Priced out of Toronto's housing market? Alberta wants you to turn your eyes west
If you've been priced out of Toronto's real estate market, Alberta hopes its latest ploy will have you looking west to achieve your white-picket-fence dreams.
In a move to lure fed-up prospective home buyers, theprovince has unveiled the second phase of its campaign dubbed "Alberta is Calling."
"We've got Canada's lowest taxes and the lowest cost of living, plus the highest wages and incomes and lots of big opportunity," Alberta Premier Jason Kenney said in a video on Twitter.
The campaign touts slightly higher weekly earnings in Alberta over those in Ontario, averaging $1,245 to $1,186, respectively.
While the average income is comparable, there's a significant difference when it comes to real estate. According to Kenney, the average cost for a detached home is $490,000 in Edmonton and $700,000 in Calgary — in Toronto it's $1.4 million.
Figures like those are what enticed Yash Chauhan to uproot his life in Toronto.
"I moved to Canada three years ago, and given the extremely high rents in Toronto and then how real estate prices moved up during the pandemic — obviously everyone wants to own a house — Calgary seemed like a good idea," he told CBC Toronto.
In February, after pre-purchasing a home in Calgary, Chauhan packed up his Toronto apartment, put all his belongings into his car, and drove west.
"Initially I moved here as an experiment," he said. "It was an impulse move."
But after just a few days, Chauhan said he knew he wanted to stay.