# Canada's richest neighbourhoods?



## Jungle (Feb 17, 2010)

Read an interesting article from Canadian Business, found on yahoo. They researched and came up with the sixth richest neighbourhoods in Canada. Before you click on the link, ask your self, what city do you think is "the richest?" The number one has an average net worth of 3.88 million. I guessed Vancouver was the richest. 

Here is the article, I thought it was interesting. ALso I believe the high real estate values are what gives them the majority of their high net worths.


----------



## brad (May 22, 2009)

Not surprised to see Westmount on the list. I have a friend who's a realtor; she sold one house there and lived off the commission for two full years.


----------



## the-royal-mail (Dec 11, 2009)

This is madness. Clearly it's not the middle class that is holding this wealth.


----------



## Sampson (Apr 3, 2009)

the-royal-mail said:


> This is madness. Clearly it's not the middle class that is holding this wealth.


Maybe I'm reading your message wrong here TRM, but,

Why would you expect the middle class to be living in the richest neighborhoods in Canada?

Also, if you believe in a market economy, how could you expect the CEO of a multi-billion dollar oil company to be or 'middle-class', both in net-worth and housing standards?

I've got some Springbank envy, but at least those multi-million dollar houses absorb much of the cold air and snow before it falls within Calgary.


----------



## GeniusBoy27 (Jun 11, 2010)

I have to laugh at Lawrence Park as the richest neighbourhood in Toronto. 

They have it semi-right. It's the Bridle Path, where you can get a cheap home for $5 million. Followed by Forest Hill and Rosedale, well before Lawrence Park.


----------



## steve41 (Apr 18, 2009)

I am house-sitting (in my own house... don't ask) in West Van, and the neighbourhood is populated with Iranians, Koreans, Chinese.... all recent arrivals with money to burn on real estate. I wonder how they determine their net worth. I imagine that these families around me have much of their $ tied up outside the country.


----------



## kcowan (Jul 1, 2010)

I think the question is "Where do the people who are rich according to the CRA live?"

I went to Lawrence Park Collegiate and they win through just the numbers of households. I agree with Steve that many West Van residents earn their money and have their wealth back home in Iran and Hong Kong. So the net worth would be depressed because they will not admit it.

But then why does it matter?


----------



## steve41 (Apr 18, 2009)

One of West Van's strange anomalies is that, with all the expensive real estate and property taxes, there are few sidewalks, and 30% of the roadside on my street is an open ditch. To top it off, there is one 60 watt streetlight mid block. West Van was originally a summer cottage destination before the Lions Gate bridge was built.... it still seems so, in some places.


----------



## kcowan (Jul 1, 2010)

OTOH places like San Diego have all the sidewalks and bike lanes on every street yet no one walks or bikes. Just higher taxes.

Here in PV, sidewalks are a part of the owner's living room so you have to walk on the streets and dodge the traffic. The cobblestones act like topes though so there is no danger. Every street has built-in "traffic calming" measures.


----------



## Square Root (Jan 30, 2010)

I wonder how they figured this out? Nobody but my DW knows my net worth?


----------



## heyjude (May 16, 2009)

I can see one glaring error in the article. It says that Izzy Asper lived in Tuxedo. He didn't. He lived on Wellington Crescent, in a nice but relatively unostentatious (from the outside) rancher, with some nice bronze sculptures in the garden. At the end of his life, he and his wife moved to a new luxury condo farther down the Crescent. After Izzy's death, the Wellington Crescent home was bulldozed and a gazillion dollar monstrosity was built there by an internet pharma mogul.

How do they define "richness"? If it's from CRA data, surely that would be based on household income. If it's net worth, how do they know? Census data? Maybe...and I guess that will be the last time they can do this, since the next census will be a dog's breakfast.


----------



## Pigzfly (Dec 2, 2010)

On the note of Vancouver real estate; there is a little used immigration clause that says if you invest ~$500,000 (cash) you can move to Canada. Houses count. This was how several people I went to highschool with ended up in the country. Mom and kids would come so that the kids would graduate from an English speaking high school, while dad stayed back to earn $$. As soon as the kids were done, mom hightailed it back home where she spoke the language and understood the culture (usually, there are exceptions).


----------



## kcowan (Jul 1, 2010)

The number used to be $800k, of which $400K could be the purchase of a house. That number is now doubling to $1600k. Many times, grandma was installed in the house with the kids and they applied for welfare due to lack of income. Don't you just love income-tested welfare programs.


----------



## Dr_V (Oct 27, 2009)

The article probably makes more sense when taken in context with the rest of the magazine -- namely, Canada's "Rich 100" -- rather than as a standalone article. (When set against the rest of the magazine, it came across more as an "amusing sidebar".) I enjoy reading these types of things and dreaming about the future.

For now, anyway, I'm content with my corner of the world, love my neighbourhood, and enjoy the community.


K.


----------

