Shard

Your doubts are misplaced, Rightmove lists 27 detached houses in Reigate (Surrey) about 30km from Big Ben, ranging from £250K-£495K.

Shard

I think you're defining Canadian culture too narrowly if it's just down to retail and ice hockey (I do hope the "iced" was a spellcheck/typo error). My original point was that the way of thinking, the history, the sense of place, the sense of humour (or lack thereof), the work ethic, the attitude towards immigrants, etc, etc, is part of culture, and that may be what attracts some expats. Probably not the ones on these boards, probably the ones who are well assimilated.

Like the Bryson quote, and think that about sums MK up: superficially America, but British through and through. A bit like those people who insist Victoria is just like England.

jrr773

That was the info as told to me. The woman is a chartered accountant working for the Ontario Public Service so I assume has stable employment prospects. My point is on a Canadian salary houses here are no more affordable than the UK - in this area at least (and as others have shown the reverse is possible). As for downtown Toronto it seems to be trying to replicate Vancouver with condos being built on every corner. What happens to all those $500K 2 bed units when interest rates go up?

As for your comment about mortgages not being available on that type of salary multiple the report below states house prices are 12 times disposable income, and it was reported recently debt ratios here have reached 162% per household. At the US peak it was 170%.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe...article549440/

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/repor...rticle4613321/

Shard

Two risk factors: rising rates (unlikely) drop in foreign investment (likely).

JonboyE

Debt service ratios are fixed by the government. A regulated and licensed mortgage lender has to follow the rules which require housing costs to be less than 32% of gross household income, using the bank's posted 5 year fixed rate. It is about 4 x salary. 7 x salary might be available from a private, unregulated, lender but it is highly unusual.

Shard

From Vancouver Sun August 2012...

The report says that in Vancouver, home ownership costs, including mortgage payments, utilities and property taxes, take up 91 per cent of a typical household's monthly pre-tax income. As a comparison, Edmonton's affordability measure is 32.4 per cent and Toronto's is 54.5 per cent.

I guess it depends where your mortgage broker lives!

Novocastrian

But you and jrr miss the point entirely. He says average house prices in Vancouver (and I'd suggest in central London) are 12x average earnings: you say that home ownership costs are 91% of a "typical" household's pretax income.

Proverbial apples and proverbial oranges. Average earning folk in central London don't own detached houses: typical households who have "typical" incomes in Vancouver don't own anything more that an apartment, excepting perhaps the odd few who don't need a mortgage.

Since this is BE, I'd add that those few are not from the UK.

Novocastrian

OK. OK. I chose 30km because that's about how far Markham (and Richmond Hill) is from the CN Tower. Yes, you can find something closer to downtown TO for less, but it won't be a detached house with a reasonable garden.

Novocastrian

Edit: I belatedly looked at the link. FFS.

Novocastrian

I imagine she makes a decent screw, say $200K? So some bank or other was happy to mortgage a $1.4 million purchase on that? Dream on.

dbd33

I'd be thrilled to hear that there's something else (accepting that I've already listed lots of activities involving killing things in the country). There's lots of religion, of course, something one doesn't get in the UK, and quilting's big. After that I'm struggling. What you got?

No, a running joke. A bit of a weak one as iced hockey is suspended yet again.

Surely there's no history to speak of and that's a problem for Europeans. It's partly why Canada seems so superficial, to offer little beyond retail. I'm not sure what you mean by a sense of place, I don't quite buy the idea that any Canadians think they're at the centre of the universe, I think they mostly see themselves as Americans at arm's length.

I don't get the sense of humour, there are only so many "hoser" jokes one can smile indulgently through. McLean and McLean, Bob and Doug Mackenzie, Red Green, offer the same jokes with varying degrees of swearing. Corner Gas dispenses with jokes completely. Canadians would, I think, concede that they don't do humour. I think it's the climate, Norwegians aren't funny either.

I'm adjusted to the work ethic, that I'll concede, I now think it wrong to take a day off and be paid for it and I'm now comfortable with firing people because they breed. We have a corporate policy that no one can take a holiday out of cell phone range and I'm lobbying to move that to "nowhere out of internet range". Just today I had to rant at someone who's visiting Istanbul because she was slow in responding to an emailed request, she said she'd been offline for most of a day. That's just not professional.

I think I'm well assimilated, I've been here for evah and I can deal with life here. I appreciate specifically that living in a country where there's positive discrimination in favour of francophones has been wonderful for my children. But, if you're making a go of it in London, there's no cause to look at Toronto, Tulsa or Omaha. Don't be silly.

bats

If you are both freelance then presumably you can work from home? Why not do what a few people do around here which is to buy a house and come here for the summer. They get up early to fit with UK time, do the work thing, then go off and play at being Canadian.

Novocastrian

Now, it's quite early here in southern Ontario, but I'm guessing you've had an excellent bottle or two of Chateau Neuf du Pape.

I'm jealous, but can't disagree with what you said.

Shard

As biz analysts they would need to be in the office for meetings. Also, only one is freelance (the other permanent). Other than that, great idea.

dbd33

Ah. Two cans of Pride and the second half of a bottle of Cotes du Rhone left from yesterday. Dramatic day too. Best bang it on the head then.