WSP or merges with SNC Lavalin (or whatever it's called today) and the HQ remains in Quebec.
 
I don't think speculating about something that may or may not happen is helpful either, it only feeds insecurities and lack of confidence which underlies one of issues raised.
 
IanO said:
Condo on the market for 2 weeks now, not a lot of buyers out there it seems, but a lot of tire-kickers.

Pretty disappointed that even at a 25-30% discount from pre-covid that you cannot sell a well located condo.
Click to expand...
The condo fees are scaring the crap out of many potential buyers. I have no idea why condo fees are so expensive the closer you get to the edge of the valley (this includes new/recent builds).
 
Poorly informed then and the reason they get more closer to the edge is that those are the 1970s-80s towers that snagged all of the prime spots and are now in their major lifecycle renewal moments which may worry some, but are a natural part of any building now or in the future. As such prices reflect that and are often a bargain.
 
I saw around my partner's place out west of Pigeon Lake many people who moved out during the pandemic only to move back to the city recently because they couldn't afford the maintenance costs, especially if you're not handy yourself. I see many houses around the City with 'deferred maintenance', which is a personal choice but also will reflect in its value. In a condo you can't defer maintenance legally, hence condo fees. And the majority of condo fees is utility costs and amenities no normal house has, so you have to make sure you're talking apples to apples.
 
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