Looking for the best city to move to in Canada?
Well, if you've been planning to move to Calgary, Alberta or anytime in the near future - I'm gonna go over the
in-depth costs of living in Calgary so that you can decide if it's the right city for you.
For this video all the costs will be calculated and it will be shown on the screen so you don't
have to take any notes. There will be a link in the description below to opt-in where you can get a
downloadable cheat sheet with all the costs that I mentioned plus the calculations and also some
recommendations of services. If you don't know much about Calgary Alberta let's give you a quick intro -
Calgary is a bustling and vibrant urban center boasting a glorious skyline surrounded by vast
nature on all sides the city itself is in western Canada and sits in the sunny eastern foothills of
Canada's rocky mountains here in the heart of Alberta where the Bow and Elbow rivers meet.
The city is surrounded by unparalleled beauty with a resource-rich natural environment.
By the way, did you know that Calgary ranked as one of the most livable city in North America
in 2018 and 2019 by the economist intelligence unit? That's pretty cool right? Calgary earned the
number five spot in the top 10 most livable cities in the world ahead of Vancouver and Toronto for
For a decent lifestyle in Calgary the expenses can greatly vary depending on your choices
Hey, if you're new to our channel my name is Jasben Lai and I'm a Calgary realtor with the
LiveInnerCity real estate team. Every single week we will be bringing you more new videos on home tours
community highlights real estate tips and more if you're considering Calgary as your next home or
perhaps for your next real estate investment let our team of experts help you out you can reach us
At this email below before we start discussing the numbers I'd like to throw out a quick disclaimer
that the amounts discussed in this video aren't in any way representative of the final number
you'll look to spend or pay once you live here these average costs are here to help you know
your budget and understand the affordability in Calgary. First let's start out with housing - you
can either rent or buy if you rent a two-bedroom apartment the average is about $1,323
a month for a house you can rent from anywhere from $1800 to $3000
a month. And of course these numbers do depend on size, location
amenities nearby and upgrades. Rents tend to trend higher in popular neighbourhoods and
communities like in the southwest of Calgary and in the northwest communities. On a report
that was released by the Canada mortgage and housing corporation on the vacancy rate
of rentals in Calgary it remains at 6.6 percent which is unchanged since 2020. This is a figure
that has not been seen since the low point of the oil price crash recession back in 2016.
However we do expect the vacancy rate to decline as a demand from foreign and domestic students
immigrants and those moving from other cities looking for a more affordable market
begin to pick up now here's a bonus tip for you guys because of higher vacancies right now
you may see many new rental properties offering incentives or discounted monthly rents or even a
free month or two for information on where to find a place to rent you can check out these websites
also, I'll leave them in the description below now maybe you've decided that homeownership is the
the right step for you or maybe you are transitioning from renting into now owning a home according to
the recent housing affordability monitor released quarterly by the national bank of canada housing
affordability has deteriorated across canada the typical mortgage payment now takes up about 45
of the household income and compared to every other primary market in the country affordability
in calgary dropped by one of the lowest amounts coming in second next to edmonton however despite
this fact calgary still grew more affordability annually showing the best annual improvement among
all the markets that was covered by this report in calgary a typical house in the current real
estate market is priced at about five hundred and five thousand to four this you will need an annual
household income of about 100 000 and assuming 10 percent down in interest at 1.99 the monthly
mortgage payment will be about 2 000 and for condos is a little more affordable and attainable
sitting at a figure of about 247 000 and afford condos in calgary the average household income
must have an annual income of about fifty thousand dollars and using the same assumptions
the mortgage payment would be about nine hundred and eighty dollars of course you'll need a down
payment of at least five percent if you're living in it or 20 if it's an investment there are other
costs associated with buying a home and you can find out more by checking out this video
which i'll also leave a link for you below and here's the general rule of thumb in your budget
to add at least one percent of the value of your house price every year for maintenance and upkeep
note that i'm not including any property taxes or condo fees and just so you know calgary has
no land transfer tax and no foreign investment tax so far this is our running total on the costs
now let's talk about transportation and vehicle costs you can take a taxi hit to ride ride a bike
and there is also uber in the city but we won't consider these in our calculations since the
cost can vary if you're riding transit it'll cost you about 109 a month for an adult pass this will
get you on the bus and the c train and as long as you don't leave the boundaries of downtown the c
train is actually free but generally you will need a vehicle to get around the city so for
car registration it costs 84.45 a year and about 160 for two years and for car insurance the cost
depends on your driver history the car you drive where you live the number of kilometers you drive
and the coverage that you want including your age here's a bonus tip for car insurance right
before your car insurance is due for renewal shop around with different insurers and you can see who
will offer you the best rate and the premiums can vary quite a bit between companies so this
can end up saving you quite a bit of money in the long run then there's gasoline prices and
of course the prices are always fluctuating we can advise that you budget at least 250 a month
if you're primarily going to be driving and at least 120 a month if you're going to do a mix of
driving and transit then there's home insurance and although home insurance is not mandated by
law having insurance on your home is going to give you peace of mind since it's going to be
one of the single biggest financial investments that you make in your lifetime it's a good idea
to protect your property and contents against unforeseen risks so here are the costs for home
insurance condos average about 40 a month or so and then houses average about 100 a month
and if you're renting there's tenants insurance some landlords will actually require you to have
this insurance in place before they rent to you this usually is about 15 to 30 dollars a month
then there's health insurance for things that aren't covered by canada's universal health
care system things like medicine dental and vision typically if you work a full-time job
most employers will provide these medical benefits for you and there is a limit for this coverage so
you may need to pay additional for those items so make sure you budget for it if your employer
doesn't cover it or you're unemployed you can purchase these third-party health benefits from
insurance companies let's look at utilities which is electricity natural gas water sewer and garbage
disposal this cost depends on variables like the number of people living in the home quality of the
home build the efficiency of major appliances and just so you know alberta's cold winters mean that
winter bills are significantly higher than summer bills for a 900 square foot apartment for example
the collective bill of all the utilities averages about 250 which includes all the utilities that i
mentioned above sometimes these utilities are included in the condo fee and for a average
house let's just say about 2500 square feet the average utility cost will be about 400 a month
and then there's tv and internet and the typical tv phone and internet package costs about 120 to
180 a month and if you're renting sometimes your landlord will actually include these
services as part of your monthly rent alright so we discussed a couple of costs are you still with
us or did you fall asleep it would make us happy if you can give this video a like and share with
anybody that you think it could benefit child care costs parents in calgary are typically expected
to pay about 1100 a month on average for infant care and that's ranking the city about the third
highest among all major cities in canada only toronto at 16 to seventeen hundred dollars and
vancouver about fourteen hundred dollars a month are ahead of him in calgary typically a live-out
nanny costs about fourteen to eighteen dollars an hour but can be as high as twenty dollars an
hour then we got groceries and food you will need approximately 600 a month if you're a
family of four and if you're one to two adults you'll likely be spending around 350 a month
here are some of the groceries you'll probably buy on a monthly basis and how much it costs
and then there's entertainment calgary's charm includes not only its stature as a modern urban
center but it's western culture earning it the nickname cow town arts and culture and outdoor
adventures are essential part of calgary life and lots of activities come with it shopping is
definitely great here with boutique stores to huge outlet malls and only five percent sales
tax supplies there's also an often overlooked great food scene here no matter what you're into
we are going to set a budget of at least 200 for entertainment since it's really based on
your lifestyle that's it in total if you'll be renting or owning a two two-bedroom apartment
these two figures will be your budget if you're going to be renting or owning a house
these two figures apply don't forget to like and share and comment and continue
to follow us on our journey on our youtube channel thanks for watching
it's Jasben Lai from LiveInnerCity and i'm signing out. Bye for now