look at burnaby, surrey, abbotsford BC you wont find many decent houses for less than $500,000.

Same here - barely a decent hovel for half a mill now.

R.

A little better in Calgary, just over $400,000 will get you something decent.

Well, I found a handful for $140k to $150k in those places but not much.

I just did a quick one for Calgary. This 4 bed 2 bathroom house for $175k seems pretty decent.

Found a couple of 2 & 3 bedroom condos for under $220k too.

Compares very favourably to the UK even if you replace the $ with a £.

But there's always the other 95% of Canada.

The calgary house looks like it s going to fall down at any minute! It's got a tin roof! lol read pg 28 of this months muchmormagazine it has the top 5 cheapest and most expensive cities in Canada massive difference from western CA to Eastern CA

The house prices in Canada are rising, I doubt very much we would be able to buy a house out there for the first few years tbh, but then we're going to Vancouver which is extortionate and I'm not sure if we are gonna settle there or move on when dh's contract ends.

With regards to the op, we are moving to Canada for the adventure, because it's something we've always wanted to do and I fear for my children's future if we stay in the UK, there isn't much which makes me think positive about the uk anymore. It may be that Canada offers nothing else for us and that we're jumping from one sinking ship to another, but from what I've read and from other's pov it's a chance I'm willing to make.

Laura x

If you look at his location North Vancouver that explains his point of view. Think only West Vancouver is more ridiculous in house prices. look in the central and eastern parts of Canada and hey cheap house prices in general

These prices look great When you look on MLS around the Niagara regions and Durham regions etc not too far from Toronto there are some great super-sized houses 4/5 beds large garden for like $400.000 and under!!!
Not too many great cities like Toronto have affordable property like this about an hour away.

Property prices in North America for many Europeans are amazingly cheap as long as you stay away from certain areas and take into account the property taxes that you have to pay each year for these properties.

I bought a condo in Port Moody, Vancouver for 519K which will be handed over in 2009. total area is 1150 sqf. Is it expensive? sure it is and I'm sure I can find cheaper housing in the same area but for a new immigrant, I would bet on a condo for the first couple of years till I'll understand properly the local system and real estate market. it is not easy to maintain a house by yourself when you are new. the learning curve will be costly.

Regarding the thread original subject, I do believe Canada is a safe place for kids and I do respect DSLJFreeman statement. it makes a lot of sense. actually this is the reason why I'm immigrating to Canada. I'm working in Kuwait and I make a very descent salary which is tax free but I'm planning to dump all of that and accept a moderate life with much lower income for the sake of my kids.

Think you will find that the general consensus is that the GVA is very expensive for housing but if you gotta be there for work or family reasons etc I suppose there is not too many options for you.

Just got itchy feet (metahorically now that the althletes foot is cured), aways liked to travel and tried to get the kids interested in visiting new places. I like the UK but it feels pretty backward in many senses - so our Canada plans stem from a need for a bit of an adventure, combined with decent hockey (which obviously we'll need to commute from Toronto to NYC for )

This is mostly a personal motivation and not really general cos for me I can't really explain all i know is that am tired of Europe.

I love England, and have always been very happy working and living in London. Had a good job, friends, family etc. Our original motivation was my husband's wish to escape and my wish to make sure our family stayed together. After six months in the US it's more me wanting to move West for the adventure (my husband's office was closed so we can't stay in the US) rather than return home. But as to whether we stay or not depends on whether as a family we are all happy. We know life will be very different! Whatever happens I think it's a great experience for all of us to live somewhere else, in a different culture. Maybe we will return to the UK more appreciative of all it has to offer (diversity, culture and some very pretty and accessible countryside) or maybe we will feel the new lifestyle liberates us. We'll have to wait and see.

What Canada can offer which UK can't offer?

We paid under $400K 6 months ago for a 4 bed, 2 bath house in Calgary, and no it doesn't have a tin roof, and neither is it about to fall down. Has an unfinished basement though and the garden needs "something" doing to it (firebombing maybe!). But it is a nice house in an OK area.